Teenagers in the future will spend their disposable cash on digital clothes for online avatars while buying an outfit in the real world which will last years, a leading “trend watcher” has forecast.

Maxwell Luthy is the director of the New York-based firm TrendWatching, and travelled to Australia for the first time this week to share with local businesses his advice for the world of tomorrow.

One of the key points Mr Luthy has been telling businesses to prepare for is the “end of excess” – a prediction by futurists and trend watchers that consumers will move away from conspicuous consumption which is increasingly seen as unethical and unsustainable.

Maxwell Luthy is the head of New York based ‘trend firm’ TrendWatching

Mr Luthy said there was already evidence that this impulse was shaping the way consumers made decisions.