World 7

In World 7, the Utility Clothing Scheme introduced during WWII did not end – it continued, morphed, developed and progressed. Instead of ending in 1952 some very intelligent women, sadly not recognised in the economic history of post WWII recovery, convinced the British Government that the scheme not only increased manufacturing efficiency but also continued to clothe the population with high quality stylish clothing at affordable prices.

Over the past 60 years the scheme has expanded and incorporated new technologies to reduce material waste. Zero waste pattern cutting is considered the norm. The use of recycled fibres for material construction is more common than virgin fibres. Furthermore, all clothing imported into UK has to comply with the strict CC2020 guidelines such as no non-recyclable fibre mixes. Textiles and clothing are valued. Furthermore, the general attitude for the scheme is pride: similar to how our current society views and reveres the NHS.

This World was contributed by Matilda Aspinall (located in London, UK) using a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence which allows others to share and adapt the work in any medium and for any purpose, providing that they credit the author and share their material using the same Creative Commons licence.