I was living in India then, having travelled across the globe, a lot of Indians were in the habit of not reusing their clothes. They would wear a garment for 3-4 times and it would sit in their cupboard, lying unattended.
But then came the World 18 pandemic in 2010, it took millions of lives and put an end to travel and commerce. People were stranded in their villages. Cities began to perish, because no one grew food or wove the fabrics. People migrated to villages, in search of greenery, food and clothing. But some were left in the cities, with the huge amount of clothes from the past. They used those to create sustainable items of clothing, which were wearable, comfortable and aesthetically pleasing. The other lot who migrated to the villages, had new material to weave and dye, which was nature friendly. They used these to create a design collection.
What if …
we lived in farms and had animals around us who would recognise the smell of our clothes; we grew our own cotton and did everything on our own?
Issue targeted:
fast fashion and huge landfills with fashion waste including clothing and home furnishings etc.
Inspiration:
ancient Indian history
This World was contributed by Dr Toolika Gupta (located in Jaipur, India) 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.
Does this World remind you of something?
I am keen to hear about any historical or contemporary real-world examples – whether individual practices, subcultures or mainstream activities – that this fiction brings to mind.
Please share any such examples using this form. Thank you!