In World 25, the turn of the millennium led to an uprise in people of the planet who were outraged at the level of waste from flimsy clothing. This uprising led to world leaders implementing policies and framework that ensured the rigorous manufacture of durable clothing that was made to last.
Trends are less frequent now, and people have a capsule wardrobe exhibiting their signatory style. Garments are worn and kept for a longer period of time, with the ‘make do and mend’ mentality embedded into them. Rather than buying to own, garment sharing takes place on a local scale.
What if …
clothes had to be built to last?
Issue targeted:
durability of clothing
Inspiration:
current trends
This World was contributed by Amanda Saunders (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.
Response to World 25
An uprising against ‘flimsy’ clothing leading to policies for durable clothing brings to mind the class issue and moral concerns of the early 20th century about young working class women dressing in insubstantial / frivolous attire. Fashion writers associated the wearing of ‘flimsy’ fashion by these young women with low moral standards. As Catherine Horwood noted in Keeping up Appearances: Fashion and Class Between the Wars, working class girls who dressed in light and flimsy clothing damaged their chances of promotion because their ‘mind was on a par’ with their dress.
– Suzanne Rowland
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!