World 80

In World 80, wearing an outfit for a month straight is the mainstream norm for industrialized, high consumer countries. The norm of this fashion culture is to wash clothing once a month. Stains and marks are considered normal. This change dates back to 1920’s where washing clothing everyday became too expensive and time consuming, as well as having a new outfit everyday became very unrealistic.

The society of this world have smaller wardrobes resulting in less garments having to be produced and sold. The positive effects this has on society is lower laundering levels, saving water, as well as lower purchasing culture, minimizing the need for fast fashion, cheap clothing, washing detergent, deodorant and perfumes. This also results in clothes being purchased at a much lower rate.

In Welt 80 ist es in Industrieländern mit hohem Konsumbedarf die gängige Norm, dasselbe Outfit ein Monat lang zu tragen. Wäsche gewaschen wird einmal im Monat. Schmutz und Flecken gelten in dieser Modekultur als normal. Diese Entwicklung geht auf die 1920er Jahre zurück, als tägliches Wäschewaschen zu teuer wurde, die Menschen keine Zeit dafür hatten und das tägliche Wechseln der Kleidung nicht mehr praktikabel war.

Die Kleiderschränke sind in dieser Welt kleiner, weshalb auch weniger Kleidungsstücke gekauft und produziert werden. Die Vorteile dieses Systems sind ein geringerer Waschbedarf, was Wasser spart, und ein geringerer Konsumbedarf, was die Nachfrage an Fast Fashion und Billigmode, Waschmittel, Deodorants und Parfum reduziert. Kleidung wird generell weniger häufig neu gekauft.

What if …

wearing the same outfit for a month straight was considered normal?

Issue targeted:

overwashing of clothing, fast fashion

Inspiration:

people overpurchasing clothing due to the fear of ‘outfit repeating’

This World was contributed by Karly Grant (located in Melbourne, Australia) 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.

Related Explorations

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!

Published by Amy Twigger Holroyd

explorer of Fashion Fictions

Discover more from

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading