In World 178, some footballers symbolically wore old strip and demanded that their clubs sell newly designed merchandise just once a decade. Due to public pressure, FIFA was forced to adopt these practices as conditions of membership. This resulted in a fundamental change in the economic growth model and proved a game changer as swap shops became regular community events, contributing to a sense of belonging and identity amongst local populations. Footballers across the globe led the change in challenging consumerism in the culture of the rich and famous and becoming local and global citizens.
What if …
in 2022, driven by the lack of progress at COP27 talks and the environmental damage of the world cup at Qatar in 2022, all football teams taking part pledged to buy only 3 items of clothes a year and to donate unwanted clothes to swaps at their clubs?
Issue:
Challenging over consumption, developing culture of reuse and swapping with new audiences across the social and global spectrum, increasing and changing notions of community and identity around football clubs, challenging notions of wealth and embedding local and global citizenship. as social norms for the wealthier and super rich in society.
Inspiration:
The lack of progress to date for a liveable future highlighted at the climate change talks, COP27 at Egypt in 2022, plus the unsustainable practices and impact of the Qatar world cup games.
This World was contributed by Vicki Harris (located in Bristol, 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.
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