From My Perspective: The Future of Clothing
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A reprint from Joseph Coates Consulting Futurist, Inc. www.josephcoates.com
Call 202-363-7440 or e-mail us at info@josephcoates.com
From My Perspective: The Future of Clothing
Joseph Coates
CLOTHES ARE A CONUNDRUM FOR THE FUTURIST. They are nearly universally worn and a worldwide industry spends tons
of money to present the new, must-have stuff to would-be customers. And yet, there have been no significant studies of the
future of clothing.
The history and the anthropology century and the early 20th century, rather dramatically in the last three
of clothes are in good shape, but there were black armbands for men decades made even more common
when one looks out a decade or that announced bereavement. “dressing down,” rather than
more, the situation is worse than Those cultural elements marking dressing up, especially outside
“anyone’s guess,” it is a matter of the end of a life have, in the United work. Steadily, however, leisure
complete indifference. The movie States, almost disappeared except and recreational garb are making it
and television industry, which have that one wears conservative clothes onto the business scene. Today,
nearly unlimited money to put into and most, if not quite all, people Forbes, Fortune, and Business
making high-quality films, reflect dress in their Sunday best for a Week show the few surviving new
the same lack of insight into the funeral. tycoons of Silicon Valley in
future. Consider the characters on extremely relaxed garb. Changing
As part of culture there is the
Star Trek; they all dress in attitudes toward a more congenial,
inevitability of social change.
metalized long johns. Films of stress-free workplace has given us
Women’s entry into the workforce
combat in the future are barely dress-down Friday. That has not
on a large scale has happened twice
more than comic parodies of escaped corporate regimentation.
in the lifetime of many readers. The
medieval knights in their metallic All clothiers at noticeable cost
first in WWII when all of the Rosie
clothing speckled with fantastic provide the new regimented
the Riveters adopted men’s
gimcracks and push buttons of garments suitable for dress-down
industrial coveralls and overalls
uncertain functions. Let us explore Friday, making it barely a step
and made only one significant
this intellectually arid landscape to ahead toward loosening up the
concession to femininity, a colored
look at what is shaping the future workplace.
bandana to keep their long hair out
of clothing.
of harm’s way. That did not survive The trend toward more comfort
First of all, there is the question of the war. The need to celebrate and informality will move men to
fashion. Fashion and clothing are victory and to enjoy the emerging wear short pants during the
so intimately linked that we must prosperity of the country made summer season and at other times,
consider them as twins joined at women’s clothes more lavish and in white-collar work. The trend
the hip. Fashion may move rapidly generous in fabric, in ways not seen toward working at home,
or slowly, but always in the context for 30 years. The more drastic particularly for those people who
of culture, which moves at a far change in women’s dress as well as spend some time in a conventional
slower pace. Culture is an in young men’s began in the 1960s office and some time at home, will
especially potent factor in clothing, when middle-class women entered push more informality and comfort
and is in turn, influenced by the work force in massive numbers. at both places.
climate, the annual cycle of weather Now, they are in the workforce
Pants for woman have now become
change, and local raw materials. In almost in parity of numbers with
acceptable in all work contexts.
the modem era, changes in clothing men. The new jobs for women were
More significant is the radical
occurred with cultural transitions not primarily blue-collar but white-
reduction of age differences in
from the 18th to the 19th and from collar and office work, which
choice of clothes. Most old people,
the 19th to the 20th centuries. For commits them to more formal
i.e., over 50, function as if they
example, clothes associated with clothes. Clothes distinguish a
were 10 years younger than they
death and funerals were invariably woman who has a white-collar job
are chronologically. Their better
black and worn for a very long time. from those who do not and further
health also contributes to their
In the 18th century, a middle-class mark the upwardly mobile in their
dressing in the clothes of a younger
widow’s weeds were worn for 21 “dress for success.” On the other
crowd. Older women are dressing
months. Then, during the 19th hand, social changes going on
From My Perspective: The Future of Clothing from Technological Forecasting & Social Change (vol. 72, no. 1 • Jan. 2005) Page 1 of 8A reprint from Joseph Coates Consulting Futurist, Inc. www.josephcoates.com
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in stylish pants like their younger showed up in the postwar decade, any hint of the effeminate.
sisters, and in many regards like radically altered, in all men’s wear.
I wore my first blue jeans while
their adult children. At the other
Prisoners’ garb has made its way working as a laborer on a railroad
age extreme, small children are
into the general dress of young in the late 1940s. They were
now dressing much like adults,
men. The transition is quite clear virtually unknown in urban
except for both girls and boys on
since prisoners are not allowed to America then and were looked at as
formal occasions when they tend to
wear belts; their clothes tend to be a strange garment. Collegians
dress as everyone did in an earlier
loose and easily become low-slung. adopted jeans in the 1950s. They
generation.
This was picked up by younger spread like wildfire when the baby
The autonomy people feel is broad boys in the ghetto and has now boomers became prominent as
in its effects. Clothes have become made its way into the general activists and protesters.
more functional, more market as tremendously oversized
The media, particularly films and
comfortable, and less specific to clothes hanging very loose, baggy,
TV, have continually shaped
occasions. Clothing less and less and slung quite low; maybe
clothing fashion. As the world
marks class distinctions, unless you overwhelming comfort for the sake
globalizes, American dress, to a
have a particularly acute eye for the of style to the point of
greater extent than French dress,
subtle measures of quality and uncomfortable and inconvenient.
has become the style leader of the
hence, of cost in men’s and Physical trickledown is also real.
world. In numerous pictures, we
women’s clothing. How many During the French Revolution,
saw of Kosovo with adults and
readers could spot a US$300 pair some 90 percent of clothes that
children fleeing the urban
of shoes on the street or a US$1500 were bought were in the
battleground, with only one or two
business suit? secondhand market. Today, a big
minor adjustments in children’s
market for worn jeans from the
Trickle down in style is a long-time clothes, one could have placed
United States feeds the Japanese
cultural phenomenon. In the last 50 them anywhere in America. The
market. Apparently, the Japanese
years, upward flow has also been younger adults were in a similar
are too inhibited in public to age
more frequent as the street clothes position. It was only the older
new jeans for 2 or 3 years to a
of youths, blue jeans, have adults who revealed that they came
stylishly ragged state.
gradually and steadily moved from a place far removed from the
upscale and become ubiquitous. Bill Cunningham frequently had a origins of the new styles. Today, the
They are the universally worn half page in the Sunday New York media flows primarily from the
garment by man and boy, woman Times dramatically showing how United States and the West to the
and girl. However, they now ordinary people innovate in rest of the world. However, the
acquire their own class clothing. Each of his articles has a world’s largest film industry, in
distinctions. One can pay theme, e.g., yellow, fur, hats, party Bollywood, India, is growing as it is
incredible prices, often hundreds of dress, belts, etc., illustrated by 8 or in many other countries.
dollars, for designer jeans usually 10 photos taken in public places. Immigration will give us fresh
conspicuously decorated and rarely exposures to full-fledged foreign
Occupations seen as glamorous or
worn thin or holey. garb that may influence styles, but
daring lend to copycat clothes. The
the overwhelming trend for the
The flow upward also occurs as a lumberjack, for example, has given
next couple of decades will be a
result of adoption of different us a number of forms of winter
worldwide adoption of American
occupational garb as discussed clothing. The soldier has not only
styles.
below. In the United States, the given us camouflage recently, but
underclass and the ethnic groups after both World Wars, they gave In the 1930s, Clark Gable, in the
are often style leaders initially in us leather jackets. Eisenhower film It Happened One Night,
the extreme, but gradually after jackets appeared briefly and then appeared bare-chested, causing a
being toned down, their styles enter disappeared while the Navy’s pea measurable decline of sales in
the general society. One sees this jacket is still with us. WWI brought men’s undershirts. This probably
from the post-WWII lavish zoot us the wristwatch and basically was a factor leading to the
suits with the incredibly large killed off the pocket watch. A pilot abandonment of tops for men’s
shoulders, the enormously puffy could not reach the watch in his swimwear. Marlene Dietrich
trousers, and the jackets halfway pocket. The wristwatch was a introduced the world to women in
down the thigh that gradually practical innovation and overcame pants. Earlier, the opera star
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Fedora gave us the onetime rise of the middle class by both 1920s flapper era, clothes acquired
familiar, snap-brimmed hat for stimulating and providing the base an incredible flamboyance, i.e.,
men. for displaying status. The city does colorful displays and clothes to
something that small towns and match women’s new freedom. The
Hip Hop and rock groups have
rural living cannot do. The urban flapper threw over many of the
influenced America, most
environment offers an endless literal as well as social constraints
conspicuously in making grunge
passing parade of models who whet of the late Victorian period, moving
the order of the day for millions of
the urban passion for being up-to- towards less physical support like
young people.
the minute. (See the paragraph corsets, but committed to
The textile industry, as it evolved, above on Bill Cunningham.) simplicity in the sense of
produced low-cost cloth. The unconstraining garb. All of that
Immigration is important since we
availability of industrial sewing disappeared in the Great
are a nation of immigrants. Each
machines and the resulting mass Depression and styles became
new wave has brought fresh
manufacturing dropped the cost of much more formal and more
variations in lifestyles. That pattern
production of clothing. The utilitarian. A similar cycle repeated
will continue. It is likely that Asian,
complement to that was the rise of itself with the shortages of material
Middle Eastern, Central European,
the department store. More in WWII and the pent-up demand
and Latin American immigrants
recently, in the mid part of the 20th for new things released in the
will bring more color, wider choice
century, the chain store came postwar era. It will be interesting to
in decoration, perhaps even more
along, which thrives on economies watch early in the current decade
flamboyant gestures and body
of scale and puts high value on what the effects will be if the
language, which in turn, will all be
uniformity in production, style, and economic recession continues. As
reflected in clothing. On the other
manufacture, with low-cost unemployment rises, we can
hand, immigration can have a
marginal variations in decoration anticipate a more sober turn in
profound effect on the immigrants
and color, producing the widely dress.
moving from old-world customs to
desired diversity.
those of the new world. This shows To a great extent style changes in
Advertising is a big factor in social up most strongly with children, fashion are not for economic
change. Cheap paper in color off teenagers, and youths who are reasons. It is the constant striving
high-speed presses gave us committed to rejecting their to be up-to-the-minute, to be
magazines and newspapers and parent’s old-world ways, manners, different, but not too different. It is
low-cost catalogs in the early 20th and customs as they integrate into sometimes attractive to jump back
century. They introduced the the new world. a generation or two to adapt what
population at large to changes in had been fashionable. The “retro”
Foreign clothes will enter into style.
clothing styles. Low-cost becomes new simply for the sake of
Saris, as they are or modified, will
manufacturing and new sales newness but is often accompanied
become popular as we see how
outlets, notably the department by a feigned nostalgia- “things
attractive they are on immigrant
store, made clothes in wide variety were so much better and more
Indian women. Pajamas, kimonos,
available to everyone. exciting in the 70s.”
and saris also have desirable
The rise of the middle class created features: highly functional, Politics have their effects,
an extremely important influence comfortable, eye-catching, and sometimes in simple dramatic
on clothes. The middle class was at displays varying degrees of dress like the Italian Black Shirts.
first primarily an urban ostentation. More recent is the mythic bra
phenomenon. For most of its burning in the 1960s. There never
The state of the economy is a well-
members at the turn of the 20th was any bra burning, but it became
established factor in changing
century, status was shown through a slogan that substantially changed
fashion. In lush times, clothes
dress even more than in owning an the upper torso garb of women,
become more elegant and daring;
automobile. The ability to dress leading to two attractive or
on the other hand, in distressed
one’s family in the height of fashion attracting developments: wet T-
times, clothes become conservative
and display the most recent new shirt contests and more bare
and utilitarian to subtly
style was a near-universal class bosoms and female nudity in the
demonstrate that the wearer is
goal. popular arts, entertainment, and
somewhere between comfortable
magazines. Where women go, men
Urbanization complemented the and well fixed. As we saw in the
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are not far behind. from wrinkle-free and is easily becomes fully integrated with
damaged, making the choice of clothes, not as a pendent or a belt
The desire for freedom from
linen for any garment a bit attachment, but woven or pressed
constraints is perpetual and nearly
pretentious. into the fabric of clothes.
universal in the United States. It
may merely be the migration from The home sewing machine, now Medical knowledge has its effects
the small towns to the big city or it almost passé, gave millions of on garments. Women throughout
may be tied to a social movement. women the opportunity, in all the Victorian era carefully guarded
The bohemians in the early part of households, to imitate what they their skin against the sun with
the 20th century rebelled against had seen in catalogs, magazines, or broad-brimmed hats, recognizing
social constraints in general, while on their neighbors’ backs. This that the sun aged the skin at a
the flower children and the promoted style consciousness. merciless rate. The term “redneck”
protesters in the 1960s and 1970s for the rural outdoor worker,
Not all technology affecting
were against war, in favor of peace, especially the farmer,
garments is in their manufacture.
for women’s liberation and for acknowledges the badly burned,
For example, the bicycle as a
equality of all sorts. They were crinkled, and sun-scarred neck
popular mode of practical and
joined together in these causes from long, daily exposure. Suntan
recreational travel led to bloomers
advocating that the common lotions and sun blockers were
and other derivative changes in
underlying causes of their unrest symbiotic with ever shrinking
women’s undergarments. At the
must go. Much of this showed up beach wear. As new medical
same time, the early open top
symbolically and naturally in the knowledge confirms the bad effects
automobile called for dusters,
reduced constraints in dress as a of excessive sun exposure, tanning
which were virtually unknown
hallmark of the urgency to relax is in temporary decline, but the
outside the Western cattle range.
more serious social constraints. beauty of a tanned body persists.
Chemical industry changes such as
Women especially are caught up in
Prominent and admired people can dyes or new materials for making
striking a balance between risk and
have their effects. Jacqueline buttons and other decorations at
beauty, with various kinds of
Kennedy was known for her pillbox low cost have influenced style. New
putative defenses mediating their
hats, which became quite popular, closures are a recurrent
decisions.
as did her low-heel shoes. More opportunity for invention and
recent presidential wives have not creativity in clothes. The zipper As beachwear comes to cover less
had that striking effect, not even and, more recently, Velcro added and less of the body, the skin may
Mrs. Reagan, who truly was a high- new flexibility, convenience, and acquire decorations that could
fashion clotheshorse. diversity to clothes including shoes. amount to a body cover, ie.,
clothing. There are now fabrics
Science and technology are Sports as recreation or an
transparent to ultraviolet light. In a
wellsprings of change in clothes. occupation lead to new clothes. The
few years, those fabrics may be
Rayon and nylon have dramatically broad-scale participation in golf
broadly patterning skin with the
changed the quality, appeal, cost, and tennis has expanded our
summer sun to create abstract,
and durability of clothes. wardrobe. Admiration of sports
concrete, animal, or biological
Technology also introduces figures also does. The technological
patterns all over the body, creating
changes, which get overdone and changes in sports shoes adopted
the equivalent of a new garment.
then fall into a generally accepted from basketball have led to broad-
Skin as clothing will become more
pattern. One sees this with scale adoption of athletic shoes by
popular. The extensive uses of
Permapress, which came to mark a the general public, particularly
tattoos or simulated tattoos are no
cheap garment. Now garments that children and young adults.
longer the exclusive domain of the
hold their creases, resist wrinkles, Unconventional shoes are now
tough crowd, but catching on
and have a good drape are quite worn by people of all ages. The
throughout society at all ages for
popular. football jersey has become a
men and women.
standard walking billboard in many
One-upping people is by no means
young men’s wardrobes. Imitation sharkskin in the form of
dead. It may be characteristic of our
V-shaped scales was worn by
species. We see it now with the rise Science and technology has already
swimmers at the Sydney Olympics
in the use of linen in women’s wear, given us the cell phone, and it is
to reduce drag and turbulence and
particularly in jackets. Linen is far only a matter of time before it
thereby improve their performance.
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As the body is more often less
dressed, the trend is to push the
edge of daring in terms of what can
be revealed in public and what can
be displayed in a theatrical
performance. We see the umbilicus
as the latest hot thing pushing the
edge. It is unlikely, however, that
modes of skin decoration popular
in other cultures will move into the
West. Cicatrices and other forms of
scarification, which can be quite
beautiful, are not likely to be
popular because they are painful to
acquire and irreversible.
Permanence is unacceptable in a
style-conscious society where style
changes at lighting speed.
Regarding status, having a fur coat Figure 1. Factors affecting clothing
often is not enough, but having one
from an exotic animal is more of a
showpiece. Not just having fine
luggage, but having fine luggage example, the day before this Markers of these socially central
obviously tagged, marked, or writing, my wife and I encountered conditions will be reflected in the
labeled is what counts for many of two people about whom we ways the drivers of change,
us. For the extremely wealthy, their independently puzzled as to discussed below, show up.
displays are carried on in a much whether they were men or women.
The military and sports worlds
more muted and closed Ornamentation is outside the scope come together in interest and in the
environment among the wealthy of this essay. Therefore, I skip over availability of money to pay for
themselves. This is carried to an such things as haircuts and research, development, test, and
extreme in conservative Islamic hairstyles, pins, bracelets, and evaluation of new clothing
countries where the wives of the related adornments. concepts. The military is the big
very wealthy may be, by any moneybags. It seeks clothing to
criteria, splendidly dressed in the Clothing in most societies is for the
protect the soldier, to provide
latest of Paris fashions, but go purpose of announcing wealth,
better safeguards against dangers-
about in their limited public status, occupation, fertility, and
not just firearms, but explosives,
movement completely covered to gender. Those goals of garb will
poisons, biological attacks, heat
hide, as their culture requires, dominate for the projectable future,
and cold, as well as vermin and
themselves and their grandeur. shaped and embellished by the
disease. Clothing also has to
secondary factors discussed above.
Occupation of course is still with us withstand falling and flying
in the form of work clothes, but Having identified and illustrated objects. All these capabilities have
their expansion into more general the factors changing clothing up to their parallel in the civilian sector
clothes for specific occupations the present and into the future (Fig. among emergency workers, police,
continues. Demonstrating I), let us turn more explicitly to and firefighters with wider
potential fertility is, often future garb. applications to the clothes and
unconsciously, a number one equipment for sports.
The cultural universals in time and
priority item in women’s clothes space will continue to dominate People in dangerous jobs and
with a strong tendency to expose fashions in clothing to illustrate sports could use smart clothing,
more and more of the richness of status, wealth, group that is, clothing that can sense the
the young nubility. Gender memberships, affiliations, age, wearer’s condition or situation, and
differences do persist, but they are fertility, health, well-being, in turn, modify its own structure to
fading to a small degree. For profession, occupation, and power. protect him or her-for example to
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keep the body warm or cool. and for people on safari, when the physical, total body cosmetics will
Clothing will be able to change ability to wash and to change deal with behavior, the way one
color to blend into, or to contrast clothes as frequently as one would walks, talks, expresses oneself, and
with, the external environment in like is impossible. The antibacterial one’s body language. All people are
the chameleon-like way or it may effects would eliminate both the candidates for a total body
respond to specific signals that the consequences of sweat becoming makeover.
wearer imposes on the clothes. objectionable and bacteria causing
Clothes designed to fit the new
skin inflammation or infection.
We already have widely used body or new persona should boom.
Many of these anticipated changes
Kevlar to protect against heavy A recent TV program imported
will not necessarily change
impact. New materials and weaves from England aggressively and
anything radically in the shape, cut,
will have further safeguards along often cruelly reviews the total
or design of garments.
those lines. Coming out of recent image of people, particularly
research is the promise of super- Technology has many dimensions women, and tells them what needs
strong natural silk, factory- to it. The improvements in material to be done to get themselves into
manufactured. The super-strong may lead to more disposable presentable shape. We see total
silk, in principal, several hundred garments, particularly underwear, body cosmetics as a diagnostic
times stronger than steel, may handkerchiefs, sportswear, and service becoming a successful,
provide the military with cheaper sweatbands. Specialty garments in small business, perhaps even a
lightweight materials for wrapping, terms of material or function may franchised, small business,
packaging, rappelling, and tying up become cheaper and more providing a service tree of any of
prisoners, and drastically reduce convenient to dispose of rather the articles, products, or
bulk in safety gear, nets, and than to clean. Disposability will intervention services that might
parachutes. In numerous other have applications in both military bias the analysis. Ages 14, 25, 44,
applications where strength is and recreational activities. On the and 60 may be the peaks at which
limited by weight, super-strong silk other hand, disposables may also men or women seek total body
will reduce that limitation. move upscale and allow one to have advice and move on from there to
dresses, shirts, shorts, stockings, rehabilitation, rejuvenation and
Inner and outer garments as well as
socks, and other garments, which reform.
weather gear will be enhanced by
after some reasonable number of
new materials. Going beyond the The total body makeover
uses will simply be discarded.
new strength and camouflage counseling will bring attention to
Disposability depends upon the
elements will be the introduction of adornments and ornaments such as
balance among price, functionality,
electrical conducting polymers, shoes, hairdo, and jewelry; a
and attractiveness.
which will be able to sense virtually situation ideal for small businesses,
any kind of changes that one can Technology is coming together to and if perfected, for an Internet
imagine: heat, moisture (sweat), influence not just clothes directly, consulting service.
anxiety, chemical and biological but moving into what I call “total
Linked to an aspect of a total
material, and then body cosmetics.” There will be no
makeover is the change in
electromechanically change the part of the body or persona that will
population, especially aging. One
structure of the garment, or signal elude the promise of a makeover.
can now accept with full confidence
the skin and alert the wearer or an We already have hair dye and
the notion that aging Americans
attached signaling device. Much of enormous ranges of facial
now act, behave, and see
this is already in advanced cosmetics and the puffed-up look
themselves as if they were a decade
development by the military. Early from breast and lip augmentation.
younger than they are
models will probably be available in Botox injection removes wrinkles,
chronologically. Among the
the next year or two at high prices. at least for a while. We are moving
geriatrics and the emerging
However, volume production will in directions that are more radical
geriatrics, clothing for those who
take care of the price of anything in body alterations. We already
are not caught up in makeover is
that is successful. have technologies to remove
becoming larger and more
saddlebags and rubber tires.
New strategies for applying comfortable and at the same time
Implants in other parts of the body,
antibacterial material to clothing becoming more youthful.
e.g., buttocks, will also become
may have great advantages in the
common. Going beyond the It is no great news that Americans
field and for outdoor recreation,
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are so alarmingly overweight that it interesting propaganda to indicate anthropometric study of the sort
is a priority in the public health that one is with it, that is, one done decades ago to layout the real
community to guide us all into understands the seriousness of the body conformations of Americans
better eating, more exercise, and need to accommodate to changes in at various ages and of various
less smoking. This triad of advice climate. socioeconomic cultural
will surely catch on, and as it does, backgrounds. As most women now
New materials and technology will
it will become increasingly know, there used to be size 8, 10,
go beyond improvement to
medicalized with much more 12, and 14 dresses and suits.
introduce striking innovations. For
specific advice, even prescriptions Today, women may have to try on
example, smart garments when
from physicians, and more intimate clothing three size ranges over in
equipped with flexible plastic
links between physicians and order to find something that
electronics will allow clothes to
workout centers. As people succeed approaches fitting. The situation is
become electronic billboards
in becoming remade, there will be a perhaps most dramatic in women’s
announcing everything from your
market for clothes that are clothing, but it has also affected
political and sexual preferences to
changeable in size. men with the movement toward
insults, jokes, and compliments.
small, medium, and large, and with
Sports and recreation, as already These e-textiles will more generally
sleeve lengths marked between two
noted, are a source for new permit instant changes in the color,
digits, 34-35 or 36-37. What one
demands for clothing, uniforms, patterns and designs on garments,
finds is that men’s clothes are
and sports gear. As sports becomes and all other textiles as well.
increasingly designed to fit no
more physically demanding, and in
Fragrances, and more importantly, known primate. The industry,
many regards, life threatening,
pheromones will be available either having distorted all sizes, has
specialized clothing will be
impregnated into fabrics or dosed created an obstacle to their own
required and will become more
into fabrics. They will become a success in marketing clothes
“civilianized,” for lack of a better
truly new social tool, particularly through catalogs and on the
term.
for people searching for new Internet.
Environmentally, the most friends and companionship or
Bespoke clothing, the English term
important factor affecting the merely to strike up a social
for “tailor-made,” will become
future of clothing is greenhouse relationship. The pheromones
more and more routine and
warming. Greenhouse warming could be released into fabrics in
popular. The closest thing that we
promises to smear out the seasons, response to an electrical or
have to it today in mass marketing
with a general move of warmer electronic signal or it might be
are skintight jeans for women
zones toward the poles in each keyed to respond to change in one’s
where one only needs to supply
hemisphere. Weather will be more physiology or body emission or a
three numbers, the waist, the hips,
spiky, with longer, hotter dry spells potential pickup’s pheromones.
and the thigh measurements.
and episodes of heavier rain and
New materials will give us Digital photography to collect size
snowfall. The combination of
completely water-washable data from the individual will allow
overall warming, spikiness, and
garments without any of the merchants to build a complete
smearing out of the seasons, will
annoyances of shrinkage or archive of clothes styles, sizes, and
call for layered clothing of
extensive wrinkling. There is no so on for each customer. Factory
traditional styles, materials, and
fundamental reason why most machinery will create a garment
design. Smart clothing that is made
clothing could not be made water- that will have a 98 percent correct
of intelligent materials will be worn
washable. fit with wrap-up changes made by a
over a wide range of temperatures.
human tailor. The implications of
The fashion industry is enormously
The climate change to, on average, this are that once one has gotten
clever but not particularly smart. It
warmer weather in the temperate information into the database, no
has a short-term focus on
zones will bring back lighter more visits to the department store
immediate payoff, on novelty, and
weight, shorter, and in many or to the clothing store will be
innovation but really does not pay
regards, older styles, such as the needed.
attention in a smart way to its own
shorts worn by the colonial officers
long-term needs. The pressing Until you change shape or change
and shorter, lighter skirts, dresses,
need of the clothing sector is a in weight, everything will be
and shorts for women. The changes
broad-scale national handled electronically through the
in clothing also becomes an
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Internet. The market for better have turned away from natural fur higher rate than the pocketbook
fitting bespoke garments shows up that lead to a boom in synthetic and would tolerate. New technologies
particularly in men’s clothes. Half artificial furs, the so-called faux of fabric handling will reduce any
of the men one sees on the street furs, running to about 200 million risks of disease or contagion from
have shoulder seams on their US dollars in year 2000. rental clothes.
garments 3 or 4 inches down the
The social trend toward androgyny One of the long-term patterns in
arm. This style is responding to the
carries at least two different the history of fashion since the
inability of the garment industry to
implications. One is sex- middle of the 19th century is the
properly size clothes.
indeterminate clothing. We have recurrent style of retro: earlier
The Internet, in addition to already had a shot at that during decade’s fashions revived or
becoming more important to the unisex movement. That will somewhat revived to create what is
marketing clothing, will also be a undoubtedly continue and become new. What we are familiar with
site for creativity. In spite of the quite practical in some forms of only in photographs and old-time
belief that the garment district work and recreational clothing and drawings will continue to be
would like to pass off on us, that even become stylish for some forms revived from time to time. The
clothing style begins with the high of casual and even formal social middle class, which dominates the
couture shops in New York, Paris, occasions. An even more extreme clothing and marketing industry, is
and London and then works down form amounting to cross-dressing, in constant tension between the
through upscale to midscale and on women adopting men’s garments intense desire to be different and
to downscale garments, a and men adopting women’s the strong desire to be safe, that is,
tremendous amount of creative garments, will continue what we not to make a fool of oneself or be
innovation, as Bill Cunningham’s have already experienced. The bizarre or outlandish. Fashion will
work shows, begins with ordinary movement appears to be men’s continually find its opportunity at
people and first shows up on the garments becoming women’s the midpoint of the new, the
street. The Internet, making garments with little flow in the exciting, the up-to-the-minute, and
information available universally reverse direction. There seems to the safe and reliable. Safety in style
and virtually instantly, will lead to be a nearly universal fear among is a function of age, social status,
street developments being copied, straight men of being mistaken for class, occupation, and other factors
creating demand on manufacturers being gay and therefore, avoiding already discussed.
to innovate, or in their jargon, to any association with female clothes
In fine, over the next generation,
respond to the market. because of the faulty belief that
our clothes will be more
being gay implies femininity. In
Advertising will continue as a para- comfortable, better fitting, more
addition, cross-dressing, men
mount factor in marketing clothes. durable, and easier to clean or
dressed as women, now has a poor
The increasing size and falling cost discard. They will also guard our
reputation in our society because of
of database services coupled with health and safety, respond to the
its association with transsexual
the tools for bespoke garments will environment, improve our work
prostitutes.
make markets of one person and recreation, and communicate
practical. One element of the general with people and things
economy that may move into the automatically or at the wearer’s
Another effect will be to change the
clothing sector is rental. Already a discretion.
pattern of who buys clothes for
substantial number of cars,
whom. Today, women buy 90 Enjoy it all.
hardware, machinery, do-it-
percent of women’s clothes and 24-
yourself equipment, and special-
30 percent of men’s.
events clothing, such as tuxedos
Vegetarianism is slowly and and evening gowns, are often if not
steadily growing. If it continues to usually rented by householders.
catch on for dietary needs, it may That market could expand into
expand and turn many people away everyday clothing where one has
from animal skins and animal the desire to satisfy personal
parts. We may find that idiosyncrasies or where one’s
vegetarianism leads to a turning occupation makes it desirable to
away from natural leather, as many rotate the personal wardrobe at a
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