The Future of Clothing: Will We Wear Suits on Mars?
Ebook
Overview
Disappearing dress codes, customers as designers and wearable technology; in recent years the production and function of clothing has undergone massive change. New manufacturing technologies have brought bespoke design within reach of many consumers for the first time. Miniature sensors can turn ordinary garments into smart devices. And blurring gender roles and class distinctions point the way towards a more fluid approach to clothing, fashion and design.
The Future of Clothing offers a critical introduction to these developments from an interdisciplinary perspective, engaging with their implications for the clothing industry and related fields. You'll learn how mass-personalization impacts the luxury market, the effects of automation on craftsmanship and how AI design may affect individual style choices.
Contributors include fashion historian, author and broadcaster Amber Butchart, adventurer, ecologist and head of the Sculpt the Future Foundation David de Rothschild, and best-selling author Yuval Noah Harari. There are also 8 exclusive illustrations by Salvador Dali, depicting the surrealist master's extraordinary vision of how fine-tailored clothing might evolve in the 21st century. Together they form a truly unique guide to the future of this most creative industry.
Introduces the driving forces behind rapid changes in the fashion industry, including automation, sustainability, wearable technology and blurring gender roles.
9 entrepreneurs, designers and academics offer their predictions for fashion's future.
8 exclusive illustrations by Salvador Dali depict the surrealist master's unique vision of how fine-tailored clothing might evolve in the 21st century. The artworks were created in 1971 as part of a collaboration with tailor and cloth merchant Scabal.
7 'illustrated scenarios' conclude the book by imagining what fashion might become in the more distant future - including self-service bespoke tailoring that could be designed and produced at home (using 3D body scans for the perfect fit, AI-enabled design tools and 3D printing).
Introduction
1. What is Shaping the Future of Clothing?
Sustainability
New Materials
Blurring Gender Roles
Individualization and Fading Formality
Shaping the future
Drivers of change
Functionalization
Automation
Virtualization
Democratization of Production
2. Rethinking Clothing
Time to Envision the New! - Amber Butchart
The Rediscovery of True Needs - David de Rothschild
Material is the Mother of Invention - Richard Sennett
Interfacing the Body - Linh Le
Clothes with Change. The Human Body, Too! - Yuval Harari
Labour of Love - Jacqueline Sealy
Of Luxury and Eternity - Jean-Claude Biver
Towards Longevity and Multifunctionality - Gregor Thissen
3. Envisioning the Future
Longevity Over Fashion: A Suit for a Lifetime
Customers as Designers: Towards Autarky
Enhanced Protection: Clothes as Alarm Systems
Dressing the Next Generation: Suits for Robots
Craftsmanship as Luxury: Clothing Beyond Automation
Local Fast Fashion: The End of 'Made in Taiwan'
Navigating the Intelligent Environment
References and Further Reading
Index
Picture credits
- Title: The Future of Clothing: Will We Wear Suits on Mars?
- Authors: Simone Achermann, Stephan Sigrist
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
- Print Publication Date: 2023
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Pages: 200
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781350138605, 9781350138599, 1350138592, 1350138606
- Resource ID: LLS:9781350138605
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-22T12:07:28Z
Simone Achermann is co-founder of W.I.R.E. (Web for Interdisciplinary Research & Expertise), a leading think tank for business, science and society. She engages with developments and trends in society, business and cultural sciences and is responsible for the ABSTRAKT book series.
Stephan Sigrist is the founder and head of the W.I.R.E. think tank, he has spent many years analyzing interdisciplinary developments in business and society, focusing on the implications of digitization in the life sciences, financial services, media, infrastructure and mobility. He is the publisher of the ABSTRAKT book series, author of a number of publications and a keynote speaker at international conferences.