Fashion

why futures?
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why scenarios?
To support: • Communication of sustainability issues • Strategy development • Product, service and process innovation See our website for useful workshop materials: www.forumforthefuture.org/projects/fashion-workshopmaterials

about fashion futures
• Joint project between Levi Strauss & Co and Forum for the Future • In consultation with over 40 experts, we constructed four plausible, stretching scenarios for what the global fashion industry could look like in 2025 • Began in October 2008 and launched at London Fashion Week in Feb 2010 – an engaging online report and printed executive summary – four short animations that represent the scenarios – workshop materials: exercises, presentation, agenda

objectives of the project
• To communicate a well-researched, lively and engaging series of scenarios and recommendations • To promote a more sustainable future for the global fashion industry • To stimulate a debate about the future for global fashion and inspire a more sustainable response to it

fashion futures 2025 global scenarios for a sustainable fashion industry

Some certainties we can expect…
Impacts of climate change Resource costs & shortages
Severe and unpredictable weather Shifting rainfall patterns Global target: cut CO2 50% by 2050 2025: 1.8 billion people living with water scarcity; food, building materials, energy, cotton: oil @ $130 in 2030 1.3 billion more people by mid-2020s Ageing population in developed world

Demographic change

…some factors we are less certain about
• How will society respond to resource scarcity and climate change? • How might legislation shape the fashion industry? • How much disposable income will we have, and what will we spend it on? • How will the so-called ‘emerging economies’ develop? • Technological advancement • Consumer acceptance of sustainable consumption • How might demographic changes affect the clothing industry?

two areas of high importance and uncertainty
1. How connected is the world?

Connected where economic globalisation has expanded further, trade barriers have lowered, communications are more united and global cultures are more similar.

Fragmented where globalisation has gone into reverse, there is more protectionism, long distance trade is declining and regional identities are stronger.

two areas of high importance and uncertainty
2. How fast do society and its fashions change?

Fast where speed of change has accelerated: in media and communications; in flows of financial capital; and in how people express themselves through culture and fashion.

Slow where the rate of consumption has reversed; flows of financial capital are slower; and cultures change more gradually.

Slow is Beautiful
Political collaboration and global trade in a world where slow and sustainable is fashionable

Community Couture

Resource crises constrain consumption in a local community focused world

High tech systems deliver for a speedobsessed global shopper

TechnoChic

Fast consumption in global cultural blocs

Patchwork Planet

Fashion Futures Scenario Axis
Slow is Beautiful
Political collaboration and global trade in a world where slow and sustainable is fashionable Resource crises constrain consumption in a local community focused world High tech systems deliver for a speedobsessed global shopper Fast consumption in global cultural blocs

TechnoChic

Community Couture

Patchwork Planet

Slow is Beautiful

Techno Chic

Community Couture

Patchwork Planet

CAUTION!
TREAT SCENARIOS WITH CARE
– Not predictions, but images of possible futures, tools to imagine what world could look like – Stimulate new ideas - challenges and opportunities – Test strategies for robustness

Slow is Beautiful Collaboration in a world where slow and sustainable is fashionable
– This is a moralistic world of low-carbon, sustainable lifestyles – Strict carbon regulation and sophisticated tracking and labelling mean consumers are more aware of all impacts – The majority of consumers are willing to pay more for a smaller number of high-quality, sustainable clothing items. – Fashion styles are gradually becoming more homogenised and reflect a ‘safe’, less innovative world. – The fashion industry has worked hard to decarbonise, and shift people’s perceptions of the industry – post 20thC consumption – Although ‘living wages’ are now the norm for factory workers, a ‘grey economy’ of cheaper fashion with poor working conditions still exists.

Techno - Chic
High tech systems deliver for a speed-obsessed global shopper – This is a prosperous world which has benefitted from an early switch to a low-carbon economy and huge technological investment. – Smart consumers are flourishing in this high-tech, open world of few trade barriers and fast-paced fashion fads. – Man-made fabrics rule the fashion markets, providing personalised, high-tech, affordable options across the globe. – Massive levels of automation and sharp declines in the use of labour create pockets of crippling unemployment across economies previously reliant on clothing manufacture and production.

Community Couture
Resource crises constrain consumption in a local community focused world – Self-sufficient communities thrive in a world struggling to cope with the strain of growing populations and resource shortages. – Very high costs of raw materials and disrupted supply chains have resulted in a dramatic fall in the production and sale of new clothing. – In its place vibrant local networks of second-hand clothing have evolved: community bonds are strong and creative fashion solutions abound. – That said many consumers still strongly desire ‘new’ clothes – now affordable only to the rich or on the black market.

Patchwork Planet
Fast consumption in global cultural blocs – Years of conflict, exacerbated by uneven economic recovery from recession and a shortage of strategic resources. – Global community fragmented, with deep suspicion between cultural blocs. – A world of rapidly changing fashions – where styles are led by an economically and culturally powerful Asia. – Supply chains regionalise to meet consumer demand for fast-changing, regional, patriotic fashion. – The world is struggling to cope with mounting social tensions and environmental constraints. – Many wonder how long this pace can last.

How to use the Fashion Futures scenarios
Use the scenarios to: • future-proof your current business models and processes • develop new strategies • help form your own vision of the future • stimulate partnership working • to innovate • enable team and personal development

How to use the Fashion Futures scenarios
Use the scenarios to: • Future-proof your current business models and processes • Develop new strategies • Help form your own vision of the future • Stimulate partnership working • Innovate • Enable team and personal development

For more information visit www.forumforthefuture.org/projects/fashion-futures contact us Vicky Murray | v.murray@forumforthefuture.org Fiona Bennie | f.bennie@forumforthefuture.org