Why Your Future Wardrobe Looks More Like a Uniform
Deciding what to wear in the morning is the equivalent of searching for your lost phone, keys and wallet every single day. What shirt should I put on? Does this make sense with these pants? Oh no, these pants are dirty. Back to the drawing board.
Daily clothes cost us energy, time, money and high levels of pollution. Why do smart, busy people put up with this every day?
Here are a five reasons why I think the future of apparel will look more like a uniform.
1. Clothes create decision fatigue.
Decisions make up your entire day. Your ability to make the best decision decreases with the number of decisions you make.
Morning is the most important part of your day and the best time to make good decisions. Wasting energy deciding what to wear is silly.
You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits. I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make. You need to focus your decision-making energy. You can’t be going through the day distracted by trivia. — Obama
2. Clothes take up a lot of time.
The average person spends 15 minutes every morning deciding what to wear. This comes out to 7.5 hours a month, 91 hours a year and over 6,000 hours in a lifetime. You could run a mile faster than deciding what to wear each morning.
7B people * 15min = 1.7B hours spent each day deciding what to wear…
If it could save a person’s life, would you find a way to shave ten seconds off the boot time?— Steve Jobs
3. Clothes are bad for the earth.
The apparel industry accounts for 10% of global carbon emissions and remains the second largest cause of pollution next to oil. Clothes are also one of the second largest consumer and polluter of water. It takes three years of drinking water ( 2,700 liters ) to make one cotton t-shirt.
Sustainable manufacturing and consumption can greatly reduce carbon emissions, pollution and water usage. The apparel industry needs its Tesla moment and Elon already has his hands full.
4. The world’s most successful people already started the trend.
It’s no secret that the world’s most successful leaders wear the same thing every day.
- Jobs ( Apple ): turtleneck and jeans
- Obama ( former POTUS ): gray or blue suit
- Johnny Cash ( Country Music ): all black
- Carrie Donovan ( Vogue ) : black dress, large glasses and pearls
- Einstein ( Physics ): grey suit with no socks
- Dean Kamen ( Segway ): denim shirt and pants
- Zuck ( Facebook ): t-shirt and hoodie
- Christopher Nolan ( Batman ): blue shirt, jacket and black pants
5. Hollywood and life imitating art.
Our favorite sci-fi movies and shows tell a story of a more uniform future. These fictional uniforms help our heroes use the force, explore far away galaxies, save earth and fight super villains.
Fashion imitates Hollywood’s vision of the future in everything from Vogue to Etsy. I believe elements of these futuristic uniforms are inevitable. In other words…
The force is strong with this one…
Where can I get my future wardrobe?
Here are a few brands that are creating the future of apparel for both men and women. I highly recommend checking out the Loose Threads podcast if you’re interested in following the future of apparel.
Ministry of Supply
Performance clothes for the workday. Started on Kickstarter.
Pivottee
Low maintenance clothing for high-performing women.
Outlier
Functional clothes made with high quality technical fabrics.
