Future Observatory: Tomorrow’s Wardrobe

Visit to learn about the potential for fashion to have a more sustainable future. The display brings together a diversity of designers from across the fashion industry who are revolutionising the way we create, make, and wear clothes – including Stella McCartney, Ponda, Ahluwalia, Salomon, Ranra, Phoebe English and Vivobarefoot. The fashion and textile industry is one of the most environmentally damaging design fields at work today. The footprint of our wardrobes extends from textile production in farms and factories to the design process in fashion houses. Though a significant driver of the UK economy, the impact of fashion is felt across the world in the form of material waste, ecological degradation, water pollution, exploitative working conditions and overproduction: annual garment production has doubled since 2000 and is expected to have increased by 60% in 2030. Tomorrow’s Wardrobe showcases the urgent research and innovation taking place across the UK to rethink how the world of fashion works. Moving from fabric landscapes to design studios to individual garments, the display presents a future built from both high-tech and low-tech tools: sewing machines, robotic arms, artificial intelligence, digital ids, upcycling, recycling and more. Tomorrow’s Wardrobe is curated by Future Observatory, the Design Museum’s national research programme for the green transition. Future Observatory is coordinated by the Design Museum in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council.