New Year. New Clothes.

The last decade brought big changes to fashion. Print media died and bricks have been replaced by clicks. We discover new brands and trends from influencers, shop for them on Amazon and resell them once we’ve worn them a couple of times.

Everything is different but somehow the clothes remain the same.

Most fashion still looks like it did decades ago. Lots of “simple” “clean” “modern” “sophisticated” and “sexy” pieces based on classic western gender-specific clothes that look best on tall/thin/young bodies in synthetic materials that live long after us in landfills made by very low paid workers in developing countries.

It’s no wonder that shopping vintage was one of 2019’s biggest trends. Why pay for something new that looks the same as something old.

The future is now so here goes a wish list for fashion 2020:

1. Clothes that are really new. Many fashion pieces are only worn a few times so why not put lights, sounds, and gratuitous electronics into some of them. A shirt that blinks/burps/plays videos/hugs you isn’t any less useful or more harmful to the environment than most of the gadgets on Indiegogo.
2. How crazy is it that we can 3D print heart valves and jet engines but not a shirt? Lack of technology or lack of desire to innovate fashion?
3. Heat and cool our bodies and the immediate area around us. Instead of using environmental and financial resources to heat and cool entire buildings, why not climatize the inhabitants?
4. Make fashion fun (again?) I’m not a gamer, sneakerhead or millennial but my best recent fashion purchases have all involved virtual try-on or experiential retail environments. If the clothes all look the same at least shopping for them should be fun.
5. Heal us. Wearables can track just about everything our bodies do, now it’s time to act on the data. When can we have clothes that respond to the information and make us feel better, run faster and breathe deeper?
6. Keep us safe. Bulletproof vests and life alert are not enough and not attractive. We need designer clothes for climate change emergencies, terrorist attacks and #MeToo moments.
7. Address fashion’s sustainability problem with forward-looking innovation instead of quantifying the current problem. We all know the supply chain is broken and more information won’t be enough to solve the problem. We need new and better clothes.