Skills and Competencies

Clothing users are highly skilled at simply being in their garments. They are conscious of the outward story they portray with garments and also the felt experience of the body inside a garment. When it comes to garment construction as well as repair and maintenance practices, they understand how to achieve and augment fit, how to embed meaningful stories in materials, and how to preserve these qualities over time. They engage their own creativity to preserve, repurpose, and re-story the garments of their lives. They are knowledgeable about how clothing care practices in their home directly affect energy consumption and other environmental impacts. These garment owners are attuned to nature’s limits and the implications of this for their own consumption. These clothing wearers are also socially connected within their communities and utilize their capacity for communication and creativity to gather others around the topic and task of sustainable fashion.

For Discussion

1) What influence might a greater connection to nature and/or one’s spirituality on clothing aesthetics in this scenario?

2) What kind of clothing-relevant skills may be enhanced by spirituality and mindfulness?

3) What are the implications for the fashion industry, responsive to a dramatically changed consumer attitude and temperament?

4) With a greater appreciation for diverse appearances in this scenario, what (new) stigmas may emerge around certain types of clothing?