What if buying and selling clothes was illegal? How about a world where synthetic dyes were banned? Or doing laundry felt like going down the pub?

These imaginary worlds are what Amy Twigger-Holroyd, Associate Professor of Fashion and Sustainability in the School of Art & Design at Nottingham Trent University, calls Fashion Fictions. They are the foundation of a research project inviting people to imagine new possibilities for what fashion systems and cultures could – and probably should – look like. Amy runs workshops that bring people together to come up with new ‘Worlds’, build on existing ones, and create real-world prototypes to represent each one. And while anything is possible in these new frontiers for fashion, the Worlds must fit some important criteria: they should be possible parallels, rather than speculative futures; be positive, not dystopian; explore culture rather than technology; look at use, not production; and above all, go beyond what feels possible today.

Why dream up these fictions? The newly imagined Worlds will contribute to post-growth fashion movement’s work to shift the industry towards a new way to live with clothes, that fully acknowledges the Earth’s capacity to support life. Dreaming is the first step towards doing.

AtlasAction: Put on your imagining hat and submit a World, or find out more about joining Amy for a Fashion Fictions workshop.

Know of a project that’s transforming the fashion sector? Submit it here, and we’ll spread the joy by mapping it on the Atlas.

Nature-geek, urban forager and all-round wordy sort. Freelance writer for people that care about the future. Often found reading while walking.

This project has been selected as part of FashionFutures, a new  content channel that maps the work of people transforming the fashion sector: the designers, craftspeople, social innovators, educators, community leaders and communicators. Atlas of the Future is excited to partner with Makerversity, with the support of The J J Charitable Trust and their network of fashion friends.