The ever growing textile industry accounts for a significant influx of waste into landfills each year. Link. Obsessions with brief trends exacerbate environmental destruction and global inequality. Massive amounts of waste clothing flow from America with no meaningful destination in site.

Imagine then, if we wasted no energy on these frivolous trivialities, but concentrated our efforts then on a single universal form of dress ware. Something easy to care for, preferably dark in color, ideally all one piece, and completely gender neutral. The endless destruction of perfectly good clothing for fashion will end. The massive export of secondhand clothes would no longer clog landfills or destroy the textile industry in disadvantaged nations.

With only one product to refine and perfect, the production of this outfit will reach previously unimagined heights of efficiency. No more endless racks of waste spread through sprawling department stores, but a single option for everyone. The material should be comfortable and forgiving, allowing for a size up or down in either direction from ones true size to still be a workable option. It should take no great stretch of the imagination to see how a consolidation of this nature would be infinitely more sustainable. One outfit for everyone the world over.

Furthermore we can undo many societal obsessions with clothing in this way. We may end the compulsory hoarding of clothes, after all you needn’t try to accesorize any longer. Children who previously suffered from bullying for their clothing choices, or perhaps what was their only option, will no longer be targeted. There will be no questioning of how many shirts they own or if they wore that same shirt last Tuesday. There would be no gendered discrimination or fixation on clothing, as there would no longer be distinctly male or female ware. All clothing would lose it’s power over us and our minds. Outfits would become impossible to fetishize and distort from their true purpose.

With regards to work, we would find again massive benefits. There would be no separate clothes for work, decreasing the discord and chaos of the closet. It would be impossible and unnecessary for those around to punish each other for their choice of dress.

Clothing organized in this manner can easily bring significant other benefits. Centralized laundry services and extremely easy access to fresh clothes would improve everyone’s quality of life. Labor that was once dispersed amongst competing services will instead be unified in a singular global service. It is easy enough to see without an obsession over owning clothing we would be free to focus on more meaningful pursuits.