Tiny Glimmers #3 - Socks and Pints

Let's take a trip to the pub in the year 2034...

Last week I had the pleasure of hosting an Imagination Workshop for my local Textile Reuse Group (with the cool name, Everyone Needs Pockets).

We played a game called "100 Ways Everything Could Be Different In The Future¹".

It’s a game that can help individuals and groups stretch their imaginations and dream up a collective vision for the future.

🎲 Here's how you play:

1. You pick a theme, "The Future of XYZ", we picked "The Future of Fashion and Textiles in Frome" (my local town)

2. In small groups, you brainstorm 100 facts or statements (or as many as you can) that are true about this topic today.

3. Then you travel 10 years into the future and flip each of those statements on its head.

The important thing here is to temporarily suspend the word "impossible" and to fully embrace what might sound completely ridiculous. In fact, ridiculous is great!

Here’s a real-life example from the workshop:

One group wrote, "Today, second-hand clothing is often seen as second-rate".

• Now you could flip that to say "In the future, second-hand clothing will be more sought after than new clothing".

• Or you could take it a bit further and say "In the future, new clothing will be rationed".

• Or make it even more "ridiculous" and say: "In the future, new clothing is illegal!"

Now, that is a juicy future to play with!

The group was so open-minded and imaginative which made it great fun to play with them.

4. The final step in the game is to imagine what the wider world in that future looks like. What had to happen to make this seemingly "ridiculous" statement a reality? How did we get there? 🤔

   You can also search for "signals of change", like news articles or research about similar ideas that might already exist today, to prove that this future might not be as ridiculous as first expected.

💌 Today's Letter from the Future is inspired by one of the group's future ideas:
“In the future, you can buy haberdashery at the pub”…

Let’s take a trip to the year 2034…

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Mending Monday down at the Pub 🍺🪡

Photo by Dan Barrett on Unsplash

[Monday 13th February, 2034]

I just got back from the pub - I know, on a Monday!

But of course, it's Mending Monday down at our local, like every week for the past two years.

Ever since the UK government committed to cut textile waste by 95% people have become almost obsessed with darning and mending. Especially here in Frome, loads of pubs are on board.

Walking through the doors already brings me joy. The tables are covered in colourful yarns and socks (thankfully there's a "clean socks only" policy). People clink glasses and compare darns.

You get a free needle and yarn with your pint if you bring a pair of socks to darn or another garment to mend.

There's a fun and silly sense of camaraderie and also quite a bit of healthy competition.

Some of the regulars are one-upping each other, showing off how many holes they can mend in one pair of socks - how long they can make them last.

I think the current record in my pub stands at 29 holes in only one sock!

There's even talk about putting on a sock fashion show to show off and celebrate all the colourful socks we mended together.

A few people aren't into mending themselves, so they buy their more crafty mates a pint in exchange for a colourful darn. That's cool too.

It's brought all sorts of unlikely people together and going to the pub has really become an intergenerational thing. Older people teach their (almost lost) skills to the younger generation. And the teenagers share the creative hacks they learned from TikTok.

I even heard from a few people that they've been feeling much less lonely since they started coming to Mending Mondays.

I know socks are such a little thing, but for many of us, they're a symbol of the whole transition that's currently underway. It's about coming together, making the most of the things we own instead of buying new things, and learning from each other.

I'd pick Mending Monday at the pub any day over going to one of those shopping malls we used to have to buy new socks.

Next week I'll bring my old hiking socks from the Inca Trail, I can't wait to wear them again.

Here’s to Mending Monday!

Cheers! 🍺

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Back to today, 2024…

✨ Let’s imagine together! ✨

• Would you join Mending Monday at your pub?

• Have you ever tried mending a sock or other clothes? Would you like to?

• What else went through your head when you read my letter from the future?

• I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

🍄 Signals of Change 🍄

• 🪡 How repairing clothes slows down climate change.

• 🔥 How your wardrobe can fight climate change.

• 🧶 Crafting in Covid, how textile groups reduce loneliness.

• 🧘‍♀️ Mending as a mindfulness practice. Imperial College has already been experimenting with weekly mindful mending sessions.

• 🎬 Watch this beautifully animated stop-motion video (8 mins) about emotional repair through wool:

What are you imagining? Please share with me in the comments!

Have a lovely and imaginative week!

Jenny

1. This game is from Jane McGonigal’s incredible book ‘Imaginable’.