Clothes

The famous heyday of the rulers of Florence had a direct link with the textile industry. The Dutch industrial era began with textile-manufactures and ended with their bankruptcy. Cheap, slavish Chinese labourers produce anything and everything, including textile.

Of course you don’t keep clothes for trading but for wearing. Clothes make the wearer. They can tell your surroundings who you are if you want them to.

Food might be the start of colourcash, but clothing is the decisive factor in colourcash. Valuable, pretty, nice, unique and affordable. A sign of independence and identity. Freedom. Emotion.

Just like in the late Middle Ages we will make everything with fibres that do well locally. Flax and Hemp for Holland. Cotton has a short fibre and it’s difficult to spin it manually. Wool is rather obvious, but as supplementary material. Wool is too hot in the summer, isn’t it?

The raw materials can be grown locally in the garden. Carpenters and toolmakers can still make the old machines, so tools like spinning wheels and looms will make a comeback. Save energy, push with your feet! And there’s no need to go to the gym at night!

Once the fabrics are made, they can be transported and traded. On any given location they can be turned into clothing or other textile products like bed linen or curtains.

With a bit of luck local styles and even traditional dress will come back as well, but I won’t make any predictions on that.