OUT OF FASHION!
The most uncomfortable bible of responsible fashion.
In September 2024, Matteo Ward published FUORIMODA! – a work we can unhesitatingly call the new bible of responsible fashion. A book that doesn't just denounce, but forces us to deeply reflect on our role within the fashion system.
Let's start by asking ourselves a fundamental question: why is there a need for out-of-fashion?
Because we are not just consumers or target markets. We are people who make choices every day. And these choices—even those that seem insignificant, like buying a garment—have tangible consequences on our future, on the planet, and on the dignity of other human lives.
In the book's preface, Ward specifies that the term sustainability is a concept linked to the search for balance. Being sustainable means being in balance with the biosphere and ensuring that our actions are in balance with the regenerative capacity of resources . For this reason, living in a complex system like today's society, it's impossible to call ourselves sustainable. We can strive for sustainability by taking responsibility for our own choices, to ensure the diversity of the world we live in for future generations.
Ward takes a step back in time and takes us to 17th-century France. It was at the court of Louis XIV, the Sun King, that one of the first mechanisms of cyclical consumption was born: the introduction of fashion "seasons." Two annual collections (spring/summer and autumn/winter) were imposed on the nobility to fuel the state economy. This is where the current concept of planned obsolescence has its roots, a device that today dominates not only the fashion industry but every aspect of our daily lives.
All this has led to a degenerative system that can no longer sustain itself. Companies should begin to transition from fashion centrism to eco-centrism, evaluating their performance not based on their own financial situation but rather on the value they can generate for society and the environment.
OUT OF FASHION! is neither a simple analysis nor an operational manual. It is a narrative journey that leads the reader toward a growing awareness, culminating in a final reflection as lucid as it is unsettling. Throughout the book, Ward identifies four key moments that led to the current situation: the invention of seasonal collections in 17th-century France, the social and environmental exploitation of the Industrial Revolution, the invention of artificial and synthetic fibers between the 19th and 20th centuries, the use of synthetic fibers, and the growing role of communication and marketing in the second half of the 20th century.
After providing a general overview of the industry's unsustainability, his reflection on demographic distance as an emotional distance stands out. Most of us have never visited the manufacturing industries of Bangladesh, Latin America, or Southeast Asia. Ward has. He has met people, listened to stories, and collected testimonies that confront us with an uncomfortable truth: if we can't physically approach these realities, we must at least do so with our minds and hearts.
Get informed, study, become aware, take action, even in a small way, because fashion concerns everyone; every day we open our wardrobes and get dressed.
One of the most frequent questions that arise when faced with these themes is: how can we reconcile ethics with the aesthetic, social, and cultural desire that fashion inevitably represents?
Ward doesn't evade the issue. On the contrary, he addresses it clearly: a product cannot be considered complete if it only fulfills one function. Philosophical and design studies remind us that it's essential to also consider form and process . It's in this balance that sustainable fashion finds its place. And yes, there are brands that fully embody these values.
But what really matters—and what the book emphasizes—is our ability to prolong the pleasure of using the clothes we own . Sustainability doesn't lie in the compulsive purchase of green clothing, but in learning to appreciate what we have, establishing a more stable, long-lasting, and respectful relationship with our clothes, also because nothing is truly out of fashion!