I witnessed a truly inspiring speech yesterday from Simonetta Carbonara of REAL-ISE down at Organic Exchange.
Starting with the brutal recognition that western quality of life has stopped improving, Simonetta built an emotionally-charged narrative around our human search for a simpler, more authentic, more humane lifestyle and the absence of meaningfulness in our consumption-driven world.
She argues for an anti-technological and anti-consumption approach and rails against Masstige as the very antithesis of this approach. I couldn’t agree more, and will make essentially the same case, with less emotion, at this month’s International Apparel Federation Global Conference, introducing the concept of ‘Simplux’ brands.
Inverting Masstige will not only be more humanly rewarding, and more ethical, but also will chime well with both recessionary and more sustainability-sensitive times. Branding for the ‘Freegan’ perhaps?