Future Free Display Level 2
Future Observatory: Tomorrow’s Wardrobe
In this free display, discover the urgent research and innovation taking place to design a future for fashion that is both stylish and sustainable.
What to expect
Tomorrow's Wardrobe brings together a diversity of designers from across the fashion industry who are revolutionising the way we create, make, and wear clothes – including Stella McCartney, Ponda, Ahluwalia, Salomon, Ranra, Phoebe English and Vivobarefoot.
The fashion and textile industry is one of the most environmentally damaging design fields at work today. The footprint of our wardrobes extends from textile production in farms and factories to the design process in fashion houses. Though a significant driver of the UK economy, the impact of fashion is felt across the world in the form of material waste, ecological degradation, water pollution, exploitative working conditions and overproduction: annual garment production has doubled since 2000 and is expected to have increased by 60% in 2030.
Tomorrow’s Wardrobe showcases the urgent research and innovation taking place across the UK to rethink how the world of fashion works. Moving from fabric landscapes to design studios to individual garments, the display presents a future built from both high-tech and low-tech tools: sewing machines, robotic arms, artificial intelligence, digital ids, upcycling, recycling and more.
Tomorrow’s Wardrobe is curated by Future Observatory, the Design Museum’s national research programme for the green transition. Future Observatory is coordinated by the Design Museum in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
The display has been supported by curatorial advisors Kate Goldsworthy (UAL), Jalaj Hora (Nike) and Susan Postlethwaite (Manchester Metropolitan University).
Tomorrow's Wardrobe display photos: Aaron Parsons for the Design Museum
Courtesy of Ahluwalia, SS24 show, photo by Jason Lloyd-Evans
Yellow jumper designed by Phoebe English, produced in partnership with South East England Fibreshed, in Tomorrow’s Wardrobe. Photo: Aaron Parsons
Courtesy of Ponda
Courtesy of Ranra
Falabella bag with BioPuff padding, by Stella McCartney with Ponda. Photo: Aaron Parsons
Jeans by Nobody’s Child, featuring a Digital Product Passport. Photo: Aaron Parsons
. Shirt and knit tank from Toast’s 2024 visible repair line. Photo: Aaron Parsons
Courtesy of Vivobarefoot
Large-scale commissioned illustration by Max Guther made in collaboration with a group of design researchers, that imagines the fashion landscape for the late-2030s.
Visit information
The display will be open to visitors until August 2025, following the museum's opening hours.
No tickets are required to see our free displays.
Future Observatory
Future Observatory curates exhibitions, programmes events and funds and publishes new research, all with the aim of championing new design thinking envisioning the green transition.
Future Observatory Journal
The biannual online journal platforms new research, new forms of practice and new narratives from designers working towards a liveable future. Exploring design and ecology, the publication features in-depth and interactive essays, case studies, interviews, critical analysis and striking photography from designers and researchers around the world.
Background image: Future Wardrobe's commissioned illustration by Max Guther.