Net 'Drobe Dot Com
I want to go to the website, browse through the clothing items available for the coming month, fill my shopping cart with my selections, maybe a couple weeks worth of clothing selections depending on what's coming up in my life, enter my membership number, etc., put the rental fees on my card, and then select "Submit".
In a few days, my clothing selections would arrive. I would unpack the items into my dresser. When done, I would empty my dirty clothes hamper back into the shipment box, no need to sort the colors from the whites, no laundry detergent to buy, no washing machine breakdowns to fret about, no rummaging for quarters to feed to the laundromat machines.
I would simply seal the box up, affix the Return Label, and notify U.P.S. I had a pick-up for them.
Naturally, all my transactions with the Net 'Drobe site would be by way of an anonymous membership number. This would ease whatever potential embarrassment I might feel regarding the state of certain clothing items I'm returning.
I want to rent my clothes and then return them once I've worn them. Our problem is that we've been trained to believe it's necessary that we actually own our clothes. They want us to buy. This drives Fashion. But if we could all pick whatever new wardrobe appeals to us for the coming few weeks, think of the fun we could have. Think of the delightful variety we would see on the street, in the work place, in clubs and restaurants in the evenings.
Party conversation: "Oh! Hey! I wore that shirt last week! It's great, isn't it?"
Teens would develop a sense of their own look rather than adopting "the current uniform". We would begin to think for ourselves instead of surrendering our personal appearance options to somebody else's crimped and stifling sense of fashion. Democracy would be reborn.
Why can't clothes be like DVDs? Who the hell wants to own a DVD? You want to rent it when the mood strikes. You want to spend your money on renting, not owning, so you can utilize your limited resources exploring what's out there. Owning takes up space. Think of all the other uses you could put that closet space to.
No more holes in the toes of your socks. No more fatigued elastic bands in your undershorts. No more missing buttons on your shirts.
Here's the deal... Modern Laundry Science has made us safe from catching each other's cooties. You can survive wearing underwear someone else has already worn. Don't be so neurotic.
Sigh... sounds like wardrobe heaven to me.
(God I hate laundry day....)
When you do thi and become a multi-billionaire and The Wall Street Journal writes articles about how innovative you were, are you going to admit it was just because you hated doing laundry?
Posted by: Maureen McHugh | March 13, 2005 at 08:41 AM
Well, I mean... what other reason could there be for doing anything?
Posted by: Mike the Corpuscle | March 13, 2005 at 08:59 AM
I recoil in horror.
I hate the thought of having to think about clothes so much and find things that fit me and don't look stupid. Your system would increase the time I spend thinking about clothes by about a thousand percent.
Essentially, I wear the same thing all the time. I have several very similar pairs of winter pants in black and navy, and several pairs of very similar jeans and summer pants in navy and blue. I have approximately a zillion blue cotton shirts, in slightly different shades of blue. I also have two bras and lots of knickers. I also have a couple of blue sweaters, for cold weather. I get up in the morning and put on clean versions of what I wore yesterday, and the day before, and so on. I have one dress and two fancy blue shirts hanging in the closet (actually in Emmet's closet, as mine is full of books) for special occasions. If any of this stuff wears out, I replace it as painlessly as possible with something as identical to itself as possible.
Of course, I don't look as cool as you and the other cool kids do, but that's a small price to pay for freeing up the energy it would take to worry about what to wear.
And also, the other really significant thing, I don't mind doing laundry. In fact, I do the whole family's laundry, it's one of my jobs, and it doesn't bother me at all. I'd offer to do yours, if I thought it would help.
But I suppose I could use your rental service on the rare occasions when I need something I don't have. (I felt so smug when people were talking about needing to dress up for the World Fantasy banquet, because I already had a dress.)
I've often thought how nice it would be to be covered in plush fur and not need to wear clothes.
Posted by: Jo Walton | March 14, 2005 at 08:49 AM
I imagine you would not be one of my steady customers, not because you wear essentially the same thing all the time, but because you don't mind doing laundry.
For those who do mind doing laundry, but who also wear the same things all the time, the solution is easy. We simply have a "Your Favorites" subscription whereby the same set of clothing items are delivered to you once each month.
I'm also thinking of a "Times Worn" option whereby you could indicate how broken-in you would like the individual clothing items to be/feel. People have an infinite variety of preferences in this regard. Some like that "fresh out of the package" feel. Some like the raggedy item hanging off their various body protuberances by a single thread. We aim to please.
Honestly, I don't think I could make joining the Net 'Drobe Hive Mind any easier.
And by the way, I am far from a fashion plate. I would utilize my "Favorites" subscription service to deliver to my doorstep the same (looking/feeling) pair of semi-worn-out jeans endlessly. Shirts, I might have 4 or 5 varieties. Underwear and socks, the same batch each month.
I hate thinking about my clothing options probably as much as you do. The opportunity to experiment and explore is for some other demographic. For my part, as soon as I find something that reliably fends off nakedness, I stick with it.
Posted by: Mike the Corpuscle | March 14, 2005 at 09:16 AM
GENIUS! you know, in college i lived far from a laundromat and hated laundry anyway, so would hit ragstock or salvation army on my way home for a 2nd-hand frock to wear the next day or later that night if i had plans... every so often, i'd gather the clothes off my floor & into a pillow-case, drop 'em at the goodwill. weren't dirty per se, it was just too easy to wear something "new" every day! 2nd-hand was so CHEAP then--couldn't pay over $4 for a skirt if i wanted to--and all the cute stuff wasn't gobbled up for overpriced vintage boutiques. truly a disposable, yet snappy, wardrobe. these days, i shop in regular stores, since it's actually cheaper to buy new than used (go figgur) & designers have more of a clue now (influenced by vintage!), but hrmph!! i still don't like wearing the same thing twice, and would NOT if i could just trade in my newest anthropologie find for some mod '60s something that could eventually be swapped for a smart office suit... be just like netflix! keep an outfit as long as you want, get a fresh one upon the outfit's return!
Posted by: vicky | March 21, 2005 at 02:09 PM
Yeah, see, you had (essentially) the same idea years ago and you made it work. You are my "proof of concept". I may have to drag you along when I meet with the Venture Capitalists.
Posted by: Mike the Corpuscle | March 21, 2005 at 06:12 PM