24 billion shoes made every year — how did we get here?
24 billion pairs of shoes are made every year. One out of five pairs made are sent straight to the landfill. A world war created this globalized system of overproduction, and a global fight against climate change can reverse it.
The legacy of WWII
Manufacturing supply chains today, and their resulting waste and overproduction, are a vestige of the second world war. Remarkable for its scale and complexity, industrial ecosystems were developed around production targets. There was no question of whether an abundance of planes, tanks, and bullets would win the war and assure the peace. Overproduction was the goal.
The builders of shipyards and flight hangars, combat boots and bowie knives, never adapted to a peacetime economy built around efficient or sustainable production. The adoption of the GDP measurement standard in 1944 and its continued use today, equating as it does national production to national wealth, is iconic of this legacy.
What’s the alternative? We’ve become accustomed to an incredible diversity of products and the convenience of almost immediate delivery. That means having to overproduce, since it’s impossible to know what and when an item will be needed.
Back to the future
To go forward we must often look back. Prior to industrialization there was practically no overproduction because craftspeople made goods to order. This often meant higher quality products made by skilled artisans and a thriving local marketplace. There was an incredible diversity of product and a rich craft supporting it, but there was also far less material wealth and greater costs and time associated with each purchase.
The World Economic Forum argues we are living in a fourth industrial revolution, where computing power will remake our lives and economies alike. Erik Brynjolfsson, the director of MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy, sees a remarkable opportunity not for competition between man and machine in this new age, but for collaboration that can empower what is most human. One way this can happen is by leveraging digital manufacturing technology to allow for tailored, on-demand production. Technologies like generative design and 3D printing can allow for made-to-order products that still celebrate human artistry and hand craftsmanship.
“[T]he key to winning the race is not to compete against machines but to compete with machines.” — Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee
Just as the fight against fascism built our current industrial economy, the global fight against climate change can define a new, post-industrial economy. We can make only what we need, when we need it, but at the scale and speed of our digital economy, unlocking the creativity of the artisan in the process.
