Welcome to dot.
An idea for a global clothing company which empowers creatives, small businesses, craftspeople and customers.
dot.
There are three ways of reacting to the shortcomings of the fashion industry. You can expose the industry verbally, you can boycott it, or you can build an alternative. The latter has the advantage that you expose the inadequacies by creating something new.
dot. is a possible alternative to fashion companies as we know them, and it addresses all pressing questions regarding the future of our societies and of our planet.
The core
At the core of the ideas for dot. is The Millions of Dwarfs Approach.
In short: create locally, offer globally, produce locally.
In other words, dot.international will provide the framework for millions of small businesses around the world to partake on the global market.
A simplified example
A designer in Paraguay offers their cardigans on the dot.website. A customer in Riga orders a cardigan, and the dot.workshop in Riga produces it.
The designer receives a percentage for the design. The workshop in Riga strengthens the local economy. The customer has access to products from around the world without supporting exploitation or incurring transportation costs. And the planet has less waste to deal with because only ordered products will be produced.
The blueprint
The ideas for dot. can be used as a blueprint for other business sectors such as footwear, toys, publishing, pharmaceuticals, Fine Art Prints, furniture and more. Some of these business ideas are briefly introduced on the dot.tour.
Maybe you are wondering now
What’s dot. to me? Why should I care how a company is run?
Well, if you don’t care how the products you buy are made, then exploitation, discrimination and the destruction of our planet will continue.
If you do care, everything is possible, and we will all be better off because ‘A restored planet is the basis for unrivalled prosperity.’
Highlights
dot.story
Edinburgh, Tunis and the world
The dot.story illustrates the ideas for dot. while connecting to all corners of the planet and using the world’s largest theatre festival: the Edinburgh Fringe as backdrop.
The story starts with Leathan, a young designer in Edinburgh, who begins to work with dot. at a time when the local dot.station is in trouble. Together with Calli, a local dot.designer who takes him under her wings, they come up with an idea for the Edinburgh festivals in August, an idea that gets everyone talking — and laughing, and that might turn the dot.station’s fate.
or download the preview as pdf-file to test it on your device(s).
Background: Scotland, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the dot.story, and me
e-book
dot.story
268 pages, 69k words
dot.appendix
77 pages, 13k words
3 files pdf files, optimised for mobile phone & tablet
- dot.story & appendix
- dot.tour
- book stations tour
About the author
Me and fashion have a long history of me ignoring fashion. In fact, fashion doesn’t make sense to me.
What does make a lot of sense to me is to wear things I like, things that suit me, things that suit my mood or my purpose. Unfortunately, those things are rarely available.
And that’s why I love the dot.idea so much. Once it’s build, I will never have to go shopping again. I will be able to communicate what I need, and somewhere on our planet a designer will know exactly what I mean – and I guess, we will both be pretty happy about that.
2023/24 has been a lot about recovery, after my body went on strike after years of overwork, and now that I am back, I wonder again how to find the people who have the courage and drive to make dot. happen.
I would love to focus on writing my books, but for dot., the Hub and some of the other project ideas, I would put down the pen and do whatever I can to make this happen.
If you read this, and you are even remotely interested in dot., please, get in touch.
Charlie Alice Raya, 28 March 2025
Contact
I look forward to hearing from you.
You can write directly to contact@dot-international.net
Emails will be answered within 72 hours whenever possible.
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