Connected, but lonely.
Introducing: The Out of Office Uniform a merch collection as a social tool for connection.
The internet was supposed to make our world more open and connected, yet, after many friend requests, we've never felt more isolated. The latest stats are a statement to that: 60% of Americans are lonely. This is even more shocking when we consider the research that suggests loneliness is as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
Tracing the evolution of human connection reveals a fascinating thread. Throughout history, what made us feel a sense of connection and created a connective tissue between neighbors were public gathering places (squares, parks etc.) and so-called “Third Places”. These physical "third places," as sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined, are places beyond the home and the office – the library, church, and coffee shops, and play a vital role in fostering a sense of community and social connectedness.
More recent history links the idea of third places to the development of modern coffee shops, which became especially popular in Europe as places for philosophers, intellectuals, and socialites to gather and exchange ideas in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Then, with the industrial age came the office. Quickly, work turned into a new religion, and the office became the place where we’d spend most of our time.
Fast forward to the present, technology has significantly changed how we interact and use third places. With the abrupt interruption of the traditional in-place 9-5 in 2020, Zoom became our new office. When working from the comfort of pajamas becomes indistinguishable from a pair of slacks, it becomes increasingly difficult to encourage people to leave the comfort of their homes and gather. The physical and social ergonomics of work look increasingly like sitting in solitude, connected by screens, tethered to keyboards — working together, alone.
Now, after more than two years of remote-working wars, it feels like half of the workforce is being forced back into offices, while the other half is working from home — both feel lonely and disconnected from people and environments around them (declared a “Loneliness Epidemic” by the WHO)
What we are investigating
We’re curious to explore the necessary social infrastructures and tools for this new way of living and working — out of office.
The number of remote/hybrid workers is growing exponentially— we’re expected to see 32.6 million by 2025. And while flexibility and autonomy boost job satisfaction, the rituals (or lack of them) of WFH can quickly devolve into isolation, a lack of novelty by limiting the range of experiences that people have access to on a daily basis.
As Zeus Jones highlights, in our increasingly digital world, the digital tools that enable remote work are the anchors keeping us stuck in a repetitive rut of sameness. Which leaves us with a profound longing for connection and novel experiences to punctuate the mundane rhythms of the day-to-day.
We’re asking:
👉 How can we build permission, purpose, and structure* to leave our comfort zones of the home office to foster connections and creative inspiration amongst remote/hybrid workers?
*framework by the one and only Shuya Gong
Introducing: The Out of Office Uniform
"What you wear is how you present yourself to the world, especially today, when human contacts are so quick. Fashion is instant language." —Miuccia Prada
Throughout history, uniforms have been about protection and utility—they are the tools for work that we wear closest to us, so close that we rarely think of them as tools at all. But there’s something else special about uniforms—or band merch, or university swag, or any uniquely branded wearable. They help us find each other and create a sense of belonging, blending utility with identity.
With distributed work often leaving us feeling lonely, disconnected, and uninspired, we’re interested in new social infrastructures and incentives that work used to provide. That afternoon snack break when you used to complain about a project schedule, that spontaneous coffee that unlocked a new idea, or the daily small interactions, like a neighborhood nod to your local barista on your way to work, that makes you feel connected and build consistent, local ties.
With this first merch drop, we’re exploring a fun way to transcend the confines of WFH’s digital isolation and make connections with like-minded people. It’s a symbol of belonging to a creative, dynamic network and a unique way to facilitate real-world interaction for freelancers, creatives, and remote/hybrid workers.
We’re thinking about this “uniform” and merch collection as a social tool for connection.
How it works
We’re planning on pricing this merch collection to be slightly higher than what you’d typically see for merch—we’re excited to share the cost breakdown with you! After covering production costs, the rest of the sales go into funding an OOO Community Fund. If two or more people wearing their OOO merch meet up in a café, park, or co-working space, they unlock that pool of funds to buy each other a treat. You’ve essentially pre-bought a coffee chat or coworking meetup ahead of time, and all that’s left is to actually say hello! We’re curious about this approach to connection and membership being built on network mechanisms that share genuine and meaningful value.
To test this hunch that a piece of merch is an invitation to break the ice, we’re starting with a small diary study. Interested in a side quest? Let us buy you a coffee—sign up here.
This uniform is a collaboration between Out of Office Network x Chaotic Goods a research and design collective building tools to navigate the emotional ergonomics of cyberphysical spaces—what are the new feelings we experience from the internet?
Yey! It's happening!