The original Luddites weren’t anti-technology — they were textile workers in 1811 who smashed the machines that threatened their livelihoods and craft. Two centuries later, similar problems result in a similar resistance: Brooklyn teens are founding Luddite Clubs built around flip phones and Prospect Park reading circles. The Light Phone III just launched the waitlist for its third-generation dumbphone. Meanwhile “naive design” — hand-drawn, deliberately imperfect visuals — is one of the defining graphic trends of 2026.

There’s a look, too. In Oaxaca, the Du Xhil cooperative is reviving backstrap loom weaving with natural indigo and cochineal dyes. Bode is building a whole label on deadstock fabrics, hand-quilting, and trims pulled from antique button jars. 11.11/eleven eleven dyes everything with plant-based pigments. At Paris Haute Couture last year, Vaishali Shadangule’s Kintsugi collection made mending the entire point. There’s a common palette: clay, indigo, walnut, unbleached cotton. The New Luddites are online. They just want the things they love to outlast the algorithm.

• Read Vogue’s Anti-AI Slop Playbook
• Why digital detoxes can’t be cold turkey
• Why it’s fun to be frustrated by analog tech
• How sashiko is threading through fashion

The New LudditesBy @cosmos

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