Gene Roddenberry believed clothes wouldn’t wrinkle in Star Trek

Gene Roddenberry believed clothes wouldn’t wrinkle in Star Trek.

Star Trek is a show about hope, optimism, unity, and coming together. It’s also about non-wrinkle fabrics, apparently. Gene Roddenberry personally oversaw the launch of the Star Trek original series, the first five-plus films and the launch of the new series, The Next Generation. During his tenure as creator and head-creative honcho, Roddenberry came up with a lot of weird things. Well endowed Ferengi, Orion sex slaves, and maybe the oddest thing of all; non-wrinkle clothes.

That’s right, Roddenberry believed that in the future, when Star Trek took place, that the idea of wrinkled clothes would be a thing of the distant past. So when designing the uniforms for the Next Generation series, Roddenberry made his desire for a wrinkle-free future a reality. He and the designers constructed a jumpsuit that had little straps that would wrap around the actor’s feet. This was done to help pull at the jumpsuit and keep the clothes from wrinkling.

There’s just one problem, the jumpsuits were causing back pains so severe that Patrick Stewart was advised to sue the show.

New uniforms beaming up.

The issues with the jumpsuits were resolved when the show switched to a coat/pants combo instead. The old uniforms had no collar and a stripe on the shoulders to add a dash of extra color. The newer uniforms added a collar but rid themselves of that extra stripe of color. Maybe not the best idea.

The old uniform was still used at times but the new one became the standard going forward, much to most of the cast’s joy. Not only was the original uniform for the show torture on the back, but the fabric didn’t breathe well, causing odors to linger throughout the shoots.

All this because Roddenberry believed wrinkles wouldn’t exist in the 24th century.