Exhibited at Drafts 4.

Exhibited at Drafts 4.

The research project presented in this article investigated the role of the garment as an instigator of change through a series of practice-based experiments. Twenty-five knit garments, which had been discarded due to their being unsellable post-consumer waste materials, were collected and used to explore the potential of past design decisions The group of garments was considered to be a single design material to work with and reflect upon. A data analysis was conducted on the material with regard to fibre composition, colour, production country, structure, and shapes, before a series of experiments was conducted. Rather than being used to create a permanent artefact or a fixed form, the garments remained loose, plastic pieces throughout the research process, in order to be redefined through new actions to lead to the generation of new artefacts. Each experiment in the series ‘Expressions of Discarded Design Decisions’ was documented and numbered before the next was undertaken. Past design decisions, made during the production of garments, present a set of design variables and properties that can be used as a foundation for defining future design decisions. The design examples created as part of this experiment series raise questions, generate knowledge, and stimulate new thoughts in relation to the changing role of the designer and the process of searching for and adapting to new areas. The reflective framework suggested in this article posits the garment as an instigator of change, and has the potential to catalyse new ideas and methods for design practice and pedagogy.  

The result is a shift in perspective from the notion of ‘discarded garments’ to that of ‘discarded design decisions´. This points to the responsibility of the designer and opens up for new possibilities regarding rethinking habitual modes and procedures for new visions, ideas, theories, and practices.

Exhibited at Drafts 3.

Exhibited Artefact

Carefully placed on top of each other, the discarded sweaters, devalued and unsellable, pile up into layers of knit, shapes, structures, textures and colours – a mille-feuille of discarded design decisions. In the act of layering, new expressions arise, inviting one in seeing newpossibilities, potentials, ideas, and fantasy to dive into, and to explore. The artefact consistsof 50 discarded knitwear garments, sorted and donated by the non-profit organisation Björkåfrihet.Knitwear is among the most difficult of garment categories to resell due to its changingproperties. The garments are used in their given state without any further sorting or manipulation.

Role of Artefacts in this Research Project

The role of the artefact in our research practice is to visualize and communicateexplorations and developments of design theory and practice. The physical examples holda generative role, to evoke questions, visualize reasoning and inform the development ofthe thought process towards abstracted concepts and theory building. Hence the artefactembodies concepts and knowledge made available only through its existence. The physical example in our work generates and communicates knowledge and thoughts. It is both question and answer, both exploration and theory. The artefact serves to develop the theory in theprocess, the resulting artefact is the theory in concrete means. ‘Such a discovery can be founded on a very sudden, or more gradual, insight. It is a matter of “seeing”, in this case seeing that there is a certain substance/element with certain remarkable properties.’ (Hallnäs, 2018)

This study seeks to advance upcycling methods in fashion practice with the specificity of design methods that centre on revaluation and resignification of waste materials. The development of three key approaches to upcycling were tested for future application as design briefs and pedagogies in practice and education. These were developed through the acquisition, sorting and selection of a large sample of secondhand, consumer waste materials across fashion and textiles sectors. Practice-based experiments and the use of different forms of photo documentation examined and explored distinct ways to creatively understand waste material properties, conditions and potential. Fashion and material studies frameworks of object biographies, wardrobe studies, waste, secondhand material economies and art practice approaches of reclaimed materials expanded and refined the approaches. “Material Inventories” is proposed as a creative and analytical method to identify, sort and annotate pre- and post-consumer waste materials. “Garment ontologies” delineates how traditionally “design” in fashion practice is separate from materials and production. These methods enable a deeper investigation into material qualities, conditions, and reuse potential for extended life cycles. This experimental study presents novel and relevant findings with a compelling material sample and practice-based methods adjacent to scholarship in this area that are predominately theoretical- or case study-based.

The level of complexity in designing and making knitwear is high, as it entails learning about both textile construction techniques and form-building. This research explores the potential of discarded knit garments as a learning tool in fashion knitwear design within higher education, to bridge the gap between translating small-scale two-dimensional knitted samples into a garment collection. Digital sketching and virtual sampling are not sufficient for the full understanding of knitwear design. Practice-based learning is key to fully grasping the potential of the knits. In addition to foundational technology and practice, existing garments can also be considered to be an open source for deriving technical knowledge and a basis for design ideation. In order to explore the potential of garment-based learning in knitwear design processes, a three-and-a-half day workshop was conducted within a basic knitting course for first-year BA Fashion Design students. The participants were divided into groups and instructed to select, analyse, and create new knitted designs using discarded garments, and to reflect on their learning outcomes. The knowledge gained during the workshop bridged the gap between the knit samples and the garment collection making. In their reflections, the students expressed a deeper understanding of various knit properties, structures, and technologies in relation to knitted garment forms and details, as being useful learning outcomes from the workshop, which they were then able to apply to their collection making processes. The collaborative, interactive, and communicative nature of the group work in relation to processes and actions was expressed to be highly beneficial, and the inclusive approach of sharing knowledge and joint learning facilitated creative and technical development. This ‘re-design for pre-design’ approach deepened the understanding of knitwear design using existing garments – constituting garment- based learning – and suggested a sustainable, practice-based method of learning with a high potential within higher eucation in fashion design. 

In the paper that the session draws upon, a case study on a small-scale creative producer in fashion design in Gothenburg, Sweden was conducted which led to conclusions relating to fashion design education. 

The session acknowledges that with the common outsourcing of production, there is a division between ideation and production processes in fashion. Conversely, at small-scale creative producers the two phases are intertwined, constituting a melting pot for innovative forms and ideas for new organizations and creative leadership. In turn, this facilitates sustainable approaches within the design as well as economic processes. This case study was conducted through interviews with the founder, designer and creative director of industry, Rickard Lindqvist, where three main areas were looked into; new organizational forms and innovative leadership that have been generated within this local small-scale creative producer, the challenges of new organizational forms and innovative leadership that this small-scale creative business had to face, and the meeting of economic sustainability and design skills within the business.

The interviews highlighted several key elements in how to form a sustainable small scale creative production with innovation and development in focus. Key elements were identified; synced team building, development of business models as part of the design process, collaborations, openness to new craft approaches, digitalization, open source and self-leadership. Rather than as a separate process, the production process is here viewed as a source for ideation. A division between ideation and production risks overlooking possibilities for conscious sustainable design decisions embedded in the production process.

Independence and flexibility were emphasized in this case study as being of main importance for resilience in the challenges of future innovative developments, on organizational, design and production level, but evenly on a creative director’s level. In the context of higher education in fashion design, the talk will conclude that there’s a need to further develop and strengthen above core values - independence and flexibility- through pedagogic strategies and principles within course syllabi, aiming to facilitate the forming of innovative and economically sustainable design organizations.