This paper discusses Make/Use, a multi-disciplinary research project exploring “User Modifiable Zero Waste Fashion”. In particular, it addresses the use of textile print and a parametric matrix to facilitate the cognitive and creative processes involved in the transformation from two-dimensional (2D) to three-dimensional (3D) form. The Make/Use project centers on the development and testing of an embedded navigational system by which users can formulate a functional understanding of the form and construction of a garment and its opportunities for manipulation. It questions how the encoding of navigational clues and markers into a garment might aid in its facility for creation and modification by the user, aiming to enhance emotional investment and connection, and extending its functional life by providing embedded opportunities for alteration and visible repair.

This paper discusses research currently being undertaken which addresses the interrelated volume, value and cost of waste and the responsibility designers have in their creation. The paper beginning by outlining the contemporary waste problem (in the fashion industry). Then utilizing observations made during recent field tests - where waste reduction and elimination were applied to existing designs - the impact that explicit and implicit design hierarchies and complexity have on waste minimization attempts are discussed. Questions such as: is waste a problem in the context of proposed circular economy models? After all, if we have a circular economy, then any waste we make can be put back into the cycle. So, will the CE let designers (and industry) off the hook? Lastly, I speculate as to what a fashion industry without waste might look like, discussing my design response to the issues raised.

This practice-based design research explores methods of eliminating textile waste through utilising zero waste pattern cutting to expand the outcomes possible through composite garment weaving and speculates as to the implications for the wider industry and society. Employing a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, I tested known strategies in the context of industry and responded with new emergent strategies to the challenges that arose. The findings that emerged from the iterative design practice, and surrounding discussions and reflections, inform the experimental design work that follows. It is this experimental ‘future-making’ that is the focus of this paper, which outlines foundational pattern cutting theory and methods for an emerging field – composite garment weaving – as well as findings relating to the impact and use of technology in the fashion industry while bringing into sharp relief the inherent conflicts that exist within the fashion system.