The Life of a Dress explores possible ways to use, improve and reconfigure the current system of fashion through reclaiming what the system itself is creating and wasting. The concept of sustainable design is explored as an approach which is here defined as being sensitive to the local and global context. The exhibition and workshop has since 2009 visited different continents and countries to share its content and learn from local projects and people about ways of how to rethink the use of materials. It is exploring how second-hand dresses found in local markets and streets may be used as assets for further transformation. Craft workshops and prototyping labs are created around the collected materials and people are invited to join in. During these workshops participants are encouraged to challenge current structures and ways of thinking around materials and making. The BIG MAMA, a mini-dress similar to an oversized t-shirt is one example of a product which is made in most of the workshops. It is a catalyst element normally brought in to the making process to see how the participants interact with the given materials and each other and how this may vary between different countries. The exhibitions are normally built up around the map dress which rests like a symbol for the global nature of textiles, clothing and fashion. Imagination is used and regarded as the main renewable resource in and outside this project. Creativity and its various forms of expressions is further explored and used to drive to project forward.