System disruptions
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NO RETURN: An Inquiry into the Normalised Disposal of Garments in Contemporary Fashion Systems
University of Borås, Faculty of Textiles, Engineering and Business.
2026 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master of Fine Arts (Two Years)), 20 credits / 30 HE creditsStudent thesis [Artistic work]
Abstract [en]

Today's fashion industry remains deeply unsustainable, characterised by overproduction and accelerated cycles of consumption, as well as the systematic termination of garment lifespans through incineration, recycling, and landfill. While approaches such as Emotional Durable Design, upcycling, and garment repair attempt to extend the life of garments, these strategies remain limited within a system fundamentally driven by continuous production and disposal. This practice-based research emerged through working with a batch of brand-new men’s shirts discarded by a company before ever entering use. Rather than transforming them into new runway products through upcycling methods, the project treats each garment as a complete and individual entity, affirming the value of its existence beyond its commercial function. Through a series of artworks centred on burning, the project employs symbolic visual language to reenact the intended fate of discarded garments and expose the normalized violence embedded within contemporary systems of fashion disposal both on an individual level and an industrial level. By making this violence visible, the project invites reflection on the interconnected decisions across production, circulation, consumption, and disposal that collectively render a future of NO RETURN.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2026.
Keywords [en]
fashion system examination, garment disposal, overproduction, fashion consumption, incineration, garment lifespan, practice-based research
National Category
Design
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-36073OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hb-36073DiVA, id: diva2:2100050
Subject / course
Fashion Design
Available from: 2026-09-22 Created: 2026-09-10 Last updated: 2026-09-22Bibliographically approved

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fulltext(49153 kB)28 downloads
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488cdec76e6c40d51dea0d46feb2711d65dcd5722f4f7a0f8328ec0757599f23443881a6521ff4e8943d4b677cbecca83c55861765fd4bb5a85902f6e50c137c
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Faculty of Textiles, Engineering and Business
Design

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CiteExportLink to record
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Citation style
  • harvard-cite-them-right
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
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  • Other style
More styles
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  • de-DE
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  • Other locale
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Output format
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