Supervisor:
Hilde Angelfoss
Stein Rokseth
Hoping this will lead to creativity and attachment to the wardrobe for the user, making them keep what they have for longer and lessen the need to acquire new clothes.
Background
My starting point was a rising problem that I wanted to dive into with a solution that I don’t see enough. With the rapid evolution of the fast fashion industry - the piles of discarded textiles have become a common sight. Cheap prices, overproduction, and low-quality products leads to detachment from our wardrobes and a buy-and-throw-away culture. Things are being done to address this problem, like sourcing sustainable materials and adding legislations, but I wanted to explore more about the parts of the products itself.
Exploration
A big part of this project has been to map out the possibilities. I have done this with both sketching and making test pieces with fastening mechanims and techniques that could be used in a various ways on the garments. I also made concepts on how this could be incorporated into more specific garments, and have been looking into the benefits, disadvantages, and functionality behind these ways of flexibility.
Result
This resulted in two products - a guidebook collecting the information, inspiration, and techniques I have been working on through the project, and an illustrative jacket made to showcase this information and techniques, hoping to show the potential in it and inspire others to investigate this way of designing garments.
The guidebook
This is an extract of what it could potentially be, focusing on some background information about why this guide should be made and used, how it can be used, an analysis of different extra materials that can be useful, different techniques that can be applied in a various number of garments in different price ranges, functions and aesthetics, and potential ways of use. This is just the beginning of something, where content like tutorials, sustainable materials, production methods and in general more definition to the topics could be added.
The illustrative jacket
I chose to make a jacket because the potential to adjust functions in this kind of garments is high. It is also made without any aesthetics in mind, but simply to showcase techniques and fastening mechanism. The sleeves are removable with zippers, which then also makes it into a vest. The length can be adjusted by removing the extra panel added at the bottom of the jacket with buttons. The collar can be worn in different ways, but also removed by help of the press studs. Both the sleeves and the base have drawstrings which makes it possible to tighten the fit to adjust it to your own preference.
Contact
Andrea Skovdahl / ansk@live.no