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Abstract
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.
Notes
1. This concept for zero waste garments has been explored further in a textile context by Greta Menzies’ Master of Design thesis “Conversational skins : heirloom 'pelts' that emerge and evolve” (Menzies Citation2015). G. Menzies was the textile designer for Make/Use.
2. Also known as a “sloper”.
3. An unlined coat from Burda patterns (Burda, Citationn.d-a) requires 250 cm of 150 cm wide cloth. While the Make/Use Long Coat, with a similar silhouette, requires only 150 cm of a 155 cm wide cloth. A pair of trousers from Burda (Citationn.d-b) requires 230 cm of 140 cm wide cloth, while the Make/Use Spiral Trouser of a similar design requires 155 cm of 150 cm wide cloth for two pairs, or only 78 cm of 150 cm wide cloth if using a reversible fabric.
4. Fuad-Luke also proposes a model of “Modular Evolved Products” (Citation2009, 101) where products are designed to be easily repaired.
5. Locations so far include: Dunedin, Wellington and Auckland, NZ; Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, USA; London, UK; and Borås, Sweden.
6. See supplementary material.
7. As in all Make/Use garments, any excess neck or arm hole fabric is retained (featured as a flap or folded back and sewn to the adjacent fabric), allowing for future mending/resetting.
8. Tilke Citation1922; Balenciaga Citation1961; Telfer Citation2008; Rissanen Citation2013; McQuillan Citation2014 and many others.
9. Differences in fabric dimensions, placement of cut lines, volume redistribution, neckline and body shaping possibilities, color and textile print, and the potential for maker-users to create their own modifications, allow an infinite number of garment possibilities.
10. We noted other critiques, such as a high degree of difficulty finishing the edges. This was resolved in a range of ways such as painted or pre-embroidered edges through the research. These are not the focus of this paper.
11. See Bernard Rudofsky’s (Citation1947) Are Clothes Modern, page 146 for an early (1873) example of this approach.
12. As a cheap but inflexible proxy to cloth, participants are asked to scrunch up their paper and flatten it a couple of times to soften it so it behaves more like cloth.
13. As with the in-house testing, we found that guidance was needed in explaining the underlying geometry and sequence for a greater success rate. This is discussed in the conclusion.
14. The Make/Use Crop T-shirt for which the wayshowing print was designed will fit only a New Zealand size 8–12.
15. Seam allowances are not discussed here, but these can be allowed for in the calculations or resolved through alternative edge finishing and joining methods.
16. Adjusting the fabric width will change the body circumference, and shoulder width and sleeve length. Adjusting the fabric length and/or the placement of the upper two divisions will change garment length and sleeve depth.
17. Prefinishing techniques explored in Make/Use ranged from simple analog processes to more complex specialty techniques and included digital embroidery, machine sewing, felting and hand painting using latex and house paint.
18. Assuming the esthetic impact of resetting is acceptable to the user.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Holly McQuillan
Holly McQuillan is a designer, writer, and facilitator, who works primarily in the field of sustainable design practice.Holly is a leader in the field of Zero Waste Fashion, curating and designing for exhibits of contemporary zero waste fashion design practice, and is co-author of Zero Waste Fashion Design (2016). Formerly at Massey University New Zealand, where the Make/Use research was conducted, she is currently a PhD student at the Swedish School of Textiles.
J. Archer-Martin
Jen Archer-Martin is a spatial designer, lecturer, and researcher at Massey University, Wellington. Her collaborative, interdisciplinary design practice seeks to facilitate temporary installations, events, performances, and exhibitions, with experience in residential architecture and commercial interior design.
G. Menzies
Greta Menzies is a Wellington-based artist/designer, who recently completed her MDes and is currently a freelance designer. Her work considers the transformational and performative possibilities of bodies and clothing. Future thinking and a concern for sustainable practice inform her work.
J. Bailey
Jo Bailey is a lecturer and designer at Massey University School of Design in Wellington. She’s interested in facilitating access to information through design, whatever format or form that takes. With a former-life degree in Geography, she has a strong interest in the environment and conservation. She believes in making things as simple as they can be, but not simpler.
K. Kane
Karl Kane’s research focuses on service, experience and social design, civic participation, and brand communication. His research interests primarily sit within the area of twenty-first Century Citizenship. He teaches in the visual communication degree and consults/mentors within Massey University’s Open Lab, with a focus on service, experience, and social design.
E. Fox Derwin
Emma Fox Derwin is an Industrial Design lecturer and product designer and practice concentrates on furniture design targeting new cross-disciplinary approaches to flat-pack furniture design through new materials and construction methods. Her work pushes the boundaries of furniture design through functional designs that both challenge the way we relate to and use the objects in our daily lives.