CUT

2019

Jack's Jumper is a short film co-produced by an emergent community of participant researchers and film-makers R&A Collaborations as part of S4S Designing a Sensibility for Sustainable Clothing, an Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded research project. The need to improve the sustainability of fashion has been widely noted by academics (Black 2012; Fletcher 2008 and 2016), activist campaigns (Greenpeace and Fashion Revolution) and policy makers (Environmental Audit Committee Report on the Sustainability of the Fashion Industry, 2019). In this project the authors combine arts and social science methods, including film making, to develop a methodology for pro-environmental behaviour change and sustainable fashion through, literally and metaphorically, making a new relationship with clothes. The paper outlines the aims and purpose of the project and its methods, which include fashion design workshops designed to mimic phases of the lifecycle of clothing (making fibre and fabric, pattern cutting, mending, modifying, repurposing and clothes), films, wardrobe audits, clothing diaries and surveys. It focuses on the series of over twenty short films, including Jack's Jumper, to consider how they might function not only as reflective devices for those involved in the project and emotional prompts for future action, but also as an affective means of building and developing a sustainable fashion sensibility among wider audiences, and the role of aesthetics and emotion in this. As such, we argue that creative participatory fashion design practices are potentially an important tool for generating a sensibility of sustainability and therefore for informing policy on behaviour change.

2011

2019

Referred to as the ‘Golden Dustman’ (Evans 1998) Martin Margiela’s approach to sourcing and reworking vintage garments was likened to that of a Victorian ragpicker. Today, the abundance of second hand clothing donated to charity shops presents fashion designers with the opportunity to reprise Margiela’s role, by considering textile waste as valuable, raw materials. Donating unwanted garments to charity is a prolific cultural practice, perceived as philanthropic and sustainable. However, donations of unwanted clothing comprise 80% fast fashion, which cannot easily be re-used, re-sold or biodegraded. Emmanuel House, a homeless charity in Nottingham have a three-tier sorting system: 1. To clothe its service users; 2. for re-sale in the charity’s shop to fund its work; 3. to be sold as ‘rag’ by the kilo (shipped to 3rd world countries). This conversion to cash process raises various ethical concerns. This paper reports on a social/design innovation collaboration between Emmanuel House, ...

2021

Fast fashion has become notorious for its environmental, social and psychological implications. This article reports on some of the work undertaken as part of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)-funded S4S: Designing a Sensibility for Sustainable Clothing project, which sought to combine social science and participatory arts-based research methods to explore how processes of ‘making together’ in community textiles groups might generate a new ethic, or sensibility, among consumers to equip them to make more sustainable clothing choices. The study develops a novel methodology that responds to the complex demands of participatory working. It required careful management of the combinations of methods, which included various different making workshops; wardrobe audits; interviews; films and journal keeping. The project also raises the question of using multi-modal formats, which generate rich data, but also add to the complexity, highlighting a

2013

"This study investigates the activism in the field of clothing design and fashion through selected findings from a case study exploring the possibilities to activate consumers in the field of fashion. The main research question: 'Does participatory design process and consumer’s own activity open opportunities to behavioural change?' will be elaborated. Does the ‘do-it-yourself’ aspect and own achievement change consumers attitude towards fashion and clothing? Is it possible to create person-product attachment through ‘do-it-yourself’ process? An experimental participatory fashion workshop which was held in Helsinki during the summer of 2012 will build the base for this case study. The workshop participants were working with the half-way design approach. We are starting from the question of how to express and fulfil consumer needs for personal representation and identification, the goal of the workshop was to raise awareness, motivate and enable a change in consumer behaviour towards a skilful making and understanding of the products. Personal interviews and questionnaires during this workshop build the source for exploring the main question, whether participation within the design process can change the consumer behaviour. Furthermore, a follow up questionnaire will evaluate the users’ appreciation of the created product, questioning whether the personal engagement and identification with the product will result in a closer emotional person-product attachment and thus supports a longer lifespan of the product. The paper concludes with a discussion on the workshop results and the opportunities to encourage sustainable fashion consumption through fashion activism. "

2015

This paper reports on an apprenticeship-style approach to a workshop-based project that provides a safe educational environment for young ex-gang members to explore their personal potential and creative ideas within a set framework. This collaborative project commits to working 'Beyond Fashion' to develop a meaningful relationship with young people affected by knife crime and facilitate an opportunity to build upon their own sense of personal identity, respond to change and continue their journey of creating a positive future for themselves and their wider community.

Journal of Arts & Communities, 2020

The article presents a participatory research model based on two case studies, involving the making of the research and the making of the clothing. In recent years, there has been growing interest in participatory design research, especially in relation to textiles and clothing. Various practice-based initiatives focused around the role, value and use of clothing have demonstrated success in developing and applying research methodologies aimed at activating or recording creative outcomes while staying attuned to participants’ experiential knowledge and feedback. Researchers working across social and design innovation contexts point to the urgent need for new cultures of sustainable practice that challenge the growth model through the sharing of expert and amateur knowledge and skills. Consequently, an important opportunity now exists to more formally explicate a transferable model of principles for participatory engagement through making together. Based on a critical analysis of two...

Issues of sustainability are of increasing importance in the fields of fashion and consumer studies, with scholars such as Kate Fletcher arguing for new design methods and Chris Gibson and Elyse Stanes suggesting deeper understanding of fashion consumption to avoid green branding shortcomings. However, these perspectives have not adequately addressed the start-up sustainable fashion designers who are shifting fashion design practices. My paper addresses this gap with focus on the emotional labour experienced by designers as they navigate the ethics of sustainable fashion. I draw upon in-depth interviews with sustainable fashion designers to discuss how pro-social motivations, navigation of ethical complexities, and entrepreneurial risk generate emotional labour in sustainable fashion design work. I argue emotional labour is a defining characteristic of the work that acts as both a motivating factor and a cost to sustainable fashion design. By closely examining the experience of sustainable fashion designers, this paper sheds light on the obstacles that impede the shift toward more sustainable fashion practices.

Cumulus , 2019

This paper will begin by tracing the role of repurposing and the appropriation of the ‘aesthetic of use’ (Monasterios-Tan, 2015)—a term to refer to the look o\f worn-in garments— in fashion by different counter cultural groups throughout history. At the end of the 20th century, avant-garde fashion designers such as Martin Margiela introduced the aesthetic of use through repurposing of second hand garments as a type of anti-fashion. Since fashion relies on newness and change, the use of old garments or repurposing is inherently anti-fashion. The author will then explore the rise of the sustainable movement and alternative economies in Singapore with specificity to clothes borrowing platforms. The paper will explore theories of sustainability and repurposing through a real live project pioneered in January 2019 between clothes borrowing platform Style Theory and graduating fashion design students from Lasalle College of the Arts. This case study will follow the design process and challenges faced by 9 students who chose to respond to this brief. The students had to make use of unwanted garments collected from Style Theory’s customers and to repurpose them into new garments. The most successful designs also stood the chance to be market tested and available through Style Theory’s subscription app. Through class observations, interviews and reading of the students’ process journals, the author will highlight challenges, possible frameworks and insights from this project.

Fashion Practice

pursued a PhD at Loughborough Design School, exploring how service design can be used to activate textile artisan communities to transition towards a sustainable future. Currently, Francesco is a post-doctoral research fellow at the Centre for Sustainable Fashion (CSF), sponsored by Neal's Yard Remedies, investigating ways in which design activism can create counter-narratives towards sustainability in fashion.