Vintage Arches

The purpose of this design was to create a modern dress infused with elements from historic buildings and garments that also explored the possibilities available through whole garment knitting. First commercialized in 1995, whole garment knitting is a relatively new technology in the fashion industry. Whole garment knitting, in addition to Shima Seiki’s Apex design software, offers several benefits to the fashion industry. The design software allows designers to see a virtual rendering of their garment before it is ever knitted, helping to save time and resources during the sampling process

Electronically active textiles

Electronically Active Textiles (e-textiles) are a type of textile material that has some form of electronic functionality. This can be achieved by attaching electronics onto the surface of the textile, incorporating electronic components as part of the fabrication of the textile itself, or by integrating electronics into the yarns or fibers that comprises the textile. The addition of electronic components can give textiles a wide range of new functions from lighting or heating to advanced sensing capabilities. As such, e-textiles have provided a platform for developing a range of new novel products in fields, such as healthcare, sports, protection, transport, and communications. The purpose of this volume is to report on the advances in the integration of electronics into textiles, and presents original research in the field of e-textiles as well as a comprehensive review of the evolution of e-Textiles. Topics include the fabrication and illumination of e-textiles and the use of e-textiles for temperature sensing

A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Denim Jeans and a Cotton T-Shirt: The Production of Fast Fashion Essential Items From Cradle to Gate

As a result of harmful textile production, sustainability has become the movement by which the apparel industry explores solutions to improve procedures in fashion design to maintain a healthy environment. However, the issue is consumers trust the sustainability claims and marketing materials of apparel products at face value without knowing its environmental impact. The overall purpose of this research was to compare the environmental implications of widely produced and owned apparel products through a life cycle assessment approach. This life cycle assessment study examines key environmental impact categories of the materials and production phase (cradle to gate) of a pair of jeans and a cotton t-shirt. The specific purpose of this study was to identify if the production processes make a sustainable product at the point of purchase. Furthermore, this research study compares the environmental impacts of a denim jean and dyed cotton t-shirt utilizing the ReCipe 2008 LCA tool

The Transformation of Noken Papua: Understanding the Dynamics of Noken’s Commodification as the Impact of UNESCO’s Heritage Recognition

This research was motivated by previous studies that discussed Noken from various points of view but did not examine aspects of the commodification of Noken as an implication of the world heritage label from UNESCO. Noken is a native Papuan knit bag that has high cultural values, sacred entity, and a source of life; as a container for carrying garden products and animal hunting products. Noken is also a form of maturity initiation, Papuan woman who can knit noken may enter the marriage phase. Applying the qualitative method, with observations and interviews with women knitting and selling it in Jayapura as informants, this study found that: firstly, Noken had undergone massive economic commodification, started with UNESCO's recognition of inherited noken as intangible, which led to more and more traded noken. Secondly, noken has transformed values, especially about the noken value that animates them. The transformation of values in noken is a necessity in the dynamics of the social, economic, and cultural changes of the Papuan. Thirdly, by knitting and selling it, they are trying to preserve the sacred value of noken, also as a strategy to survive economically in encountering the impact of the capitalist system

The Future of Textiles: Disruption and Collaboration

The textile field, while not “local” in the geographic sense, is a community: a group of people with a shared language, history, and practices that date back thousands of years. As deeply-rooted as those materials and practices are, textiles is also an area that has historically experienced enormous disruptions due to changing technology and globalization. In the 21st century, we are undergoing something like a second Industrial Revolution. Advances in digital and robotic technologies and shifting labor markets are driving a revolution in where and how things are made. Global climate change, lack of food security for much of the world’s population, and concern about overwhelming quantities of waste and toxic pollution are altering our priorities for land and resource management. These challenges are bringing together the formerly opposed approaches of handcraft and high-tech, organic and artificial in new and unexpected ways. Venturing into the field of textiles today is taking a bold step into a constellation of disciplines that, on the surface, may not appear to have much in common with the history of cloth. But the future of textiles will rely on cross-collaborations in areas of science, medicine, engineering, technology, agriculture, waste management, and other specialties, as well as an understanding of the balance required for environmentally and economically sustainable textile production. The panel will discuss the changes that are taking place in the textile field and will present new and burgeoning areas in the textile industry including commercially viable smart textiles, non-petroleum synthesized fibers, waterless dyeing, alternative manufacturing strategies, and sustainable practices. It will celebrate positive disruptions and cross-disciplinary collaborations that will enlarge and enrich the textile community, and demonstrate once again the resiliency of its social fabric