Fit for purpose? Pattern cutting and seams in wearables development

This paper describes how a group of practitioners and researchers are working across disciplines at Nottingham Trent University in the area of Technical Textiles. It introduces strands of ongoing enquiry centred around the development and application of stretch sensors on the body, focusing on how textile and fashion knowledge are being reflexively revealed in the collaborative development of seamful wearable concepts, and on the tensions between design philosophies as revealed by definitions of purpose. We discuss the current research direction of the Aeolia project, which seeks to exploit the literal gaps found in pattern cutting for fitted stretch garments towards experiential forms and potential interactions. Normative goals of fitness for purpose and seamlessness are interrogated and the potential for more integrated design processes, which may at first appear ‘upside down’, is discussed

Crafting the Composite Garment: The role of hand weaving in digital creation

There is a growing body of practice-led textile research, focused on how digital technologies can inform new design and production strategies that challenge and extend the field. To date, this research has emphasized a traditional linear transition between hand and digital production; with hand production preceding digital as a means of acquiring the material and process knowledge required to negotiate technologies and conceptualize designs. This paper focuses on current Doctoral research into the design and prototyping of 3D woven or 'composite' garments and how the re-learning, or reinterpreting, of hand weaving techniques in a digital Jacquard format relies heavily on experiential knowledge of craft weaving skills. Drawing parallels between hand weaving and computer programming, that extend beyond their shared binary (pixel-based) language, the paper discusses how the machine-mediated experience of hand weaving can prime the weaver to ‘think digitally’ and make the transition to digital production. In a process where the weaver acts simultaneously as designer, constructor and programmer, the research explores the inspiring, but often indefinable space between craft and digital technology by challenging the notion that 'the relationship between hand, eye and material’ naturally precedes the use of computing (Harris 2012: 93). This is achieved through the development of an iterative working methodology that encompasses a cycle of transitional development, where hand weaving and digital processes take place in tandem, and techniques and skills are reinterpreted to exploit the advantages and constraints of each construction method. It is argued that the approach challenges the codes and conventions of computer programming, weaving and fashion design to offer a more sustainable clothing solution

Novel systemic therapies in atopic dermatitis : what do we need to fulfil the promise of a treatment revolution?

Patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) who do not adequately respond to topical therapy and phototherapy often need systemic immunomodulatory treatment to control their symptoms. Conventional systemic agents, such as ciclosporin, azathioprine, and methotrexate, have been used for decades, but there are concerns about their safety profile. There are now many novel systemic agents emerging through clinical trials, which may have great potential in the treatment of AD. Despite this, there are very few data comparing the performance of these drugs against each other. The purpose of this article is to review the current systemic therapies in AD and present an indirect comparison of systemic AD treatments using effectiveness and safety data from published randomised controlled trials, highlighting important remaining gaps in knowledge. Although the latest developments in systemic AD treatments are exciting and dearly needed, further work is required before the promise of a therapeutic revolution becomes reality

Value Definition in Sustainable (Textiles) Production and Consumption

Textiles is identified as a founding activity and process of not only fashion, but also architecture, interior design, and automotive and transport design, and therefore is a key constituent of the creative economy. Focusing on conceptual, cultural and material capital value, this chapter considers the different value forms a textile designer draws upon to create new material forms. Value construction is discussed also in the context of the role textile designers play during product innovation in industry, which plays out within a macro political context of environmental sustainability. Textile design and textiles can represent not only the actions of creating a material through knitting, weaving and fusing fibres but also the processes, techniques and finishes that constitute its production, and relay cultural contexts, uses and significance. Noting the paradigmatic changes in textiles, the chapter notes the shift from political importance of gendered and textile arts readings of textiles to conceptualised bodies of practices, and the more recent shift towards concerns of the textile artist as researcher, theorist and curator, moving currently to a paradigm that favours the community ethos of craft and textiles. Transition design draws on the concept of transition from ecology to explain the sustainability of complex ecosystems, and describes how textiles and fashion are undergoing a shift in thinking towards more circular production and ecological consumption patterns, driven by shifting personal value sets. The chapter notes how transition design embeds a designed object within wider societal influence or behaviour, and as such evokes phenomenological or existential methodologies