Hybrid zero waste design practices. : Zero waste pattern for composite garment weaving and its implications

Abstract

This practice-based design research explores methods of eliminating textile waste through utilising zero waste pattern cutting to expand the outcomes possible through composite garment weaving and speculates as to the implications for the wider industry and society. Employing a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, I tested known strategies in the context of industry and responded with new emergent strategies to the challenges that arose. The findings that emerged from the iterative design practice, and surrounding discussions and reflections, inform the experimental design work that follows. It is this experimental ‘future-making’ that is the focus of this paper, which outlines foundational pattern cutting theory and methods for an emerging field – composite garment weaving – as well as findings relating to the impact and use of technology in the fashion industry while bringing into sharp relief the inherent conflicts that exist within the fashion system