Design and Production of Sustainable Fashion

Abigale
Apr 14, 2020
5 min read

Hey y'all welcome back to the blog! Here is a continuation of sustainable fashion! If you haven”t already, go check out the first blog to get more insight on how sustainable fashion is changing the world!

In chapter 3 “Design” of “The Practical Guide of Sustainable Fashion,” it begins by stating that designers must keep the consumers in mind. This being how the consumer handles and manages clothing or how they use and dispose of the clothing. Most designers must consider the design-led approaches that address certain problems. Some ways designers do this is focusing on slow fashion and making something that is compostable or can be fully recycled. Designers must also always keep in mind the use phase as talked about in the previous blog post. Knowing the relationship between the wearer and the garment is critical. When designing for sustainability, designs must be made using empathy. By listening to wearers’ feedback, the designer can better understand why a consumer would keep one garment and not another. The consumer has an emotional connection with the piece of clothing so designers can use this empathy to help with new design ideas. With these new ideas come the process of picking out a fabric. Most fabrics get chosen by their weight, texture, drape, and handle, but with sustainable design the fabrics also get chosen by the environmental and social impacts. When figuring out fabrics, designers can decide to manipulate and enhance fabrics with different finishings and surface treatments. They also can choose to use fabrics that are derived from organic and renewable sources. The textile process has also become more low impact. With this designers must know how their design will produce the lowest impact which means they have to think about the whole life cycle process. Lastly, designers must think of how to keep their garments out of landfills. There are a few ways to do this, but the book highlights two of them. One being to mechanically recycle a garment which in the end reduces the material or downcycles them. The second being to use a mono-material which is what most recycled fabrics turn into. They are recycled fabrics that turn into synthetic fibers.

In chapter 4 “Production”, It Speaks about the ways of production and manufacturing of sustainable fashion. With production it can vary depending on the market for garments and the size of the company. There are two main production processes they focus on which are pattern-making and toiling phase. This is a big part because at this point many of the negative impacts are created. Between the design and production process there are set activities. During these activities, designers must look at all the ways materials can be used wisely. To do this you have many things to think about. The first being reducing textile waste. The modern way of pattern making is the CMT process which wastes up to 15% of fabric. By using the CAD programs, they can help efficiently make patterns, but waste is unavoidable. So to help start eliminating waste, instead of remaking toiles, reuse the old toiles to make new ones. Another way to reduce waste is by finding creative approaches to pattern-cutting like making the choice to make a functional garment rather than a one use garment. This can help to make the conversation arise to find a solution for pattern making. Then there are zero-waste techniques designers can use. A designer can choose to design out fabric waste. One way is by draping. This is where designers use a large cloth and mold it to a mannequin which eliminates a lot of waste. Another way of zero-waste is using technology at the construction point meaning they try to weave pieces into the correct size and shape. Lastly, by working with geometric shapes when designing. By using shapes with straight edges as patterns, it will eliminate waste in the construction area of design. To end the chapter, it gives three ways to extend and improve the life of garments. These being the construction methods, developments in construction techniques, and designing for durability.

So yet again after all the words above, the chapters are great sources of information if you are looking into finding ways to eliminate waste in the design and production phases of the process. I thought these chapters were great in giving many ways to eliminate waste. One way that I, as a designer, thought would be very useful in eliminating waste was the zero-waste process. By being able to create designs that are the correct size and shape will tremendously lessen the amount of waste that can add up in the life cycle of a garment. If you are interested in reading the book where I got all the information, go check out the last blog post called “Why Sustainable Fashion?” which will give you all the information you need to find the book.

Here is a video that shows some techniques on how to keep your designs sustainable!

The second designer we have chosen to recognize is Anna Ruohonen! Below are a couple of ways to find her!

Website: https://www.annaruohonen.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anna_ruohonen_paris/

Again, here are some questions we had when it comes to design and production.

~What is her design philosophy? Anna Ruohonen’s design philosophy is to show “ecological responsibility” with sustainable luxury and timeless designs in mind.

~How is she making a difference? Her company manufactures based on what the customer needs/ wants to avoid overproduction of garments. What a cool idea!

~How does her company address what we have read from the book previously mentioned? She relates to the idea of designing for empathy by designing timeless looks and creating for the wearers needs. She also wants her looks to inspire people to wear her designs in different ways and create personal connections with the outfits they create.

As a designer, she inspires me to think about the different functions of a single garment and creating something that people can feel connected to. I have also never thought about how we can cater specifically to someone’s need to prevent overproduction, which is a really cool concept!

This relates to pattern making and draping because you have to think about the process as a whole. It changes how you are going to create the patterns and how to drape things before designing in order to make adjustments for sustainability.

I am now going to be more cautious about what I'm designing and see if my process for producing is going to be sustainable but also wearable. It is going to change how I drape and how to create patterns while keeping in mind how to keep this garment timeless and functional for consumers to use this piece over and over again for years to come.

After learning more about the sustainable process and how other designers are easily incorporating it into their collections, it makes me want to make a change. Creating something that people want to wear and want to continue to wear is important to me but is also important to sustainable fashion.

Person, & ProfilePage. (2020, February 7). Anna Ruohonen Paris's Instagram profile post: "Tones by Anna Ruohonen #lightening #annaruohonenparis #annaruohonen #madetoorder #webeliveinnostock #madetolast #sustainablefashion...". Retrieved April 14, 2020, from https://www.instagram.com/p/B8RFfY-Iexh/

Person, & ProfilePage. (2019, May 18). Anna Ruohonen Paris on Instagram: "Soft tones, minimalistic designs. Claire's silk top paired with Elegant trousers, 100% cool wool. Both pieces from our made-to-order...". Retrieved April 14, 2020, from https://www.instagram.com/p/BxmDkb3ok05/