Considerate Design for Personalised Fashion Products

This portfolio project will develop new fashion products - one piece knitwear and fashion accessories - which integrate the craft skills of fashion making with new technologies. It will propose new design processes which will have reduced environmental impact and consider both the end user and the enture life cycle of the product. The theoratical underpinning of the project is the identification and analysis of the design process and creation of guidlines for a 'Considerate Design' model which will be tested against theories of complexity in design.
The project responds to the rapidly changing context of fashion and positions the user at the centre of the design process. It aims to produce personalised fashion products using new applications of 3D body scanning linked to rapid prototyping methods to produce customised body related forms integrated with different direct manufacturing and production processes; the direct 3D production of semafree knitwear, the manufacture of bespoke bags, and creation of body conformable seamless textile structures. The sub-projects each have a relevance to industry in either the short or longer term, contributing to the concept of mass customisation, to create viable products which are individually tailored to requirements.
In bespoke fashion the design input per item is far higher then in mass produced pieces. To make this a viable option designers must learn how to structure their design processes effectively and cost their design process accurately. This project will model a design process for Considerate Design using the sub-projects as sources of data to develop guidance for the considerate design procedures. The process will be modelled in the Signposting software, developed in the Cambridge EDC, which provides an opportunity to model individual procedures and assess their cost and risk. This also provides an opportunity to assess the scope of the Signposting method outside the automotive and aerospace industry.
The first sub-project works with industrially made 3D knitwear. The uptake of seamfree knitwear has to date been slow in the fashion market, despite the technology having been available for a number of years. This project demonstrates how added value can be delivered through customised fit and comfort, and will contribute to the service sector of the fashion industry by developing knitwear which is more acceptable to a wider range of consumers. The materialf focus is on revisiting wool as both a sustainable fibre, and one which is versatile in response to different temperatures and seasons. The project contributes to considerate designt hrough the interaction with the user, the shortening of the supply chain by elimination of making up processes and by providing more comfortable clothing.
The second sub-project integrates the philosophy and practice of craft in manufacturing bespoke functional bags (eg backpacks and computer cases) with body scanning and rapid prototyping to produce products with an exact fit to the posture and body of an individual, using specially created components and contemporary materials for both aesthetic design and functional purpose, with potential to increase longevity of use.
The third project is longer term, focusing on creating new paradigms for production of seamless textile structures which conform in shape to the body. It uses no traditional textile and fashion processes, but adapts the technologies and materials from rapid prototyping of industrial products through linked structures to create flexible surfaces. This project tests new design processes for generating form through the interface of computer and human design.
The results of each sub project will be disseminated through academic journals, to industry through conferences and trade fairs, and directly to the public through editorial features in magazines, and a work in progresexhibition at an appropriate venue such as the ICA in London, the Design Museum, The Hub in Leicestershire.