• About me
  • Contact Me

Fuel4Fashion

~ The official blog of Supriya Ghurye, a Freelance Fashion Designer & Brand Consultant helping international start up fashion labels and growing fashion brands to plan and create great products from concept sketches to final launch.

Fuel4Fashion

Tag Archives: Siddhartha Upadhyaya’s DPOL (Direct Pattern On Loom

Cutting Edge Trends in the Fashion Design Industry – Zero Waste Fashion

17 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by Fuel4Fashion in Emerging Trends, Technology & Innovation

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

apparels, blog, fashion blog, fashion designers, fashion history, freelance fashion designer, pattern, Siddhartha Upadhyaya’s DPOL (Direct Pattern On Loom, sustainability, tech pack, technology, Virtual Fashion Design Studio, zero waste, Zero Waste Design, Zero Waste Manufacturing

As the fashion industry evolves and adapts to the evolving norms of environmental sustainability, new ways and means of reducing waste and increasing recyclability of clothing are being developed. Sustainability efforts have been focused on key areas like reducing fiber loss, yarn loss, fabric wastage and recycling materials for new garments.

Standard designs with cutting result in approximately 15 to 20 per cent of fabric wastage, resulting in millions of tons of garbage that typically ends up in landfills every year. To reduce this, designers came up with the concept of designing garments to ensure minimal or nil wastage of the fabric. The techniques to do this are called pre-consumer zero waste techniques. The main categories into which they fall are zero waste design and zero waste manufacturing.

kimo-twist-zero-waste-dress

Holly McQuillan – Kimono Twist dress – Image courtesy : http://goo.gl/Nh3zXi

pattern for kimono twist

Holly McQuillan – Kimono Twist dress pattern plotting – Image courtesy : http://goo.gl/Nh3zXi

In Zero Waste Design, the pattern maker cuts a pattern in such a way within the structure of the fabric so that there is no scrap of fabric unutilized. New York’s Parsons the New School for Design – the setting of the famous “Project Runway” series has launched a course on Zero waste fashion design and international zero waste fashion designers such as Mark Liu (England), Susan Dimasi (Australia) Julian Roberts (England) and Yeohlee Teng (Malaysia) are working to bring the trend into mainstream fashion. While creating patterns like jigsaw puzzles (Mark Liu’s “jigsaw cut”) which leave no cutting margins is one approach, the other is to drape the fabric and then decide where to tuck, cut and stitch the folds and layers to eliminate fabric loss, like David Andersen. The challenge lies in the fact that zero waste design turns the entire process of fashion design upside down. The standard approach in fashion is to create design illustrations and sketches, present these to a patternmaker who then creates the patterns for manufacturing. Here, the designer has to start with the pattern and then work backwards to determine what designs can accommodate. Holly McQuillan’s Kimono twist dress is a great example of applying zero waste design.

Zero Waste Manufacturing is done at the manufacturing stage to eliminate waste material cut-off. While techniques like Indian fashion designer and technologist Siddhartha Upadhyaya’s DPOL (Direct Pattern On Loom)- which creates the required panels directly in weaving the fabric, thereby eliminating all waste from cutting – are gaining ground, these are yet to reach mainstream production as the investment required in machine modification and retooling is tremendous, preventing commercial large-scale ventures from venturing into this area. An alternative has been to ensure the use of cut-offs in the construction of other garments, thereby ensuring that the combined patterns of two or more designs result in a zero waste production process. Other designers like Daniel Silverstein use the leftover cut-offs as appliques and embellishments to the garment, ensuring not a scrap is wasted.

mark-liu-jigsaw-pattern

Mark Liu’s Zero-Waste Designs – Image courtesy: http://goo.gl/oEl5LV

Another widely debated way (and according to the industry, one of the simplest to implement) is the reuse of old garments to create new designs. This is known as post-consumer zero waste, and involves the re-cutting, shaping and stitching of old fabrics to create new garments. Portions of garments recycled through a waste collection system are purchased by manufacturers to create their new designs. Denim manufacturers are among the first to promote the reuse of old garments to develop new ones, given the life and durability of the fabric. This is another way of extending the life of the garment and reducing waste. This method too faces hurdles in terms of mass-managing the way old garments are collected and recycled, but retailers like Wal-Mart are looking for solutions.

Timo_jacket_largeSo how should a designer go about creating a zero waste design? Designer Zada Anditon offers some useful tips, as does Timo Rissanen. The biggest fundamental change for any designer is to get the mind-set right from the beginning. By working backwards from the fabric to developing the final design illustration requires a change in thinking from traditional designing and can be a long and arduous process.

Designers have to break the mold of their thinking process in order to design clothes that are truly zero-waste. But with an increasing effort towards better environmental sustainability, the trend should see increasing traction in coming years.


Supriya Ghurye is the founder and owner of Fuel4Fashion. She is a Freelance Fashion Designer, Sourcing and Manufacturing Consultant helping fashion brands to plan, design and develop new collections with small quantity garment manufacturing. Fuel4Fashion social links: Twitter, Pinterest Instagram


 

Share this:

  • Email
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Pocket
  • Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,198 other followers

Follow Fuel4Fashion on WordPress.com

Top Posts & Pages

  • Cutting Edge Trends in the Fashion Design Industry – Zero Waste Fashion
  • Growing demand for plus size fashion.
  • The Fashion Design Process
  • Five Branding Secrets for A Fashion Startup That Is Poised To Succeed
  • Figuring Out Your Fashion Brand’s DNA, Part 1: The Building Blocks That Makeup Who You Are
  • The Product development process
  • Influence of Indian tribal fashion on the main stream fashion
  • Eco Fabrics made out of Milk,Tea and Coffee Beans!
  • Top 5 Halloween inspired fashion outfits
  • Influence of African tribal fashion on the main stream fashion

Recent Posts

  • Figuring Out Your Fashion Brand’s DNA, Part 2: Fashion Marketing And More
  • Figuring Out Your Fashion Brand’s DNA, Part 1: The Building Blocks That Makeup Who You Are
  • The New Colour On The Block: Decoding Living Coral For Everyday Application
  • A Circle Of Colors: How The Pantone Color Of The Year Trend Started
  • Wearing Your Technology On Your Sleeve: The Wearable Tech Trends That Are Driving Fashion

Categories

  • Colors & patterns
  • Emerging Trends
  • Fashion Branding
  • Fashion Business
  • Fashion Design
  • Fashion History
  • Fashion Industry Processes
  • Fashion Week
  • General
  • Guest Blogger
  • Home Furnishing
  • Men's Fashion
  • New Fashion Destinations
  • Prints & embroideries
  • Styles & Trends
  • Technology & Innovation
  • Women's fashion

Blog Stats

  • 101,643 hits

Archives

  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2016
  • August 2016
  • March 2016
  • December 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • June 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • November 2013
  • October 2013

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com
  • RSS - Posts
  • RSS - Comments

Blogs I Follow

  • Stitch Diary
  • At Home with Mend It Aussie
  • Holly McQuillan
  • Fash Tech Lawyer
  • Draw A Dot
  • Fashion Obsessive
  • dix & pond

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Stitch Diary

At Home with Mend It Aussie

A journal to record the joy of our frugal lifestyle

Holly McQuillan

Fash Tech Lawyer

Fashion, Technology, Brands, Business, Law.

Draw A Dot

We all start out with just a dot, then we connect all the dots together to create a beautiful image.

Fashion Obsessive

My life as a Fashion Freelancer

dix & pond

Insider thoughts on fashion, trends, branding and retail

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
    Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
    To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
    %d bloggers like this: