Circular Economy Design Methods and Aesthetics in Fashion Design

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Volume Title

School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
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Date

2023

Department

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

fcd

Language

en

Pages

45 + 3

Series

Abstract

This master thesis paper studies the topic of circular economy in the framework of fashion, clothing design and clothing aesthetics. The topic was chosen to address the vast and multifaceted issue of the clothing industry’s negative environmental impacts and was motivated by the need of finding ways for the fashion industry to operate in a more sustainable manner and to support the fashion and clothing industry’s transition to a circular economy. This thesis consists of two parts. The first part entails theoretical study in the form of a literature review, which explores and analyzes the methods and concepts presented in the literature of sustainable and circular economy fashion and clothing design. Through the examination of different methods presented in the literature, the subject was framed to include a more in-depth exploration of topics such as upcycling, reuse, design for longevity, DIY and repair. Alongside the study of academic literature review on circular economy design methods, the research part is accompanied with evaluation on chosen methods through their impacts on clothing and fashion aesthetics and trends. The second part is practice-based and creative design work, which contemplates selected methods presented in the theoretical part of the study through making. The focus is especially on the method of using solely upcycled materials in clothing design. The productive part aims to analyze the difficulties, objectives and possible scalability of the upcycling practice in clothing design and to answer current clothing industry’s need to better manage and reuse discarded clothing items in order to diminish textile waste. Through my own design work I also provide my own interpretation and a suggestion of circular economy clothing aesthetics especially in the framework of the upcycling design practice.

Description

Supervisor

Niinimäki, Kirsi

Thesis advisor

Peltonen, Elina

Keywords

Circular Economy, Circular Economy Design, Sustainable Fashion, Upcycling, Fashion Aesthetics, Reuse

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