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Textiles circularity
Full text linkThe Textiles Circularity Centre’s research has revealed that for people to adopt sustainability practices, the means to enact them must be embedded into our culture. Our research has therefore focused on designing the means for people, be they consumers, businesses, NGOS, local governments, to practice circular economy in place-based settings, such as on the high street. To this end, we have focused on SMEs and start-ups in fashion-apparel brands and designers, manufacturing, materials, repair/upcycle, waste collection, as well as local government and NGOs, as they are already active in local settings. Our aim was to demonstrate a transformation pathway to establish a culture of circular economy for the UK apparel-textiles industry by adding environmental, economic, social, and technical value to biowaste as it flows from recycling of waste, production of textiles, to consumption and reuse of apparel. Our approach was vision-directed, design-led, and highly interdisciplinary. We employed visioning to reframe fashion-apparel from the current global linear system of production and fast consumption, to a culture centred on care, prolonged use, community wellbeing and locality. At the end of the book we present our research insights on the behavioural actions needed to establish a culture of circular economy in society to promote high reseuse & less consumption, the value and the flows of value that our solutions add to biowaste, and the related environmental impacts. We also indicate what the requirements for change in terms of technology, policy, economy, data and society would be for our circular solutions to be adopted. The book concludes with our Design Manifesto for a circular economy. This book marks the end of the Textiles Circularity Centre’s journey, and we hope that our research inspires others to address the core challenge of effecting a cultural transformation to grow the reuse sector in order to reduce the environmental impacts of apparel
Terrain vague: Visualising the in-between
No full textTerrain Vague – visualising the in-between. This site-specific nocturnal workshop led by Rut Blees Luxemburg will use photography to capture urban transformation in Jeddah. Together we will encounter a site, and explore with cameras, i-phones and sketchbooks specific moments, situations and assemblages, that speak about change and future imageries
Regenerative future(s); A new educational framework for design education on the twenty-first century
No full textAmidst the environmental collapse, it is imperative that academia reflects on how future designers need to unlearn and shift the industrial design mindset to proactively and responsibly design to remediate the present creating a more ecological and just future(s). The next generation of designers must catalyse a shift in design reflecting ecological and social values into their professional outputs. This paper sets up the contested issues for design futures against a background of industrialisation, climate change, and de-anthropocentrisation and moves towards asking how design futures can develop restorative futures. Here we aim to address the RCA educational challenge of moving away from traditional future design approaches (design fictions, futures visions, and speculative design) to transition towards Re-futuring. In the paper, we describe a selection of PhD research projects at the RCA that take different trajectories in exploring new practices and approaches to design futures. From this point, we will triangulate literatures between contemporary ecological critiques, systems, and contemporary future critiques to underpin the problems and opportunities emerging for design to propose a new academic model for replacing Industrial design
3D printing bacterial cellulose and polyethylene terephthalate glycol to reinforce textiles for material longevity in textile circularity
Full text linkIn a circular textile economy, there is a requirement to reduce the consumption of new materials and encourage ways to keep materials and apparel in use for longer while utilising waste as a raw material. Repair and reinforcement of materials are circular practices that have been applied to extend the life cycle of apparel. The digitalisation of repair tools could facilitate how the repair is adopted at scale. 3D printing has been highlighted as an important technology for future manufacturing due to its ease, speed, and ability to be locally or globally produced. Although 3D printing is an accessible tool for at-home object printing of repair parts, this tool has not been investigated to extend the life cycle of a textile material through repair or reinforcement. In this paper, we present an interdisciplinary approach explored in the Textiles Circularity Centre to investigate how 3D printing a medium consisting of bacterial cellulose and polyethylene terephthalate glycol onto textiles can reinforce a material. We characterise the printed medium and discuss the use of 3D printing as a tool for advanced repair practices in a circular textile economy. The novelty of this approach is in the deposition of a cellulose-based filament onto a textile to facilitate material longevity, namely, reinforcement for repair and reuse
CircularDesign.it: A digital toolkit to support circular design practices
No full textCircularDesign.it is an open-access digital platform developed to support designers, educators, and businesses in applying circular design strategies. The tool translates research insights into accessible methods, frameworks, and exercises, aiming to bridge theory and practice in circular economy implementation. The platform promotes systemic innovation, design for longevity, and closed-loop approaches
Biofibre explorer: An augmented reality (AR) tool to promote circularity through material knowledge
Full text linkAugmented Reality (AR), which overlays digital information on the physical world, is frequently used in textile retail to improve shopping experiences by simulating product appearance and enabling virtual customisation. While these applications foster brand engagement and purchasing decisions, they largely promote consumption rather than encouraging circular behaviours. This study introduces the AR Biofibre Explorer, an innovative tool designed to reconnect consumers with materials and processes by demonstrating the wet spinning process for producing cellulose-based textiles. Through a mixed-methods evaluation, we reveal how the tool enhances understanding of material origins and their applications, promoting informed decisions and circular practices. Aligning with the [Theoretical Framework anonymised for review], the tool incorporates dimensions such as learning, attachment, competence, and playfulness. This research establishes AR as a means to foster sustainability and circularity in fashion by bridging material knowledge gaps, enhancing consumer engagement, and enabling sustainable consumption choices
A circular experience toolkit: A dynamic scenario-building resource for designing circular consumer experiences in fashion
Full text linkConsumers play a key role in sustainable fashion and textiles, specifically in the use and (re)distribution of resources and product care and repair. They have, however, largely been neglected in conceptualizations of the Circular Economy (CE) and there are limited research and strategies on consumer participation in materials circularity. The Circular Experience Toolkit (CET) is a dynamic scenario-building resource developed to address this gap. We designed the card-based toolkit to prompt and foster interdisciplinary conversations between researchers, textile and fashion industry professionals and consumers to support meaningful circular consumer experiences. It achieves this objective through a novel recoupling of resource flow and human well-being, and by mobilizing creative technologies to enhance opportunities for consumer participation in the circular textile economy. This article outlines the iterative development of the toolkit and illustrates its use for generating scenarios to support fashion professionals with the creation of circular consumer retail experiences
