Abstract
Garment manufacturing has relied heavily on subtractive manufacturing methods since its inception. As garments evolved to reflect fashion and fit, wasted materials increased. This waste has grown exponentially as fast fashion dominated the industry. Aside from knitting, nearly all garments are cut from fabric rather than a less wasteful manufacturing process such as garment creation by adding only the necessary fibers. In the manufacturing process, the global fashion industry wastes about 6 million tons of fabric. As three-dimensional printing has evolved to create stronger and more versatile end products, it opens the possibility for an evolution in garment manufacturing, one that reduces fabric waste drastically and can create a cyclical manufacturing process in which recycled substance from textile manufacturing can be used to create the material for a 3D printed garment. Integration of computer aided design and investment in 3D printing could help the garment industry drastically reduce the inherent waste in manufacturing. This paper looks at textile waste during the initial creation of garments and examines how investment in new technologies can help to reduce that waste and create a process for incorporating textile waste back into the manufacturing stream. It looks at the impediments the industry faces in changing foundational manufacturing techniques and how disruptive or impractical a full-scale structural change could be.
Presenters
Jessica TelferAssociate Professor, Costume Designer, Dance and Entertainment, Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Economic, Social, and Cultural Context
KEYWORDS
Fabric, Technology, Waste, Garments, Recycling
