Examples of holistic fashion design.

Fashion designers have created a wall and distance between themselves and their customers. They are positioned as ‘experts’ in taste and style, designing on behalf of people who wear their clothes. This system has conditioned fashion consumers to be passive. People rely on designers and believe in their authority. They are buying proposed styles and clothes, but nearly half of what is bought is discarded each year.

There seems to be an overwhelming amount of clothing in the world that is only intended to be worn briefly. Consumers are spending less time wearing the same items and they have no chance to connect emotionally with these products. A UK study of nearly 2,000 women over the age of 16 found that the average garment is only worn seven times. This brings information to designers – the clothes made under this system are ineffective because they hold little significance or value for the wearers.

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This has been the case until now. New models emerged based on inclusive and collaborative fashion design practices. They put into question the traditional interactions between the roles of designer, producer, and consumer. Innovative ideas can also shift business concerns from purely financial concepts to other forms of capital, such as human, cultural, and environmental.

It’s incredibly difficult to create products that have emotional value for another person. The biggest challenge for designers is to give users as much creative freedom as possible and involve them from the start. Paying close attention to what customers actually want and need leads to good design. By acting as an advisor or facilitator and working together to create the final product, the task of designing is changed from designing for the consumer to designing with the consumer. A holistic approach is demonstrated here by designing simple clothing with timeless style and with the use of organic materials. It involve planning, creating, and producing clothing with thinking about future use of fabric or garment. In practice, making clothes with the next use in mind involves designing, developing, sharing, personalization, customization, co-designing with customers and product personalization during use. The goal is to extract the most value from garments while they are in use, then restoring and regenerating materials at the end of their useful life. Details like which seams are best suited to a particular type of garment are also an examples of holistic thinking in fashion. Seam durability differs based on the kind of textile and fibre used, and selecting the right one can be crucial to increased longevity.  All of these approaches work in extending the bond between the product and the user. Design can significantly influence how fashion is developed.

Zero-waste movement

Holistic thinking in design requires a bigger picture of the connections in fabric industry. A good example is a Systems Mapping in the zero-waste fashion movement. Designers examined and mapped a substantial part of the production procedure in order to develop a fusion of methods for reducing fabric waste. This is a starting point for considering how designers at all levels of the industry can reconsider their responsibilities and actions in the context of environmentally and ethically responsible design approaches.

Clothing circularity

Clothing circularity is an another idea that includes holistic thinking. The goal is to return clothing, no matter the condition, and put them back to use. The garments collected are grouped for wear, stains, as well as holes until being washed and, if needed, fixed, re-dyed, or re – worked before being offered for a percent of their original cost. This idea not only decreases the environmental impact of old clothing, but it also earns money, proving that reusing clothes can be profitable.

Capsule wardrobe

Susie Faux created the term “capsule wardrobe” in the 1970s. According to her, it consists of a small number of interchangeable clothing pieces that complement one another. These are frequently timeless classics in neutral colours that never go out of style. A capsule wardrobe allows you to put together a variety of outfits from a small selection of clothes.