Purpose – Excess consumption of apparel is driven by the apparel industry to offer more styles at lower prices in shorter time and the consumers’ desire to change fashion. The purpose of this paper is to apply adaptable design in apparel as a sustainable design solution for excess consumption problem. Design/methodology/approach – Guided by sustainable apparel design model C2CAD, two adaptable apparel prototypes for female college students were designed and developed. Focus group discussion and wear test were conducted with female college students to evaluate users’ acceptance, fit, comfort, and adaptability of the two prototypes. Findings – Both prototypes were comfortable to wear by users with different sizes, indicating the users could wear the garment when she changed size. The adaptations and conversions were easily and enjoyably figured out by the users. The users would keep and use the adaptable apparel for a long time. The users would also buy fewer apparel if they were to own the adaptable apparel. Adaptable apparel would increase apparel utilization, eliminate the need to purchase unnecessary additional amount of clothing, and reduce excess consumption. Originality/value – This research provided a pilot study on adaptable apparel design as an innovative approach to help solve excessive consumption problem. The adaptable garment prototypes would allow the fashion-forward female college student to easily change the function, fit, and style of the environmentally friendly garments.