With textile waste growing, it is increasingly important to consider creative ways to reuse and repair clothing. The purpose of this study was to use co-creative methodology to explore what opportunities exist to encourage more personal creativity when reusing and repairing discarded clothing. The qualitative research uses levels of creativity (do, adapt, make and create) defined by Sanders (2005) as an initial framework for understanding the participants’ creativity and aspirations for reusing and repairing clothing. There is a growing desire to be creative, and the motivation and requirements drive the creativity for each individual (Sanders, 2005). Co-creative research methods were used in a series of qualitative visual interviews and creative workshops with women between 21-60 years old. The findings of this research supported co-creative research methods for textiles and apparel and revealed opportunities to encourage creativity in reusing and repairing clothing through participants’ ability to adapt their current wardrobes.

This article is a research evaluation of a project that utilizes the social media website, Pinterest.com, in a collaborative learning experience between second year fashion design students at a United States university and young urban professionals as customers. Technology is changing the higher education environment, and interacting with social media in engaging ways provides fashion design students the opportunity to connect with a wider community of customers to better understand their needs. Second year students in a fashion design course at a university in the United States were asked to collaborate with young urban professional customers using the website Pinterest.com to develop a six-piece garment collection based on the customer’s inspiration and feedback of the student designs. Student responses suggest this was beneficial experience for using social media in a learning environment. Communication between students and customers illustrate an example for interactive social media use that could be replicated in other fashion design courses.

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The aim of this design research is to explore modular shapes and interlocking systems for apparel design using research through practice approach. As a transformable design approach, modular design features small standardized units that can be independently combined in various configurations to create different forms and provide multiple functions. However, there has been little hands-on integration of methods for developing more fitted garment designs and incorporating visually appealing surfaces, such as prints, within a modular system. By adopting Bye’s description of a research through practice approach, the researchers for this study aimed to explore modular textile systems that would result in more fitted garments and aesthetically appealing surfaces. Through documenting and analyzing a range of data from the design process and outcome of four experimental designs, this study resulted in the development of advanced research through a Focused Knowledge Design Practice framework.

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