Smart Contour Wear: Integrating fashion and E-textiles for sustainable futures

This practice PhD builds on internationally recognized research excellence in Fashion, Knitwear and Textiles (FTK) in the School of Art and Design through the Digital Craft and Embodied Knowledge group (e.g. Townsend et al. 2014-18 and Fisher et al. 2014-17) and expertise in E-textiles through the Textile Research Group (ATRG) (e.g. Dias et al. 2010-2017 and Hughes-Riley et al. 2017-18). The project focuses on inclusive, user-centred design and its core aim is to develop electronically enabled contour (foundation) garments or partial garments (clothing accessories) for the emergent fashion wearables market. Participatory research with older consumers through Emotional Fit (Townsend et al 2017) and individuals with hidden disabilities (e.g. Shawgi 2017) has identified a need for wearables innovation in overlooked areas of the market. The research seeks to address issues of garment fit, style, quality and flexibility through the integration of fashion and E-textiles to develop items that are both smart and sustainable in their design and/or facility to extend the longevity of other items in individuals wardrobes.

Practical outcomes of the research may incorporate the processes and materials of fashion, textiles and E-textiles to develop advanced clothing concepts that physically support and aesthetically transform the aging or non-standard body form in everyday wearing practices. The development of a ‘research through design’ methodology is envisaged and should include knowledge and skills in one (or more) of the following areas: zero waste pattern cutting (e.g. Townsend and Mills 2013; Rissanen and McQuillan 2016); whole garment/ fashion knitwear design (Taylor and Townsend 2014); composite garment weaving (Piper and Townsend 2016); digital embroidery (Downes at al 2016); E-textiles (Kettley et al 2017); sensorial fabrics (Hughes-Riley et al 2017; Hughes-Riley et al. 2018, Lugoda et al. 2018); illuminated (LED) fabrics (Hardy et al. 2018), towards product design for personalization (Fisher and Kuksa 2017).

The project aims to investigate:
-Methods for developing smart contour garments for fashion consumers from overlooked markets
-How can garment, textile, E-textile design and participatory research methods be combined to form a more inclusive smart fashion methodology?
-How can ‘wearables’ be integrated into the wardrobes of consumers to meet their evolving clothing needs and extend garment longevity?

The potential theoretical framework merges emotional durability, sustainable design, co-design, facilitated through multidisciplinary fashion, textile and E-textile methods. Participatory research engagement with potential user groups will result in qualitative data to inform the resulting fashion wearables. Experimental prototypes should aim to support interactions between the body and garment (as second skin) through responsive functionality.

The successful candidate will be encouraged to build on an existing interdisciplinary research in the Fashion, Textile and Knitwear Department, School, College and University and if viable, in collaboration with industry partners. The research will actively support the new strategy for integrating vertical innovation in E-textiles by enabling advanced technologies (ATRG) to be integrated seamlessly with wearable products (FTK) that support real societal need. It will develop expertise in human-centred interaction design for wearable and E-textile innovation in fashion, where there is currently a gap in research activity at NTU.

The combined supervisory team and strategy for wider collaboration with other PhD students and RFs creates capacity for quick growth of rich concepts, highly visible design outputs, and rigorous research outputs across a wide range of contributing disciplines. It will contribute to new practices and theory at the intersections of design, science and technology, with an emphasis on human-centred methodology, and has strong potential to contribute to the University’s strategy for social and innovation impact via Sustainable Futures and Health and Wellbeing contexts.