Back to the Future of Fashion Past: Re-fashioning Future Garment Making

Matilda Aspinall ()
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Matilda Aspinall: London College of Fashion

Chapter 4 in Fashion Heritage, 2022, pp 81-112 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The analysis of historic garments can reveal hidden information of past construction and reconstruction processes. Historically many garments, owing to the shifting value of clothing both economically and culturally, were unpicked, repaired, restyled or re-fashioned. This is no longer the case. With the main stay of contemporary fashion dominated by transglobal corporations owning multiple brands, the cost of clothing is cheaper than ever before. It is well documented that the current method of disposing of used clothing is unsustainable (Morley et al., Recycling of low grade clothing waste. Oakdene Hollins Ltd, Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd, Nonwovens Innovation & Research Ltd. 2006; Allwood et al., Well dressed: The present and future of the sustainability of clothing and textiles in the UK. Cambridge University Press, 2006). In the UK alone clothing of an estimated worth of £140 million goes to landfill every year (WRAP, Valueing our clothes: The cost of UK fashion, 2017). Stoked by human desire and demand driven by a fashion system built on economic growth and obsolescence, worldwide these statistics are set to increase. By 2030 clothing consumption is projected to rise by 63% (Fletcher & Tham, Earth logic. JJ Charitable Trust, 2019). This chapter summarises my practice-led research into historic methods of past reconstruction and re-fashioning techniques. Through primary research and practical application, I discuss if a solution can be found to the growing expanse of unwanted garments by investigating how our predecessors valued and reused their clothes.

Keywords: Re-fashioning; Material culture; Prolonged life; Textile waste; Pedagogy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-06886-7_4

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-06886-7_4

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