RSA Student Design Awards project for the Wearing Intelligence 2017 brief.
Stitching Stories is a wearable e-textile which promotes the activism campaign #whomademyclothes. The piece uses a sewn circuit to explore the manufacturing story of our clothing where lights represent makers. Taking inspiration from design activism, raising awareness of social issues through storytelling, the final design concept uses emotional impact and smart textiles to educate and change consumer mindsets.
"The fashion industry is opaque, exploitative, environmentally damaging and desperately needs revolutionary change. We love fashion but we don't want our clothes to come at the cost of people or our planet". Fashion Revolution raises awareness to the current social and environmental issues created by fast fashion through their social media campaign #whomademyclothes. By bridging the gap between maker and consumer, companies are forced to prove supply chain transparency, ensuring legal and ethical practices, as well as encouraging positive advancement in sustainable actions. On top of this, disclosing information about craftspeople and product origins educates consumers and creates emotional impact, causing more considered purchasing habits.
This project uses smart textiles as a visual way to tell the forgotten story of our clothing, linking the people throughout the manufacture process with those wearing the finished article. Using "transparency" as drawing inspiration, investigating terms including Layers, Reflection and Light, sketchbook development focussed on repetitive line drawings. The final concept of a "Garment Lifeline" represents the valuable creation story, crediting each person involved with an LED. This could be furthered by an awareness campaign using other developed prints as recognisable campaign apparel. QR codes could link an App where further manufacture information would be published.
