3. Circular Open Source Fashion¶

Research¶

Circular Fashion¶

I’m drawn to the topic of circular fashion because it feels both complex and full of potential. Each of its aspects — from material choices to production methods — opens up new ways to think about how we make and wear clothes. It’s not just a design question; it’s a mindset shift toward something more thoughtful and sustainable.

When I think about this subject, I often realize how different things were just a few decades ago. In the post-Soviet region, people lived much closer to the idea of mindful consumption. We had reusable shopping bags — the famous avoska — returned glass jars to stores, and wore clothes for years, repairing or altering them when needed. I’m sure many of us still have a grandmother who does this. Those habits might seem old-fashioned today, but they reflect a kind of respect — for materials, for labor, and for the effort behind every object — that we’ve largely lost and should try to bring back.

It’s encouraging that even large fashion brands are now taking steps in this direction. Projects like Eileen Fisher’s Renew and Patagonia’s Worn Wear give new life to used garments by repairing, reselling, or upcycling them. H&M, UNIQLO, and Henderson also run clothing collection programs that recycle old textiles into new fibers. These may seem like small gestures, but they point toward a more circular and responsible system.

As a designer, I’m especially fascinated by approaches that reduce waste at the production stage. One of the pioneers in this area is Issey Miyake, whose work stands out not only for its aesthetics but also for its respect toward materials and resources. His concept A-POC (A Piece of Cloth), developed in the late 1990s, was revolutionary: garments were created directly from a single, continuous piece of fabric, produced through computer-controlled knitting or weaving. This method drastically reduced cutting and sewing, achieving near zero waste — while also inviting the wearer to take part in shaping the final piece.

In 2021, A-POC ABLE, led by Yoshiyuki Miyamae, took this philosophy even further. The line combines innovative techniques such as Steam Stretch, Baked Stretch, and Bonding, producing fabrics that change shape and respond to movement. The collections are divided into product types (A, O, S, U, etc.), each based on different textile behaviors.

all photos are from https://www.isseymiyake.com/pages/apocable#section0

Among them, TYPE-A best captures the zero-waste principle. It uses tubular knit fabric that doesn’t fray when cut, allowing garments to be formed directly from one continuous textile. This approach not only eliminates leftovers but also lets the wearer take part in creation — a perfect example of modular, circular design thinking.

Zero-Waste Design and Timo Rissanen¶

Another key figure in the field of zero-waste fashion is Timo Rissanen, a Finnish-born designer, researcher, and educator who currently serves as Assistant Professor of Fashion Design and Sustainability at Parsons School of Design in New York. Rissanen has dedicated much of his career to rethinking how garments are constructed, focusing on the ways design, patternmaking, and cutting can all work together to eliminate waste from the very beginning of the process.

His doctoral research, titled “Fashion Creation without Fabric Waste Creation,” explored how the creative and technical sides of fashion could merge to produce more sustainable outcomes. One of his best-known projects is a zero-waste pyjama set made from two old bed sheets — the pattern layout is so carefully designed that nearly every piece of fabric is used, leaving almost nothing behind.

Rissanen’s influence extends beyond his studio practice. He co-authored the book Zero Waste Fashion Design (with Holly McQuillan, 2016), which has become one of the most important references for sustainable design education. He also co-curated the exhibition Yield: Making Fashion without Waste (2011), which showcased designers experimenting with no-waste and waste-minimizing techniques.

Through both his academic work and creative practice, Rissanen continues to challenge the conventions of fashion production, showing that sustainability and innovation can — and should — go hand in hand.

My modules¶

Exploring modular design and searching for inspiration, I turned to a natural source — corals. I liked a lot the project of Emma Picanyol, where absolutely different modules were combined together. I liked the colorful design and original method of modul's connection.

My initial idea was to create a reversible module, one that could be cut from material with zero waste. However, I wasn’t able to develop a visually pleasing reversible module, so I shifted my focus to something that I personally find truly beautiful — Henri Matisse’s coral shapes.

I love this artist and was deeply inspired by the idea of creating a module based on his work. I chose this particular coral because its shape included indentations, curves, and fine branches that could interlock with one another.

In Inkscape, I converted the raster image to a vector and began refining it.
Below is the way I changed the image to a vector.

Import the image
File → Import → choose your PNG/JPG.
Select the image
Click to highlight it.
Open tracing tool
Path → Trace Bitmap (or Trace Image).
Choose mode
Colors — for multicolor images.
Adjust settings
Use threshold, smooth, remove background → click Apply.
Separate results
Move the top image aside — that’s the vector. Delete the original if needed.

I smoothed out irregularities and removed unnecessary details from the original image.

I created several versions of the module.

The photo below shows my proposed connection method between modules. I also added extra holes in the design to allow the pieces to attach to each other.

I was further inspired by the idea of creating objects from modular elements of the underwater world, so I drew a shell and a starfish in vector format. The shell was intentionally designed so that its inner (reversed) part could also be used in constructing fabric or accessories from modules.

Next, I've sent my files in SVG format to another computer and continued working in CorelDRAW.

I arranged all the parts on a single sheet for test laser cutting on paper.

Laser cutting settings for paper cutting:

Speed (mm/s): 200
Min Power (%): 15
Max Power (%): 17

I made the option with all 3 types of modules, but the I did not like the result, so I decided to make a bracelet using the coral module only.

I liked how the coral module looked once printed, but there were still connection issues.

Therefore, I made the following adjustments:

Slightly narrowed the coral stem
Enlarged the upper hole of the coral

In the FabLab, there were beautiful red leather scraps I wanted to use. However, no one had previously cut leather with the laser, so we had to check if it was safe to do so. We performed a burn test to detect the presence of chlorine. We burned two leather samples (one red and one white): the red one produced a strong acrid smell, while the white one smelled more like burning paper.

As a result, I chose the white leather, which I can later dye. For cutting, I selected leftover pieces of leather of suitable size. To ensure the laser focus distance remained stable, we taped down the leather to keep the surface flat.

Laser cutting settings for leather cutting:

Speed (mm/s): 20
Min Power (%): 60
Max Power (%): 65

Fabrication files¶

File: Coral module ↩