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Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in the UK has been a topic of controversy, frustration and complexity for design and designers for many years and this continues to be the case. The situation is further complicated by the different laws affecting IPR in different countries and, often, a lack of knowledge about IPR especially among young designers. Indeed, there are significant differences in knowledge and understanding of IPR among designers in both economically developed and developing countries. To understand IPR we must first alter or augment our perception of property.\ud We grow up to consider property as a material entity: a car, a house, a television etc., something tangible that an individual has paid to take possession of or has manufactured themselves and therefore has the right to charge another individual for or even to give away; the last three words are important and may become more important as we begin to discuss IPR in relation to culturally significant patterns, products and practices. For example, many of us will give away our personal property to charity shops or any other non-profit organisation we choose because we believe that, in doing so, we are contributing towards the good of our national and global society.\ud The concept of design knowledge as a property is covered in depth and breadth by Mwendapole (2005) in her PhD thesis. She explains that, although property is probably not semantically the right word to cover design knowledge it is used because, as MacPherson (1978 : 11) stated, ‘property must be grounded in a public belief that it is morally right; if it is not so justified it does not remain an enforceable claim. If it is not justified, it does not remain property’. Design knowledge can be placed into one of two groups (Rodgers and Clarkson 1998): tacit or explicit. To put this simply, tacit knowledge is what is in the designer’s brain; it has been put there by training, education, practice and experience. It is how the designer collects and interprets previous knowledge. The knowledge will remain tacit throughout most of the idea generation stage and even up to the stages of early sketches. Once the designer moves on to technical drawings, models, computer simulations and so on (i.e. they become explicit) the ideas can be tested, viewed, used and enjoyed in the public domain and therefore should be protected and a value placed on them. How this value is arrived at and whether it is purely temporal or spiritual or both is difficult enough in contemporary society; when the designer is an individual or corporate entity, when the designer is part of a cultural group or ecology that has existed for decades, centuries or even longer, the situation is highly complex.

The aim of this study is to produce accurate reproductions of digital clothing from historical sources and to investigate the implications of developing it for online museum exhibits. In order to achieve this, the study is going through several stages. Firstly, the theoretical background of the main issues will be established through the review of various published papers on 3D apparel CAD, drape and digital curation. Next, using a 3D apparel CAD system, this study attempts the realistic visualization of the costumes based on the establishment of a valid simulation reference. This paper reports the pilot exercise carried out to scope the requirements for going forward.

Colour forecasting is a process where attempts are made to accurately forecast colour for fashion-related products that consumers will purchase in the near future, usually two years ahead. Seasonal colours are recognised as a powerful driver of sales. Currently trend forecasts are marketed and sold globally. The information is broad and generalised and does not take into account colour preferences. In the study the anticipation of consumer acceptance was identified as the weakness of the process and an improved system model was developed replacing the anticipation stage with consumer colour acceptance data. The improved model is considered highly beneficial for fashion-related industries to adopt in order to increase their competitiveness in the global market and to assist waste reduction (unwanted products) that impact on the environment. In this paper the development of the two models is presented and discussed in an attempt to purposely promote the usefulness of soft systems methodology for design research.

More than ten years ago, a Guardian columnist observed a growth in the charity shop sector due to an increase in the number of such outlets on the high streets of towns and cities in the UK. The Guardian more recently reported on a new charity store image evidenced by brand-new charity fashion boutiques being launched by Oxfam in London. This new mode of charity store sold selected re-styled and re-designed items created by young designers from the London College of Fashion. The article stated that ‘the charity was taking its first step towards a more fashion-conscious image: away from the slightly battered shoes and oversize floral skirts it's known for and into the world of designer one-offs and couture accessories’ (Freeman, 2008). It is unquestionable that charity shops have the potential to offer good value fashion to people on a budget as well as attracting fashion-conscious customers. However, if the charity shop is to make the most of this opportunity then certain retail practices are in need of change. The aim of this research was to explore the current trend of UK charity retailers upgrading towards a new target market through the launching of specialist fashion stores and to examine effective strategies for charity shops to achieve up-market fashion retailing. Three retail models from the literature review were used and the research makes use of illustrated visual evidences to demonstrate the performance of charity shops compared to up-market fashion stores. Structured observations, photography and semi-structured interviews were used to develop a new ‘Mannequin Model’ to provide a strategy for charity shops wanting to move into the mid-upper levels of the fashion market. A synthesis representation of localisation and specialisation was found to have potential for launching a specialist fashion outlet in the charity retail sector.

This thesis describes methods for high-sensitivity detection of trace gases using tunable diode lasers (TDL). TDL absorption spectrometers have been widely used to acquire infrared spectra since 1970. However, high-sensitivity measurements have been limited mainly to the detection of low-pressure gases by harmonic techniques. The detection of atmospheric-pressure gases and the development of a rapid sweep technique for the accumulation of weak-absorption data over ~0.4 cmˉ¹ spectral regions are emphasized in this thesis. The results of this work may be divided into four areas where major accomplishments have been realized. Optical interference fringes generated by scattered light often limit the sensitivity of measurements performed with TDL spectrometers. The effect of fringes can be minimized by applying a jitter modulation. An investigation was undertaken to understand and quantify the effects of the jitter on the fringe and absorption signals. Simple analytical expressions describing the effects of the jitter modulation are derived and compared to experiment. Good agreement between theory and experiment is found. The limiting noise sources of a TDL spectrometer were carefully investigated and identified. Detection methods insensitive to the noise were developed. Application of these methods leads to sensitivity limits equivalent to detecting an absorption of ~10ˉ²% for atmospheric-pressure gases and ~10ˉ³% for low-pressure gases over path lengths ≤ 200 m. This represents a substantial improvement over previous work. A rapid-sweep technique capable of detecting absorptions due to low-pressure gases of ~10ˉ³% over path lengths ≤ 200 m is described. Data accumulation by the rapid-sweep technique allows direct determination of line shapes and linewidths from the measurements. An investigation of the TDL output power and frequency stabilitiy was performed as these laser characteristics directly affect the achievable sensitivity. The development of a new method to determine the TDL linewidth is reported. This technique permits the linewidth of any tunable laser to be quickly and easily measured. Throughout this thesis, the sensitivity of the various detection techniques is demonstrated by the detection of pollutants and trace gases. Whenever applicable, techniques for further increasing the sensitivity are discussed. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This study highlights the potential of new technology as a means to provide new possibility for costumes in fragile condition to be utilised. The aim of this study is to create accurate digital duplicates of costumes from historical sources, and to explore the possibility of developing them as an exhibitory and educational method applying 3D apparel CAD and new media. To achieve this, three attributes for qualities of effective digital costumes were suggested: faithful reproduction, virtual fabrication, and interactive and stereographic appreciation. Based on these qualities, digital costumes and a PC application were produced and evaluated.

—Dress form is an essential tool in the clothing-making process for pattern block development, draping and quality inspection. However, it is noted that a single dress form is not applicable for a large variety body shapes. There are adjustable dress forms and custom-made dress forms to attempt to make up for the insufficiency of conventional dress forms. However, such types of dress forms are rather costly and their effectiveness is debatable. With this is mind, a customised adjustable kit for the dress form was developed, with the aim to cover different sizes and shapes more precisely. The kit adopts 3D printing technology which enables generating and changing the shape of components efficiently.