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Design disciplines in general are challenged to foster alternative solutions towards a green transition of the industry. This naturally effects the design educations where the majority of curriculums include various learning objectives regarding sustainability, circular economy, re-cycling, etc. However, in this paper, we argue that many of the traditional tools and skills already inherent in the curriculums have the potential to promote a green transition provided they are introduced differently. Using well-known tools and skills in alternative ways is however challenging as the way in which their use is articulated and presented by lecturers determine the way in which the student implements and makes use of the tools. This article explores whether and how an alternative use of well-known tools in a fashion design context can beneficially contribute to increased product awareness among students and thereby support a sustainable development of the fashion industry. We suggest using the professional tools ‘line-up’ and ‘collection plan’ as anti-poles for the creation of a space for critical reflection. The anti-poles respectively address fashion as dreams and fashion as products. Fashion is a very visible part of consumption. As a concept that involves planned obsolescence, it is a major sinner in polluting the environment. Consequently, fashion design provides a relevant case to explore whether well-known tools and skills submitted through an alternative didactic approach, predominantly through articulation, can contribute to foster design students’ ability to contribute to sustainable development in design and engineering education in general.

Smart textiles have established a foothold in different academic fields, such as in chemistry, engineering, and in human-computer interaction (HCI). Within HCI, smart textiles are present in research in many ways, for example, as context, as means, or as focus. However, interdisciplinary projects tend to leave the implications of and to textile design without notice. How can a project utilise a textile designer’s skills to feed back to textile design from an interdisciplinary project? In this paper, we present a case study, where a textile designer’s role extends beyond the prototype production, and we analyse the project in light of textile design. Our findings show that textile design can augment data collection and analysis. We conclude with a discussion towards inclusion of textile design in HCI.

The Tripod Approach is a tool originally developed for analysing and designing interior textiles. Since 2012, we have introduced it in a concept development course for second year BA-students in fashion and textile design at XX-School in XX-country. The c

The fashion industry is currently undergoing a radical change towards an overall sustainable paradigm shift. This paper investigates how the fashion collection, as a particular design framework, mi...

Purpose Suppliers stand in the wake of a new diversified strategic momentum in the global production network, where innovation is growing in importance. The term “supplier-driven innovation” is coined in contrast to the current hype on user-driven innovation; this paper aims to discuss the wicked problems for suppliers to actively engage in customers’ innovations. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative case study of eight Danish suppliers. Findings The wicked problem of supplier-driven innovation is generated by two intertwined constraints: the ability to engage customers in the co-creation of attractive offers and the ability to include technological knowledge and capabilities residing in the upstream network of suppliers. Research limitations/implications This research combines an industrial network approach with perspectives generated through design management literature aiming to develop an innovative space for co-creation across diverse organizational, technological and managerial domains in the global production system. Practical implications To participate in supplier-driven innovation, partners need to co-create an innovative space for joint development. Originality/value Co-creation enriches the understanding of the diversity of forms of interaction, ranging from information and knowledge exchange and mutual adaptation processes to experimentation with processes of co-creation. Through a complementary view on how suppliers co-create innovative spaces of action in the upstream spaces of technical knowledge as well as the downstream spaces of preferential needs, the research contributes insights about the characteristics of the wicked problems that suppliers need to handle in bridging and expanding these spaces for innovative actions.

It is not rare that textile designers experience a need to explain or discuss decisions made during the design process. This article draws on the Fabric as Upholstery Workshop, which explored the Repertory Grid, an interview technique, as a tool for structuring a dialog about emotional value of applied textiles. Originally developed as a one-to-one interview technique, the article additionally introduces the Repertory Grid as a tool for dialog between groups of people. The discussion is based on three examples from the workshop, demonstrating ways in which the Repertory Grid encourages the participants to articulate and have a dialog about emotional aspects of textiles. It is exemplified how the procedure of a Repertory Grid can serve as a tool for dialog in the sense that it enables a group of participants to establish a common platform for dialog, achieve an in-depth dialog, and refine the dialog to concentrate on emotional aspects of the experience. In order to argue for the assumed potential o...

Product design, and especially relevant for this study in textile design, is concerned with designing not only products but also the materials that form the products. Here, designers should relate their materials and products to an existing context and environment that correspond to future users’ created meanings and experiences. Therefore, for design education, it is essential to discuss the diversity of material attributes that have to be considered as well as the creative process of actually designing materials in order to obtain the desired properties, characteristics and meanings. As educators of future designers we are concerned with teaching students, how to develop and use materials for “future design” in a way that embraces multiple properties, including aesthetic, technical, functional and sustainable concerns. In this paper we are specifically concerned with associative meanings and how they affect the design of new materials and how links between associations and physical properties of...