[CHALLENGE] TexClay: a textile clay for sustainable and reversible (fast) fashion

Who are we

Hello and thank you for visiting my challenge!

I am currently working on my graduation project (MA Design) at the University of the Arts Berlin, having previously completed a BA in Fashion Design and made first steps into the fashion industry. My main question concerning fashion is how we can maintain its positive aspects (identity-creation, self-expression, community-building, communication across borders and social classes, a tool for social mobility, …) without having to accept its negatives (human rights violations, overproduction, harm to the environment, social exclusion, …).

Can we fundamentally rethink the fashion system and overcome dynamics of domination and subordination?
Will this mean the end of it or enable new forms of creative expression and social interaction?

Contact: redress@aichaabbadi.com
Project blog: redress.aichaabbadi.com

Short Description

TexClay – an instant building material for objects of temporary use

TexClay (textile clay) proposes an alternative for dealing with fashion’s
ever-accelerating pace without harming people and the environment through
overproduction and over-consumption.

From fiber to cloth to garments to shreds… This is the current destructive cycle of fashion. But can’t we transform this principle into a creative and sustainable circularity?

Many modular fashion solutions are comparatively slow to assemble and create a decorative appearance that does not appeal to every taste. Out of the people who use them, the effort required to assemble garments might make the resulting pieces too precious to take apart over and over again.

Liquid textiles (Fabrican) and lab-grown materials provide multiple opportunities for creative and practical use but still lack the reversibility…

The CHALLENGE that I propose is to create a hybrid between the two approaches, to develop a textile ‘clay’ that can be the building material for future fashion, that is as easy and as intuitive to form as clay and can be reinterpreted over and over again.

On the 1st of July 2017, during the OSCE Days Berlin I will present more background information about this idea, the experiments I have done so far, the problems encountered … and invite you to join me in this challenge, to imagine and find solutions for a truly circular fashion product!

Resources

for preliminary thoughts: http://www.opensourcefashionmanifesto.com/
modular textiles & more: http://fabtextiles.org/

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Moderation: Topic moved to the “Materials” category. Tell me if this doesn’t sound right.

No problem. People interested in textiles and fashion will probably still find it. Thanks!

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@AICHA your project is very cool. We’re running an OSCE sustainable fashion event in London in September, it would be great to hear about the lessons you learnt from your challenge and how we could link up with you. [PLANNING] Open Labs—Sustainable Fashion: London December 2nd

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