Zero-Waste Case Studies

ZERO-WASTE CASE STUDIES

A NOTE TO EDUCATORS

You can choose to present any, or all, of the following three case studies as examples of approaches to zero-waste design. You have been provided with slides and talking points to support each case study.

After presenting a case study, you are encouraged to discuss with students the successes of the brand or designer as well as the potential limitations of their particular approach to zero-waste design. These questions will help guide your discussions: - How does the designer’s particular approach to zero-waste determine the style of their designs? - How could it a!ect production? - How could it work with sizing and marker making? - How could it a!ect quantity of pieces per style? - How could it a!ect the marketing of the brand or the collection? - How could it a!ect wholesale or retail opportunities? - Would communicating zero-waste as sustainable fashion help to make the brand or designer stand out from the crowd?

CASE STUDY 1 | STUDY NY “Making Fashion without Making Waste”

Slideshow #T2ZW-03-1 Image credit: Study NY

Study NY is a New York-based ready-to-wear womenswear brand started by designer Tara St James in 2009. This contemporary label has conceptual design and sustainability as core values. They use environmentally and socially

Slideshow #T2ZW-03-1 responsibly sourced materials such as certiﬁed organic cotton, handwoven alpaca textiles from Peru and recycled brass beads, as well as having their production facility based in New York City.

Textile waste from garment manufacturing is a major concern of the brand with their mission to “Making Fashion without Making Waste”, and the zero-waste pattern cutting technique has been an approach adopted by Study NY since their very ﬁrst collection.

Some of their designs are barely cut at all. For example, this square dress design is essentially a square piece of cloth with groups of buttons placed strategically along the four edges.

Slideshow #T2ZW-03-2

It allows the customer to wear the piece in multiple ways to suit di!erent occasions, such as a halter dress, a strapless dress and a skirt. It is a classic staple available all year round regardless of season.

Slideshow #T2ZW-03-3

They also have a non-conventional approach to production in order to create less fashion waste. Rather than producing seasonal, trend led collections in line with the rest of the industry, instead they release one capsule collection of

Slideshow #T2ZW-03-4 three to four styles per month, every month of the year with each capsule di!ering in design, but in harmony with the other capsules. This approach has helped the label to strengthen their relationship with their customers through regular and direct contact while providing a steady workﬂow to their garment production workers.

In recognition of their work, in 2011 Study NY was awarded the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation Grant for sustainable design, and in 2014 were awarded runner-up in the CFDA/Lexus Eco Fashion Challenge.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Study NY | www.study-ny.com CFDA/Lexus Eco Fashion Challenge study-ny.com/blog/2014/10/30/study-wins-runner-up-in-the-cfda-lexus-eco- fashion-challenge Tara St James Interview | youtu.be/Mztc3n82KTg

CASE STUDY 2 | YEOHLEE “Clothes have magic. Their geometry forms shapes that can lend the wearer power.” - Yeohlee Teng

Slideshow #T2ZW-04-1 Image credit: Yeohlee

Yeohlee Teng started her fashion house in 1981, after moving from Malaysia to New York to study at the Parsons School of Design.

She is regarded as a pioneer zero-waste designer in contemporary fashion. Slideshow #T2ZW-04-1

Her ﬂagship store is in the heart of New York City, with her clothes made in the New York Garment District and sold internationally.

Yeohlee believes that “design comes from serving a function and is reﬁned through time and process.” Her design process starts from the materials she uses, and she maximises the use of each fabric by consideration of its weight, texture, colour and ﬁnishing. Her respect for fabric even expands to using selvages within her designs.

For her AW2009 collection, named Zero Waste, Yeohlee drew inspiration from “the economy in design, fabric and execution, and functionality” - again with every inch of the fabrics used following the principle of zero-waste. In this principally black collection, geometric patterns such as triangles, Slideshow #T2ZW-04-2 squares and rectangles are a dominant feature, with heavily draped but structured silhouettes, also a signature of Yeohlee Teng’s designs.

This collection was shown in her Garment District showroom and at the end of the show, a model wearing a layered sarong took the piece o! and laid it on the runway, matching it up to a tangram lookalike zero-waste pattern, reinforcing her commitment to zero waste.

For SS2015, she created a ready-to-wear collection which responded to the complexities of living and working in an urban environment.

She again demonstrated her love of geometry and its e"ciency for using fabrics economically Slideshow #T2ZW-04-3 , creating ﬁtted designs through panelling and folding.

She described one of her pieces - “I wanted to make it look like a ﬂattened box and constructed it out of 34 inches of fabric in total. Saving material like that is the olive in the martini for me.”

A video of the show is available here: vimeo.com/105889477

Her work is permanently exhibited in the Costume Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, United States, The Kyoto Costume Institute, Japan, and The Victoria and Albert Museum, UK.

In 2003, she published a book to record her work and approach to fashion design called, Yeohlee: Work.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Yeohlee | www.yeohlee.com Yeohlee Fall 2009 Runway Show video | vimeo.com/5525336 Yeohlee Spring 2015 video | vimeo.com/105889477 Yeohlee Teng (2006), Yeohlee: Work

CASE STUDY 3 | FARRAH FLOYD “I try to make interesting and fresh pieces using sustainable design strategies and facing the limitations that come with sustainable fashion as an inspiration rather than a disadvantage.”

Slideshow #T2ZW-05-1 Image credit: Farrah Floyd

Farrah Floyd is a European womenswear brand started by designer Bojana Drača in 2013.

She is a graduate of ESMOD with a Master in Sustainability in Fashion and also an alumni of The Redress Design Award. Slideshow #T2ZW-05-1

Farrah Floyd produces two collections a year and each collection consists of 10-12 pieces. The collections are put together consciously from design decisions, fabric choices through to production steps, with sustainability as a main pillar of the brand’s philosophy.

Combinations of strong, geometric lines with bold and sometimes contrasting colour blocks, with a hint of feminine silhouette can be seen throughout Farrah Floyd’s collections.

The brand is not trend led and aspires to create timeless pieces that are cherished by their customers, kept for a long time and form stronger bonds with the clothing as they go through life.

All designs created by the brand use the zero- Slideshow #T2ZW-05-2 waste pattern cutting technique. Pattern pieces are digitally cut in rectangles of various sizes depending on dimensions of the fabrics.

After cutting, the rectangle pieces are pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle according to the drape of the fabric and the design concept to create a silhouette ensuring no waste. This approach is a major part of Farrah Floyd’s creative process as well as the brand’s identity.

Fabric manipulation techniques such as pleating, origami and shibori are also regularly used by the brand, depending on the design concept, to complement this zero-waste approach in transforming simple 2D shapes into 3D forms.

Another big focus for the brand is sustainable fabric sourcing. For example, they mainly use fabrics sourced from Europe to complement their local (German) production philosophy, and choose specifically certified or sustainably made fabrics, such as Global Organic Textile Standard Slideshow #T2ZW-05-3 (GOTS) certified organic cotton, and rPES fabric, made from recycled PET bottles.

Farrah Floyd shows regularly at the Greenshowroom - the sustainable showcase as part of Berlin fashion week - and has stockists in Berlin and London.