FURTHER RESEARCH - Circular economies and possible clothing shape options

Following on from yesterdays research I thought I would look into some of the links that were provided from the brief. I looked into Make/Use Long coat design and thought that this may be an excellent starting point to re-purpose the fabric from the cape that I originally deconstructed. I thought I could look into the Template option, and alter it so that it is a cropped coat design instead. I think I will still need additional fabric, so I will need to look into what fabric I can bring into this design- I have a mohair jumper in mind that I have not worn in about 5 years (originally brought from an op-shop) so this may be an option as well.

I found this video of Tim Brown describing the "circular economy" very inspiring- and the website is an excellent resource, something I will look at reading in depth in preparation for my fourth year project as this is exactly along the lines of what I am considering for my honors project. Check out the video below.

In the Circular Design Guide, it asks the question:

"Circular Design

When you have selected a safe material and considered its life cycle impacts, explore how the product containing the material would fit in a circular design:

-Will this material be combined with other materials or chemicals in the product?

-Can these materials be easily separated?

-How durable is the material for the expected uses of the product?

-What is the expected lifetime of use of the product containing the material?

-Will it require repair or maintenance?

-How can the value of the material be recovered after the use phase of the product? "

These questions are valid as I find that quite often after I re-purpose a garment or "thing"- whatever that may be I tend to just make another "thing"- it might be valuable to me for a period of time, but then I may have altered the original materials so drastically, that the "thing" is no longer able to be re-purposed or recycled. In my ignorance, I have essentially made something that can no longer be used for anything, and this in effect is the complete opposite of what I would like to do as a designer.

The Make/Use has a very interesting take on joining in garments, which is something, if I am honest, I have never really considered before. I completed a Diploma in Fashion Design back in 2012, and I really only considered the traditional seam allowance method of joining fabric, however as the Make/Use website points out, this can create problems if the fabric of the garment is to be re-purposed at a later stage. I would like to try an alternative method of joining in this project if possible. I explored the ideas of fabric shapes below.