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Generating Sustainable Fashion: Opportunities, Innovation and the Creative Fashion Designer

This research presents a new model for fashion design practice that integrates sustainable strategies in the design and production process. The Fashion Design for Sustainability (FD4S) model was developed over a five-year period and was created to assist fashion designers and product developers to consider appropriate sustainable design strategies at the outset of the fashion design process. By identifying and linking suitable strategies to relevant phases in the life cycle of the fashion garment, the FD4S model helps design and production teams to make informed decisions that can lessen the environmental and social impacts associated with clothing.

Aspects of the research have been disseminated in papers, articles, and lectures and workshops at educational institutes in the UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Australia, and at events including the Sustainability Knowledge Transfer week hosted by Metal Arts (UK), and industry symposium hosted by the Environment and Sustainability Institute at the University of Exeter. As an Associate Researcher on the ‘MISTRA Textiles Toolbox’ project, funded by the Swedish Foundation For Strategic Environmental Research, and a member of the Higg Index Educational Summit organised by the international group, Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Gwilt advises on the synergies between sustainable design strategies for the design and production of fashion garments.

This body of research informs Gwilt's forthcoming book, 'A Practical Guide to Sustainable Fashion' (Fairchild Books, 2014) that presents the FD4S model alongside case studies of best practice drawn from research, industry, and education. Developed to assist students, educators, and design professionals, the book has received support from industry associations including the Ethical Fashion Forum (UK) and the ReDress organisation (China). Gwilt is solely responsible for the structure and content of the book, including the collation of all case study material, images of work, and industry interviews.