Material Driven Design for Creative Material Dialogues

The recently adopted European Union 'Eco-design for Sustainable Products Regulation' heralds major changes that require new ethical approaches in the apparel and textile industry. The industry traditionally employs a design driven approach, which means that apparel and textiles product development is based on, among other things, design briefs, brand DNA, price level and trends. Materials selection meet requests from purchasing, sales and design departments as it is a highly competitive industry driven by earnings and profitability. Preparing young designers to act in the future context of the textile industry, we investigated a material driven design approach as a potential tool for providing fashion and textile design students with new perspectives for framing an aesthetic operational space through material dialogues. We advocate a material driven design approach as a lever for new ethical approaches in the apparel and textile industry.