Whats to come?

Past weeks (or months) have been rather quiet on this blog, as of much work related to summarizing the learning from my case studies and summing up with the master's thesis. The journey is bending towards an end. Finally. Great feeling of the experience, however still some things to are to be done... Beyond that I have been very involved with my latest project, in collaboration with a fashion designer and some other friends. 

Namely Makeable4u.wordpress.com – the Make{able} workshop series will continue!!! With different concepts we wish to bring clothing design and  a collaborative working to the people. The topics during the workshops will change according to the season, materials and suggestions by our participants. Therefore take a look at our blog and let us know what you would be interested in learning and making.

e.g. coming in autumn... rain cape made of a broken umbrella.

In spite of the positive feedback on the participatory workshops, the question arose whether a market implementation of half-way clothing and half-way products should be evaluated? I wondered if it is possible to reach the critical mass with an open and participatory design approach such as the half-way product? The research showed some potential to experiment further, if the concept – half-way garment in the context of a workshop setting would be appreciated by the average fashion consumer.

Half-way products in (online) stores, especially as a sewing kit, can rarely be found. What are the real market possibilities or are half-way products just another research tool? I imagine that a half-way sewing-kit can be an 'intelligent' product, that requires the consumer's interaction before the first use. The half-way product can offer different stages of difficulty, depending on the consumer's prior skills. However, every piece can be adjusted to measure and personal style. This will result in unique products, that offer more personal value, than prior discussed mass-customization.

On basis of the research, I discovered a broad variety of fashion activism strategies and projects, which were too many to be explained within this thesis. Surprisingly few projects go beyond the research approach and result in a self-sustaining market solution. Those new design solutions, still seem to be the subject of design research only, and not become established in the course of action of consumers and producers.

I came across a Slovenian brand 'PaulMalina' which offers ready-cut garments plus supplies and instructions in one package. This idea combines slow and local production with consumer independency in creation.

In respect of this idea, I interviewed two fashion brands and their respective designers, namely Sophie Schmuckermeier, from 'Fashion-Hackers' (interview on this blog), located in Berlin, Germany and Tjasa Avsec and Tina Hocevar from 'PaulMalina' (interview coming soon :). Both brands use either open source, fashion hacking or the half-way concept in their business strategy.