Fashion 2.0

There is a whole new generation of fashion companies that are emerging from the 'web 2.0' phenomenon -  that is, they are internet-based and often involve co-design or open-source elements where the customer contributes to the design and/or running of the company. I guess you could call it Fashion 2.0, which is exactly what the founder of Weare,  calls it. 

Weare is a user-generated fashion label set up by a company called Moving Brands. Customers send in their own designs and these are all made up into one pattern which is printed onto a scarf. The scarf is available at high-end design stores in London. 

 

There is also a Berlin-based company Pamoyo who have just launched their first open-source shirt pattern which is available as a PdF download. Published under the Creative Commons license, the customer is encouraged to make up the shirt and post images of their finished garment on the website. The company also design and produce a range of ready-made garments, and it seems they are even going to make these patterns and designs available for free to be downloaded.

There is even a new tshirt printing company in the US, set up by a group of surfers, that offers customers 'membership' to own part of the company and to be actively involved in the running of the company.

But how realistic are these types of models for a clothing company and will they make any impact on our overconsuming habits? The classic examples of open-source design are the Linux computer software system or Wikipedia, where anyone is able to contribute or make changes to the program. The theory goes that the more collaborative and shared the effort is, the more we will feel part of something. Feeling part of something is what we are all craving in our disconnected modern society and the internet is our new town square. I guess one will feel less inclined to go out and mindlessly shop if you have other more enriching activities to get involved in.

Charles Leadbeater, in his book We Think: the Power of Mass Creativity, talks about open-source design as involving people who are actively working towards shared goals, and it is more about recognition from their peers than earning money or status. Some people get so involved in these open source projects that they become as highly skilled and knowledgeable as professionals -Leadbeater calls them 'pro-ams' or professional amateurs. In the 21st century, it is becoming more important to acquire knowledge and to feel part of something than it is to own shiny new consumer goods.

Also, the more competent we become in a certain area, like making our own garments from a downloadable sewing pattern, the more empowered we are and the more we may be able to make informed decisions as a consumer.

Science & Design

I went to see 
From Atoms to Patterns at the Wellcome Collection and was excited to see an example of successful cross-collaboration between scientists and textile designers. In the 1940's, Dr Helen Megaw was a crystallographer at Cambridge University and was awed by the patterns and forms that molecules were making under the microscope. She hooked up with a textile designer to create The Festival Pattern Group, which included some of the leading textile manufacturers in the UK, and scientists and textile designers worked together to create exciting new patterns and weave structures. 

The work was shown at the Festival of Britain in 1951, and the highlight was the Regatta Restaurant, which was decorated using wallpapers and fabrics from the collections, and even the menus were printed onto linen napkins which were trimmed with lace based on the patterns produced by the Hydrargillite mineral.  

A current example of cross-collaboration is the Nobel Textiles project at Central St Martins. Nobel prize-winning scientist have been partnered with a textile designer to develop textiles that respond to scientific discovery.