Ryerson IFFTI Short Event

    The 3D knit ecosystem is a collaborative network of three xkey stakeholder groups including designers, programmers, and manufacturers who contribute to the development of 3D knit textile and apparel products. As an emerging technology, 3D knitting promises great potential for innovation in size inclusivity, comfort, product integrity, and wearable technology, but bottlenecks in communication have hindered widespread adoption across the economy. This research identified the challenges encountered by all stakeholders engaging with this technology, as well as the key skills required by designers to effectively participate in this collaborative environment and centre design in the development process. Tacit knowledge was found to play a meaningful role in the performance of these skills and in the way that stakeholders relate to one another through various channels of communication. 3D knit technology amplifies the differences in tacit knowledge between the different institutions involved in this cooperative fabrication process because it brings together practitioners from distinctly different institutional backgrounds, who do not naturally share a collective understanding of work-based objectives. This research has implications for current practices in textile and apparel production as well as for higher education institutions preparing design students for careers in this evolving industry.

    Creating alternative ways of knowing through innovative arts-based methods like digital storytelling contributes to understanding the embodied realities of those who are targeted by divisiveness, marginalization, and hate. As foundational work for my PhD I attended a digital storytelling workshop then conducted one with four Muslim women who veil. In this presentation I will centre the digital stories created by two participants as a decolonizing intervention into the whiteness of the field. This method allows participants to have agency over their narrative and freely express deeper feelings and their intersectional identities leading to a more inclusive research experience. Challenging dominant narratives and stereotypes these digital stories give voice to this marginalized and misunderstood community that often stands in harm’s way because their sartorial choices make them hyper-visibly Muslim. The presentation reveals that by prioritizing modesty these women are diverting the Western gaze, navigating away from superficial and oppressive Western beauty ideals, and challenging Islamophobic stereotypes.

    Western nations, including Canada, are major contributors to the global textile waste issue. A quarter of donated clothing in Canada is sold abroad to countries in the Global South such as Ghana. Donations feed the second-hand clothing (SHC) supply chain which has become a global waste management strategy that equates to dumping the Global North's excess onto the Global South, i.e. waste colonization. This research study investigated the environmental and social impacts of the SHC supply chain in Ghana through a mixed-methods approach working with the NGO, The OR is Present. A series of qualitative research methods were used such as structured interviews and participatory action research (PAR). In addition, quantitative SHC waste surveys were conducted along the Gulf of Guinea coastline of Accra to determine volume and nature of SHC waste along the beaches. Results highlight the difficulty in determining textile waste volumes along the shorelines due to uncontrollable environmental variables. While outcomes of this research study demonstrate how colonization and power dynamics are still deeply rooted in the SHC global supply chain which is extraordinarily complex and opaque.