Design & Development of Ornate Upcycled Fashion Ensembles Volume 4 - Issue 4

Yamini Jhanji* and Gurpreet Kaur

• Department of Fashion & Apparel Engineering, TIT&S, India

Received:January 22, 2022   Published: February 03, 2022

*Corresponding author: Yamini Jhanji, Department of Fashion & Apparel Engineering, TIT&S, India

DOI: 10.32474/LTTFD.2022.04.000194

Abstract PDF

The accessory and home textile industry are as promising and lucrative as apparel industry as far as employment, entrepreneurship and innovative product development is concerned. Although industry is vital means of livelihood for workforce and mode of exploration and experimentation for novice designers, the unorganized supply chain with emphasis on fast and affordable fashion by consumers has led to several detrimental impacts on environment and social well-being. The mass production of accessories and home textiles not only overburden the entire supply chain, but the wellbeing of workforce is completely neglected. It thus becomes imperative to incorporate the sustainable principles in accessory and home textile manufacturing. While designers, manufacturers and retailers are playing their part by adopting sustainable practices, the consumers should also be conscious and deliberately prefer a sustainable brand. The present paper discusses design and development of upcycled accessories and home decors rendering an ornate, traditional appeal by employing several surface ornamentation techniques namely marbling, acrylic pouring and attachment of sundries. The design collection was rated by volunteer millennials to rate the developed ensembles in terms of aesthetics, functionality and economic viability.

Keywords: Upcycling; Surface Ornamentation; Design; Home textiles; Accessories

Accessory and home textiles are crucial segments of textile and fashion industry. Accessories can be classified based on the raw materials utilized in their construction, functionality, styles and techniques to embellish them. A range of fashion accessories namely handbags, jewelry, footwear, hats and hair accessories are preferred by fashion conscious consumers. Likewise, home textiles are utilized for interior design and comprises of bedspreads, table runners, pillows, cushion covers and wall decors. A variety of textile and non-textile materials are utilized for home textiles and fashion accessories. Some of the materials involved in production of end products are unsustainable and lead to deleterious environmental impacts [1]. The need of the hour is thus switching over to sustainable and eco-friendly raw materials and surface embellished techniques. Accordingly, many high-end accessory and home textile brands are transforming their designing and production processes emphasizing of sustainable principles of recycling, reuse and upcycling. Furthermore, the eco-friendly embellishment techniques like hand painting, marbling, acrylic pouring, and attachment of sundries accessories are employed to render ornate, traditional appeal to home textiles and fashion accessories (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Hand curated Upcycled Home textiles embellished with varied SO techniques.

Discarded cotton cushion covers, torn and discarded bed sheets, amputated trims and notions were collected domestically for design and development of upcycled home textiles. A phulkari stole, discarded tote bag, bag with damaged fasteners and amputated hair accessories were collected domestically to be converted into embellished fashion accessories. The torn portions of selected fabrics were removed, and edge neatened. The surface ornamentation techniques namely block and screen printing, marbling, hand painting and attachment of sundries were deployed to embellish the end products. The developed home textiles and accessories were subjectively evaluated by respondents who were asked to rate the developed end products based on their functionality, aesthetic appeal and economic consideration.

An assortment of upcycled home textile namely bedspreads, cushion covers, and wall decors were designed and developed utilizing the discarded, worn out and torn home textiles. Two surface ornamentation techniques namely block printing and screen printing were utilized to embellish the bed sheets. Cushion covers were embellished by marbling technique that involved color mixing and merging on textile substrate. A myriad of sustainable accessory styles was designed and developed by stitching left over fabrics, stoles and refurbishing the discarded bags. Three bag styles namely potli, fold over pouch and tote were developed by upcycling and recycling techniques [2-4]. The potli was embellished by foil printing and attachment of tassels and mirrors while a worn out, discarded phulkari stole was converted into fold over pouch with fastener attached on top. A tote bag was embellished with hand painted motif on outer covering with left over fabric converted to grasping elements of the bag. A sequined amputated hair accessory was converted into dangling earrings. The developed end products were exhibited with an indent for visitors to rate the upcycled and embellished hand curated end articles in terms of their styles, aesthetic appeal, functionality, design concept and economic considerations (Figure 2). The respondents expressed their liking for developed end articles and preferred buying the bag styles particularly tote and fold over pouch.

Figure 2: Hand curated Upcycled Accessories embellished with varied SO techniques.

The accessory and home textile industry are as promising and lucrative as apparel industry as far as employment, entrepreneurship and innovative product development is concerned. The mass production of accessories and home textiles not only overburden the entire supply chain, but the wellbeing of workforce is completely neglected. The need of the hour is thus to incorporate the sustainable principles in accessory and home textile manufacturing. The present work emphasized on design and development of upcycled accessories and home decors rendering an ornate, traditional appeal by employing several surface ornamentation techniques namely marbling, hand painting, screen and block printing and attachment of sundries. The design collection was rated by volunteer millennials to rate the developed ensembles in terms of aesthetics, functionality and economic viability. The respondents expressed their liking for developed end articles and preferred buying the bag styles particularly tote and fold over pouch..

1. Y Jhanji (2021) Design & Development of Traditional & Sustainable Contemporary Women Wear, Latest Trends in Textile and Fashion Designing Research ISSN: 2637-4595.
2. https://www.hamstech.com/fashion-design-learn-more-about-surface-ornamentation
3. Yamini Jhanji, Deepika Grewal, Revival of Madhubani Painted Textiles.
4. Yamini Jhanji Dhir (2020) CAD intervention for Revival, Stylization & Adaptation of Madhubani Traditional Textiles. International Journal for Modern Trends in Science and Technology 6(8S): 145-148.