Technical Design

Physical to Virtual: Optimizing the Apparel Product Development Process to Reduce Solid Waste in Apparel

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Abstract

The apparel giant Nike (2013) defines waste as any product or material purchased anywhere in the supply chain that does not ultimately end up in the consumer's closet. This definition includes non-product waste (such as packaging), manufacturing waste (such as scrap material in contract factories) and product waste such as samples. In addition to textile waste from the cutting room and post-consumption, apparel sampling can also generate a huge amount of textile waste. A major apparel brand would easily have millions of product samples each year, which may become textile waste.The purpose of this project was to focus on using virtual prototyping as an alternative to waste generated in physical apparel sampling. Many types of materials are used in apparel products, and each material has different environmental impact. Sustainable Apparel Coalition has developed material sustainability index (MSI) that can help companies choose the most sustainable textile materials. We sought to mesh the possibilities of virtual prototyping with MSI data, using version 2 of the MSI tool.

How to Cite:

Cobb, K., Cao, H., Davelaar, E., Tortorice, C. & Li, B., (2017) “Physical to Virtual: Optimizing the Apparel Product Development Process to Reduce Solid Waste in Apparel”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 74(1).