SIZE GRADING OF ZERO-WASTE GARMENTS

QUANTITATIVE EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNIndependent variables were methods used to grade garments: conven-tional grading and varying widths of fabric. Dependent variable was the amount of waste fabric in each marker

CONTROLA size eight non-zero-waste garment was re-designed into a size eight jigsaw zero-waste garment on 38” width fabric using Gerber Accumark 10 CAD software. The style and size of garment that was graded was controlled across all grading methods

GRADING METHOD #1: CONVENTIONAL GRADINGBase size eight jigsaw garmnet was graded into size four and size twelve using edge changes grading method. Growth increments were based on Alvanon dress form and ASTM misses size standard

GRADING METHOD #2: VARYING WIDTHS OF FABRICBase size eight jigsaw garment was scaled up from 38” wide down to 36” wide for the size four garment and up to 44” wide for the size twelve garment

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSISMarkers were made for five garments and the fabric utilization % for each maker was measured using Gerber EasyMarking software. The garments were ranked from highest fabric utilazation to lowest fabric utilization

QUALITATIVE DESIGNcompared the fit and design integrity of the graded size four and size twelve garments from each of the three grading methods in the quanti-tative phase to the fit and design of the base size eight zero-waste gar-ment

EVALUATION TOOLThree experts in the field of apparel and fit were asked to rate charac-teristics related to the fit and design integrity of the graded garments using a Likert-type scale. The garments were evlaluated on size four and size eight Alvanon dress forms and a size twelve PGM dress form

SAMPLESThe control garment, the base size eight jigsaw garment, and one size four and one size eight garment was constructed in muslin fabric from the graded pattern pieces for each grading method

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSISSix garments were scored from 1-6 with 1 being very poor and 6 be-ing vary good. The garments were evaluated by adding up the total numerical score for each method and size and comparing the scores. Grading methods with the lowest fit scores were considered to have the worst fit and design integrity and grading methods with the highest fit scores were considered to have the best fit and design integrity

INTRODUCTION

Approximately fifteen percent of fabric is left on the cut-ting room floor in traditional apparel manufacturing (Cooklin, 1997)

“Embodied energy of the fabric” which is the “aggre-gate of raw material, labour, energy and water con-sumed from fiber generation and extraction, to spin-ning, weaving or knitting” is lost when fabric is wasted(Fletcher, 2008, p. 100)

PROBLEM STATEMENTExisting studies focus on the zero-waste design process and role of the designer in this process, but few if any look at how zero-wste garments may be graded into different sizes

PURPOSE OF STUDYEvaluate the feasibility of grading a zero-waste garment using two different methods of grading: conventional grading and varying widths of fabric. The fabric utilization, fit, and design integrity was evaluated in three different sizes for each grading method for fabric waste, fit, and design integrity

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

BACKGROUND

HISTORY OF ZERO-WASTE FASHION DESIGNDifferent versions of rectangular wrapped garments can be found in many cultures from all over the world, with variations in the types and amount of wrapping determined by the width of the looms available in that culture and therefore the dimensions of fabric available (Burnham, 1973).

JIGSAW DESIGN METHODAll pieces of the garment interlock with each other in the marker and generate no fabric waste from their production (McQuillan, 2011; Rissanen, 2013), pioneered by Timo Rissanen

EMBEDDED JIGSAW DESIGN METHOD“Embeds a traditionally designed garment pattern into a zero-waste pattern and treats the embedded pattern as a fixed area. This en-ables multiple garment designs and types from a single zero-waste pattern” (McQuillan, 2011, p. 93). The designer may cut different garment styles from the same piece of cloth using this technique, used by Holly McQuillan

OBJECTIVE #1FABRIC UTILIZATION

OBJECTIVE #2FIT & DESIGN INTEGRITY

METHODOLOGY

Figure 1. Objective #1: 62.28% fabric utilization, 38” width fabric

SIGNIFIGANCE OF PROBLEM

Can zero-waste garments be graded without creating fabric waste?

Do graded zero-waste garments meet industry expectations for fit?

Do graded ze-ro-waste garments meet industry expectations for design integrity?

1 2 3

TESSELLATION DESIGN METHOD“One shape that repeats by fitting perfectly together, with no gaps between the shapes” (Carrico & Kim, 2014). The shapes are cut out of the fabric into pieces that are arranged and overlapped on the body to form a garment, used by Holly McQuillan

MINIMAL CUT DESIGN METHODHybrid of draping and the jigsaw method. Fewer cuts are made into the fabric with most of the garment shape coming from slashes in the fabric rather than separate tailored pieces; the excess fabric is draped about the body (Carrico & Kim, 2014)

RESULTSCONTROL GARMENT:

SIZE EIGHT NON-ZERO-WASTEGARMENT #1:

BASE SIZE EIGHT ZERO-WASTE JIGSAW

GARMENT #2: SIZE FOUR CONVENTIONAL GRADING

GARMENT #3: SIZE TWELVE CONVENTIONAL GRADING

GARMENT #4: SIZE FOUR VARYING FABRIC WIDTHS 36”

GARMENT #5: SIZE TWELVE VARYING FABRIC WIDTHS 44”

RESULTS SUMMARY

GARMENT 1 Redesigned 8 99.93% Grading Method Size Fabric Utilization%

GARMENT 5 Varying widths 12 99.93% GARMENT 4 Varying widths 4 99.6% GARMENT 2 Conventional grading 4 95.6% GARMENT 3 Conventional grading 12 N/A CONTROL Non-zero-waste 8 62.28%

TABLE 1. AMOUNT OF FABRIC WAISTE FOR EACH MARKER

GARMENT 1 56% 55% 66% 40% 89% 100%

Evaluator A Evaluator B Evaluator C Fit Design Fit Design Fit Design

GARMENT 5 35% 30% 18% 5% 83% 70% GARMENT 4 57% 70% 52% 5% 88% 100% GARMENT 2 55% 55% 39% 20% 90% 70% GARMENT 3 47% 40% 52% 5% 86% 95% CONTROL 88% 75% 66% 40% 89% 100%

TABLE 2. FIT & DESIGN INTEGRITY EVALUATION SCORE FOR EACH GARMENT

CONCLUSIONS

Figure 3. Objective #1: 99.93% fabric utilization, 38” width fabric

VARYING WIDTHS OF FABRIC MAINTAINS ZERO WASTEResults of the first objective show that scaling the pattern pieces to fit the width of fabric created less fabric waste than convention-al grading; however, conventional grading of a zero-waste gar-ment still creates less waste than the industry norm, which is 15% (Cooklin, 1997)

FABRIC WIDTH MUST BE CONTROLLED Grading by varying widths of fabric would require control the fabric widths for each size down to the closest inch in order to maintain acceptable fit. Fabric is rarely sold in one-inch width increments, so fabric customization would be necessary

ZERO-WASTE GARMENTS CANNOT BE GRADED UPIt would be possible to use conventional grading on a zero-waste garment if the base size is the largest size in the size range and all of the sizes were graded down from the base size

MORE RESEARCH IS NEEDED TO DETERMINE FEA-SIBILITY FOR INDUSTRY ADOPTION Future research could explore grading different types of silhou-ettes. It would be beneficial evaluate the garments on single brand of dress forms, as well use use more evaluators with more varied expertise

15%

?

Figure 2. Objective #2: Size eight non-zero-waste garment

Figure 4. Objective #2: Size eight jigsaw zero-waste garment

Figure 5. Objective #1: 95.6%% fabric utilization, 38” width fabric

Figure 6. Objective #2: Size four conventional graded garment

Figure 7. Objective #1: fabric utilization not measured, 38” width fabric

Figure 8. Objective #2: Size twelve conventional graded garment

Figure 9. Objective #1: 99.6%% fabric utilization, 36” width fabric Figure 10. Objective #2: Size four 36” width

fabric garmentFigure 11. Objective #1: 99.93%% fab-ric utilization, 44” width fabric Figure 11. Objective #2: Size twelve 44” width

fabric garment

REFERENCES1. Burnham, D. K. (1973). Cut My Cote. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum c1973.2. Carrico, M., & Kim, V. (2014). Expanding zero-waste design practices: a discussion paper. International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology & Education , 7 (1), 58-64.3. Cooklin, G. (1997). Garment Technology for Fashion Designers. Oxford: Blackwell Science.4. Fletcher, K. (2008). Sustainable fashion: past, present, and future. London, New York: Bloomsbury Academic.5. McQuillan, H. (2011). Zero-waste design practice: stragegies and risk taking for garment design. In A. Gwilt, & T. Rissanen, Shaping Sustainable Fashion: changing the way we make and use clothes (pp. 83-97). London: Earthscan.6. Rissanen, T. (2013). Zero-waste fashion design: a study at the intersection of cloth, fashion design, and pattern cutting (Doctoral dissertation). PhD Thesis, University of Technology, Sydney.

Allison Bowles, MS Thesis, Textile Technology Management under the direction of Dr. Annett-Hitchcock,