Paper Textiles

Exploring Biobased Materials for Luxury Fashion

As part of my final year studies at DJCAD I submitted a dissertation that aimed to explore how the use of sustainable practices within luxury fashion can influence and educate consumption patterns. For example, through using biobased materials within design. This idea is expanded on through a series of practice led test undertaken by the author that looked at various handmade paper samples and how their properties would apply with in fashion and textile design. This project was inspired by a paper by Daphne Mohajer va Pesaran's 2018 paper People and Placelessness: Paper Clothing in Japan and traditional clothing made from the bark of paper mulberry trees.

Using a partially practice driven approach when researching my dissertation allowed me to gain a greater understanding of the material of paper. This allowed me to better contextualise it into a textile context, having had the freedom to analyse the relevant properties.

Research Outcome Photography

In the future I want to continue exploring paper as a expressive and re-usable material for garments. Hopefully continuing to explore its properties and how to manipulate these as well as further testing construction methods.

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Samples that I tested included two that can be categorised as 100% biobased whereas the other two can be considered 100% recycled materials with biobased origin. Materials used in sampling included: mulberry branches, nettle stalks, recycled cardboard, and recycled paper (such as old sketchbook pages). These were analysed based on the following categories: malleability; reaction to being soaked in water; how well machine stitched seams held up; how well it worked round a thread or wire structure; and sensory qualities such as appearance and feel. Whilst the nettle and mulberry papers where the most difficult and time consuming to process, there had superior strength and sensory qualities. However, with further exploration and combination of materials I think that recycled paper and cardboard also hold promise in this area, especially on thread structures. Paper could prove to be a innovative, conversational, and re-workable material to use in the world of biobased fashion. I believe that through the use of unusual material in luxury fashion, we can create conversation pieces that can spark conversation and may be able to educate around sustainable consumption.