MY-X

Useful information

Team members: Natalia Barankova
Country: Slovakia
Keywords: #mass customisation #parametric upcycling #post-consumerism #distributed fashion system #circular collaborative customisation #microfactory #superstore

Short Description

It is a vision of a new fashion system built on circular, collaborative and local mass-customisation

Detailed Description

My-x transforms the way clothes are made, sold and designed. Through customisation of waste fabrics and their reconstruction, we can achieve “wardrobe surgery” as a tool for saving resources and longevity. My-X is a statement saying we can not afford to work with and produce more materials and exists as an intersection between tradition and emerging technologies. The project is built in parametric software Grasshopper, which allows for scanning of discarded pieces and gives customer and ability to design a new piece from the comfort of their homes. The project’s aim is to demystify fashion design and production, to empower the contemporary people to make fashion again through simplifying the design and fabrication process.
Even though the main part of project is now a tool, it is a vision of a new fashion system built on circular collaborative mass-customisation, through connection of citizens and their resources and emergence of local micro factories and tailors.

Project Details

Does your design take social and cultural challenges and human wellbeing into consideration?: The project creates new job opportunities and promotes collaboration with experts in traditional techniques whose practices are dying out. It helps parents to save money as they do not have to buy new clothes all over again. It also helps people who want to buy consciously, however do not like second hand clothing and can not afford sustainable materials. The project also goes against the unethical fashion production methods, exploitation of developing countries. Moreover, MY-X will be developed as gender-neutral fashion, offering children and youth freedom through more diverse market than the current boys and girls one.

Does your design support sustainable production, embodying circular or regenerative design practices?: Yes, the project is based on up-cycling the old, waste, unfitting or simply unloved fabrics and garments. Trough simple preparation of a garments - cutting them to make them flat, one can scan them and customise new piece of choice. The design options offered to a customer are limited by the amount of fabrics available. The cut pieces are nested on the fabrics in most effective way- to save as much material as possible. The project is well suited for childrenswear. As the children grow fast, the fabrics can be recombined to create new of the desired size. The vision of the project is to create a market for mass customisation using the material flow on the local scale. Customers can design pieces with their own garments from home and bring them into the local micro factory or registered MY-X tailor, to be re-produced. My-x micro factories could become a responsible collection point for fabrics as scanning of garments allows for their tracking around the city, letting donators know who made a new piece out of their old clothing. Microfactories could create a local personalised up cycled market avoiding fabrics to be sent into landfill or developing countries. Moreover, Project has a potential to create digital community of sharing between citizens as well as community interested in building skills in making garments and use of digital fabrication in fashion (workshops, classes etc..)

Does your design use principles of distribution and open source?: The tool will be soon available to download, therefore anyone can use it to create their new clothing (by downloading the file created with the tool and visiting local FabLabs, fabrication spaces and sewing workshops.) It has already been tested by making designs and MY-X clothing with people remotely. (For now, the repo of Grasshopper script will be published, for people to use it, contribute and improve it. The project is really about getting fashion back to the hands of people and distribute the power of monopolised fashion system. In the future, MY-X will be an open platform for people to contribute with designs of parametric cut patterns, advice on combinations of materials and share materials between each other. The vision of micro-factories is to team up with FabLabs or to build a separate network of these spaces around the globe, each contributing with own styles and processes.

Does your design promote awareness of responsible design and consumption?: Yes, the aim of the project is to build a future of wardrobe surgeries, a world in which buying new unsustainable clothing will be seen as "uncool" and minor.
It shares the strong messages on impact of fast fashion on nature and people.
Moreover, by seeing the new customised design based on waste clothing, the customer is motivated to upcycle and donate, rather then throw the garments into the bin.