Implementing Zero Waste Fashion in Apparel Design

The fashion industry is one of the largest contributors to the economy in Indonesia. However, this industry is the producers of both pre-production and post-production waste in large quantities causing environmental pollution. To meet the needs of consumers for fashion products, this industry actively design or renewing the design of apparel, resulting fabric waste from production in significant quantities during the process. Currently, there are varying viewpoints from practitioners and academics who argue that in order to reduce waste, the effort will be optimized when done during the pattern making and cutting process. Since the year 2008, the concept of zero waste fashion design or better known by the acronym ZWFD has been widely studied and practiced by students, academics, and practitioners in the field of fashion that has interest in the issues of waste pre-production and its influence on the environment. ZWFD itself refers to the steps to produce apparel with the minimum waste from fabrics during the pattern making and cutting process. This research aims to examine how the concept of ZWFD can be implemented in the course of design and apparel production. Characteristic of the fabric used in this experiment is first identified in order to deliver the possible way to work with the fabric in a three dimensional form. Furthermore, the experiment process continues until a certain form and and a lowest waste percentage is achieved. The final result of this research is a garment with as much as seven different looks from one key pattern with two different pattern making methods, namely flat pattern cutting and draping. Keywords : Apparel, Draping, Zero Wast