Future forms: a methodological investigation for garment shape innovation in knitwear design

This practice based research project investigates the opportunities for invention and innovation within industrial fashion for the knitwear designer and focuses on experimental knitwear in which the fabric and the garment shape are created simultaneously, thereby integrating clothing and textile design into one process. Following the development of seamless knitting technology, new possibilities have opened up for other ways of producing knitwear commercially. There is the potential for knitwear to have a different aesthetic to that which is currently based on a system of flat pattern cutting. This research investigates another way of developing knitwear by using a method of shape engineering as an alternative to the conventional flat pattern cutting approach to garment design. The current training and education options for knitwear designers are discussed, as are the working methods and processes of industrial knitwear production. The study also considers the importance of innovation in knitwear design and explores the opportunities for originality in industrial fashion knitwear through the adoption of non-standard working methods for the knitwear designer