The Sustainable Model

The Sustainable Model: Designing within a sustainable framework Sanah Sharma [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://planarflux.wixsite.com/design Sharma, Sanah, “The Sustainable Model: Designing within a Sustainable Framework” (2016) http://planarflux.wixsite.com/design/project-05 The Sustainable Model: Designing within a Sustainable Framework Sanah Sharma [email protected] Abstract This study is aimed at understanding the current fashion systems, the definition of sustainable fashion and the use of topology to innovate a pattern cutting technique that complies with the parameters of ‘good design’ while also achieving sustainability at a large scale. The paper introduces a hybrid clothing technique – Planar Flux, inspired by the Mobius strip and urges one to view patterns axially while reducing consumption, cutting and construction simultaneously. It works on applying the theoretical concept of the Mobius strip into practical clothing and explores a new dimension in clothing that is correlated to the fourth dimension. This paper breaks the conventional ways of approaching patterns and provides a fresh take on the design process itself. The aims are to corroborate the benefits of such a design process, its influence on the consumer and contribution to all aspects of sustainability. Introduction The fashion industry is among the largest and rapid growing industries of the world. With its arms extending into films, photography, music and pop-culture, fashion wears a spectacle of glamor. The inevitably transient nature of fashion has led to the growth of unsustainable practices, at both pre and post-consumer stages. Increased awareness of environmental concerns and social impacts of the fashion industry has steadily increased during the last decade. This has in turn led to a gradual response by the fashion industry to improve the environmental and social impacts of the manufacturing process (Kozlowski et al., 2015). Benefits that accompany improvements to the sustainability of apparel products are subject to restrictions by the production system, the business models that market and sell apparel products, and the behaviours of consumers who purchase these apparel products (Kozlowski et al., 2015). Hence, it is imperative for the design process to constantly evolve with changing times. Creating designs/products while keeping in mind the relationship between the consumers and producers are a vital aspect of the design process. “While the aim of sustainability in fashion may be rather clear, the methods of reaching sustainability are not clear at all. Sustainable fashion is a complex effort, including a lot of idealism, but its many elements have to be taken into consideration on a practical level” (Aakko et al., 2013). Defining Sustainability Sustainable fashion can mean different things to different people. The designer, manufacturer, consumer, each have their own interpretations. To the designer sustainability may refer to the creation of design that does not have a negative impact on the environment, to the manufacturer it may be the need for ethical trade practices, fair wages, etc. To the consumer it could mean recycling or upcycling the product. Sustainability is defined as ‘the capacity to endure’. According to the Burntdland Report sustainable development can be defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Aakko et al., 2013). Though sustainable fashion has several definitions but as a concept it is three-fold – the human aspect, the environmental aspect and the business or commercial aspect. An ideal sustainable model is one that addresses all the three aspects. I asked Prof.Julian Roberts, founder of Subtraction Cutting and MA Tutor for Mixed Media Textiles at the Royal College of Art in London UK., what his opinion on an ideal sustainable design was and here is what he said: “A well design artefact which is needed by a known audience or customer/ individual, rather than randomly thrown out into the world in the hope that someone wants it. It needs to be thoughtful in it's design, well constructed and made, fit for purpose, kind to the body and comfortable, and aesthetically desirable to look at and wear. If made in larger production runs then it needs to be sensitively graded across a sizing scale which properly acknowledges different body types, rather than simply being enlarged or reduced in scale. The makers need to be respected, and paid well for their craft, rather than profit disproportionately put into its marketing or management. The story of its development and manufacture ought to be part of its unique selling point, and all involved in making it properly acknowledged for their involvement and collaboration. There are too many garments made for no reason, which nobody need.” Dr. Rickard Lindqvist, a tutor and researcher at the University of Boras says “I do not know if there is such a thing as an ideal sustainable design as there is so many parameter[s] to consider. I guess the most sustainable design are to design things that lasts for a long time i.e. long term low consumption of rec[s]ources.” He also believes that different cultures could have different perceptions of sustainable fashion. To him, sustainable fashion simply means “caring about the world and other humans.” Over the past decade the fashion industry has become ‘unsustainable’ with the growth of fast fashion where an absurd circle of micro trends (Firth, 2015) has created greater desire for purchase. While fast fashion has generated greater profits it has also made fashion desperately behind in sustainability (Aakko et al., 2013). Today’s consumer is completely absorbed in fast fashion. If fashion has to get truly sustainable, it has to make its way into the consumer’s wardrobe and for that it has to be commercially at par with the fast fashion trends at a large scale. Concerns within the Fashion Industry Fashion is an estimated $3trillion worth industry which is also why its negative outcomes have a very large-scale impact. Nearly 30kg of textile waste is generated per person yearly in the UK alone (McQuillan, 2012) and as developing countries will improve their economy, they too will create more textile waste in the years to come (Aakko et al., 2013). This indicates the need for design and production to be more integrated. Rissanen insists on the need to consider fabric as a precious resource that must be utilized wisely to reduce wastage at the design and production stage unlike the typical emphasis given majorly to post-consumer waste of clothing. The conventional production methods utilize a marker, cutter and patternmaker where the marker-maker works within the parameters set by the patternmaker, and indirectly the designer (Rissanen, 2005). Therefore, the responsibility of maximizing fabric efficiency essentially lies with the designer who in most cases is apathetic about fabric usage. While most designers are aware of the growing need for sustainable design, they are unclear of the methods to achieve such a model. In a quest to provide some solution they often turn to so-called sustainable raw materials. However, the mere use of these eco-friendly labelled fibres is no solution to the larger issue at hand as each fibre has its problems (resources, disposal, recyclable?) (Rissanen, 2005). As of today, there is no true perfect selection of sustainable materials available at the moment (Aakko et al., 2013). While there may not be any ideal fibres it could be helpful contributor to sustainable fashion if the designer chooses a relatively less polluting fibre to reduce the environmental footprint. Rissanen (2005) states that while recycling is often considered sustainable, it is also known to have negative impacts on the environment through transportation (fuel emmissions) and reprocessing (water, energy, chemical consumption). Therefore, it is more advisable to reduce than to recycle. Consumer Connect Fashion has become more of a style variation today as fast fashion has made design innovation a challenging task. Such a system has slowly made fashion very generic. Today one could walk into 10 different stores and find the same looking pieces with slight or no variation in colour, style lines, fabric, etc. The surge in sales of fast fashion brands is not attributed to design innovation but rather to its micro trend cycles and price points that excite the consumer. The question is for how long can this model of business keep the consumer interested? At some point the consumer will come to realize that every second person on the street is sporting the same look as theirs more or less. This will ultimately result in a reflection of buying choices and habits which will then lead to the appreciation of innovative design that is new, unseen and unique enough to excite the consumer again provided it is available at affordable prices. A model of design creation rather than design adaptation is refreshing for both consumer and designer. It is vital to an innovative sustainable design based business model to assess the reason for consumer disconnect between what is sustainable and what is fashionable. Eco-friendly fashion is often more expensive but hardly ‘fashionable’. Consumer awareness though on the rise, is still a very small number to produce any drastic impacts. According to the insights provided by Cotton Incorporated (2013), 61% consumers are less likely to pay more for eco-friendly clothing due to the current economic situation. Sustainability is still not a primary purchase driver for consumers. Therefore, sustainability has to be fashion-savy and budget-friendly to translate into a successful business model. Fast Fashion Fast fashion refers to the fast paced trend cycles that provide low-cost alternatives of luxury fashion trends to the consumer (Joy et al., 2012). The very nature of such a model encourages disposability. The supply side of fast fashion ensures scarcity, which in turn drives demand (Joy et al., 2012). It takes as little as 2-3 weeks from the design room to the retail floor for fast fashion companies like Zara with the realization that new fashion trends had to be on the sales floor in a timely manner before the consumer’s attention moved to the next thing (McQuillan, 2012; Loeb, 2015). Julian Roberts’s sums consumer behaviour as follows: “Consumers buy what they are given, and most aren't aware how the garment is made, because they are not marketed with the story of their development. The perception of Sustainable Fashion has grown, and there is consumer interest in it, but it needs to be a standard that all design students learn to make sustainable design for every single project, rather than it be taught as a quirk.” John Thornbeck, chairman of Chainge Capital mentioned that fast fashion may be the most important disrupter in the retail industry today (Loeb, 2015) but these disruptive innovations, or product services, that transform an existing market by introducing simplicity, convenience, accessibility and affordability, have the most positive impact on a company (Loeb, 2015). Elizabeth Cline, a New Yorkbased journalist and author of “Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion” said that younger people are getting more engaged and asking questions about where and how clothes are made but fast fashion is hard to resist (Milnes, 2015). The current scenario sees a ‘whole generation of consumers who know nothing more than low prices and trendy of-the-minute clothing’ as said by Cline (Milnes). Fast fashion firms earn high profit margins (about 16% on an average) compared to their traditional retail counterparts (only an average 7%) thereby making fast fashion a lucrative business model (Joy et al., 2012). There are fewer markdowns at Zara as the product arrives ‘just in time’ with a speed that creates demand and assures quick turnover (Loeb, 2015). The styles are not replenished but rather replaced with new looks thereby urging the consumer to make a purchase as soon as they like the product as they will not see it again. This means soaring profits due to lower markdowns which eventually results in strong gross margins for the company. While successful in terms of business, this approach has in-turn become the second largest contributor to environmental distress (Milnes, 2015). People prefer buying new clothes than repairing older ones since purchasing has become cheaper than repairing (Rissanen, 2005) thereby disposing and adding more textile to landfills. The other major setback is the lack of creative innovation by the designer. Fast fashion approach doesn’t directly invest in design but rather takes inspiration from successful and promising trends seen on the runways (McQuillan, 2012). The designer’s job becomes very monotonous and could have a regressive effect by eventually breeding a generation of designers who would merely “regurgitate past styles with little or no risk” (McQuillan, 2012). The major concern is that fast fashion lacks innovation, creative drive and most importantly it lacks responsibility- both social and environmental. Making Fast Fashion Sustainable The fashion industry is no longer one that aims at providing basic clothing needs. Today, it is driven by the reins of desire; desire that is often induced by the very same fashion industry through movies, magazines, fashion shows, etc. This greed and desire has led to the emergence of a highly impatient and ignorant consumer market that is no longer restricted to the younger generation. The consumer wants aesthetic, trendy clothing. They are part of fast fashion and enjoy it. Therefore, fast fashion cannot be completely scrapped but rather we can make changes to the design process to make it more sustainable as an immediate solution which could in the long run help change buying patterns. Design Process If fast fashion could be slightly slowed down and made sustainable, the impact it would have on the consumer and environment would be remarkable as the consumer would no longer feel guilty of buying and also feel a sense of contribution to reducing the environmental footprint, thereby enhancing the designer-consumer relationship. The typical design process usually follows a strict and rigid hierarchical pattern that sees the designer at the top, followed by the pattern maker, cutter and machinist (Rissanen, 2005) as shown in Fig.1. If this design process is sustainable and still capable of large-scale production then it can be deemed a successful model. Designer Pattern maker Cutter Machinist Fig.1 Design Process Hierarchy [1] 80% of a product’s environmental impact is determined at the design stage (McQuillan, 2012; Thackara, 2005). Rissanen (2005) suggests that instead of making a number of sketches relatively fast, the designer needs to incorporate pattern making into the design process of the garment. [2] Such an approach merges the roles of a designer and pattern maker. Julian Roberts’ Subtraction Cutting is an example of such an approach of designing through patterns. [3] This designed pattern must involve minimal cutting time and should ideally be a zero-waste design. [4] The pattern must also be designed to reduce sewing operations to maximize efficiency of the design process This study proposes that the design process must be aimed at reducing the time consumed to create the product, i.e. to reduce the 3 C’s – Cutting, Consumption and Construction. Doing so has multiple advantages. By reducing the make-time, a. the workload on labour is considerably reduced, thereby addressing the social aspect of sustainability. b. The reduction of fabric consumption means lesser textile for the same amount of clothes produced, thereby addressing the environmental aspect of sustainability. c. the time saved can be redistributed and allotted for design innovation so that the designer explores different possibilities rather than simply imitating catwalk trends. Existing Models of Sustainability Rissanen (2005) broadly classifies garment making methods as traditional fashion creation namely Cut & Sew, Fully Fashioned and Jigsaw Puzzle, and those that are informed by environmental concerns like Cradle-to-Cradle and A-POC. While Cradle-to-Cradle relies on the philosophy of ‘waste equals food’, it has been observed that it is more beneficial to eliminate waste rather than managing it (Rissanen, 2005). Rissanen’s own methods of achieving zero-waste patterns utilize the Jigsaw Puzzle theory where the pattern pieces interlock each other thereby eliminating waste as well as the need for a marker (McQuillan, 2012). Holly McQuillan, another fine example in the field of sustainable design, turns to fractals and hyperbolic topology to create zero-waste clothing. She reduces the size of the tessellated pieces at the side to reduce waste and also create more design options. She believes in a “design practice that embraces uncertainty as a way of responding sensitively to both materials and instability of the environment” (McQuillan, 2012). Yohlee Teng has been successful in reducing waste by replacing seams with folds (but these do not include facings, interlinings, etc.) (Rissanen, 2005), using extra material for ties and knots. She has also experimented with the Mobius strip (Clark, 2012). The drawbacks of these methods are that they employ complex procedures of pattern creation which require skilled designer and cutter to be successful. Also, they belong to the ‘slow fashion’ design process, one that remains a challenge at large-scale production. Their goal is not to minimize the fabric used but to eliminate the concept of waste creation (McQuillan, 2012). A-POC (A Piece of Cloth) by Issey Miyake gives the consumer the choice of cutting out their required garment from a running tube of fabric with cavities within. The major advantage being the elimination of sewing in the knit versions and minimal sewing in some woven garments. However, making them could be a problem as most manufacturers would not have access to technological requirements of APOC garments. Furthermore, the responsibility of waste creation and management is passed on to the consumer (Rissanen, 2005). Issey Miyake’s designer Dai Fujiwara also combined advanced mathematics with fashion for one of their collections. Drawings by William Thurston (a pioneer in the field of low-dimensional topology, 1982 Fields Medal winner, and professor of mathematics and computer science at Cornell University at the time) inspired Fujiwara. Another recent designer to experiment with topology is Arena Page. Her collection inspired by the Mobius strip got the attention of many in the field. The use of the Mobius helped reduce the number of patterns. A similar concept to A-POC that uses a ‘tube of fabric’ is the Subtraction Cutting methods by Julian Roberts. Roberts’s methods involve cutting/removing the unwanted portions from the material i.e, the pattern is the negative space. In this case, the pattern generates design unlike the conventional methods. This integrated process defies in many ways the rules of garment design, shape and form (McQuillan, 2012). Roberts’s defines sustainability as “Work and objects which are made that attempt to reduce waste, be made from materials which are renewable, or using processes which limit the impact of material and energy waste, and which are manufactured in an ethical way without devaluing the maker or exploiting them.” While not 100% yield, Subtraction Cutting drastically reduces waste when compared to its conventional counterparts. The only drawback is the consumption due to the use of two layers of long lengths of fabric to achieve the beautiful distortion/reorientation. Designers like Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo of Commes des Garçons are inspired by age-old techniques of wrapping and draping the body (Clark, 2012). The Greek himation and Indian sari are perhaps the most ideal – a rectangular piece of fabric draped without any cutting. Another similar approach of unifying patterns can be seen in the works of Dr.Rickard Lindqvist. He too draws inspiration from drapes and simple cuts to create single-pattern garments like shirts, trousers, jackets, etc. (Lindqvist, 2013). When I asked him about the challenges he faced when trying to achieve these patterns he said: “The challenges are to understand the properties of the fabric and the physics of the body and get them to work together. If the design becomes successful and long-lasting that might be a sustainable quality, however sustainability has not been a parameter in these experiments.” While Lindqvist admits that sustainability has not been a factor of consideration, his designs do comply with the proposed solution of reducing the 3 C’s for a sustainable model. Sustainable fashion not only has a positive impact on environment and society but also on the designer. Roberts’s wrote the following of his opinion on working within a sustainable framework: “The benefits are that we as designers are doing a better and more complete job rather than being lazy and doing a half or quarter job! If you are a real maker, then you respect other makers, and when you work respectfully you get better results from your team of collaborators. Better design, better manufacture, better products.” Solution: 1. Role of Education Change is an intrinsic attribute of fashion and with changing trends and styles, there exists a pressing need for a more evolved, aware and intelligent generation of designers. In today’s fast-paced, socially connected world the avenues and opportunities for creative individuals are diverse. However, our needs and goals have changed over the past few years as sustainability becomes a huge challenge that must be overcome. Fashion as a field of knowledge has recently drawn the attention of those within the industry who seek interpretations about their professional role. The association between fashion and sustainability is an area of growing study. Fashion and clothing can be regarded as distinct concepts; fashion is immaterial, while clothing is material. While it is essential and understandable to promote creative ideas, it is of equal importance to create intelligent fashion that has the capacity to be successful commercially and sustainably as well. It is important to understand the role of a designer and the set goals that the industry aspires to meet. It is primarily essential to instil in the minds of design students that design generation begins from a concept that inspires, to an idea that is creative, to finally innovation that has utility. Inspiration is a by-product of extensive research. A well-researched designer is often more inspired than one that is uninformed. This is typically because research creates opportunities for further research. It helps understand existing developments and areas that can be developed, thereby stimulating the growth of worthy ideas to explore. Although significant importance is majorly given to creativity, we must agree that creativity is simply the bridge from inspiration to innovation; it is not the end goal itself. Creativity explores ideas but experimentation and implementation of holistic solutions with a greater purpose lead to innovation. We must encourage design students to work towardsa) developing their design interpretations that are in sync with their respective aesthetics by thinking beyond the boundaries of the knowledge of just one area of study, and b) instead of asking them to merely look for answers to the questions in the book, we need to encourage them to find new questions altogether, upon which new discussions, research and development can be carried out. The student is constantly pressured into ‘thinking out of the box’, a phrase that essentially has no definite meaning. How do we define what ideas are inside the box and what are out of it? It would be wiser if we thought ‘without a box’ altogether. Creating/defining boundaries can be counter-productive. Students though aware of the need to engage with sustainable practices, are unaware of how to do so. We now require a shift in the education model so as to be able to produce creators rather than just creatives. With too much emphasis being laid on creative ideas, designers have lost touch with innovation; its challenges and benefits are known to only a few. The existing methods of teaching need to be reviewed and altered so they become easier to imbibe by the student who is relatively new to the entire subject and its process. It is essential for the next generation of designers to strongly consider sustainability as an important parameter of 'good design' especially at a time when the fashion industry has become a major contributor to environmental distress owing to its unsustainable practices. Therefore, educationists, teachers and mentors need to bring about a new wave of change into the methods of distributing, assessing and gathering knowledge that will enable students and future designers to meet the current needs while at the same time staying true to their emotional/creative zones. Solution: 2. Use of Topology The concept of amalgamating design and science has usually been attributed to electronic or computerized mechanisms/engineering that are often very expensive processes. Design practices that have demonstrated the combining of topology and patternmaking have been successful in attaining sustainability in design and are also more feasible. Method Result Holly McQuillan’s zero-waste patterns are achieved Eliminates waste completely using the concept of tessellation Yohlee Teng’s use of origami and Mobius strip Reduced consumption and wastage Issey Miyake’s origami and topology inspired (William Folds and drapes to reduce waste Thurston) clothing Arena Page’s collection inspired by Mobius strip Julian Robert’s displacement understanding of 3D space technique Reduced number of patterns and Reduced wastage Dr.Rickard Lindqvist’s analysis of the physics of the body and wrapping around it Reduced seams and cutting time It can be observed from the above table that methods that draw inspiration from topology have been successful in innovative design creation that also has sustainable benefits. Some designers have deliberately chosen certain concepts that align with their design process while for some it has been accidental. Although there are several topological concepts that can be incorporated into fashion, this experiment explores the Mobius strip to create Planar Flux – a hybrid clothing technique. The Mobius strip is a mind-boggling mathematical concept that has for years been researched. The strip creates the illusion of being double-sided (like a garment) but is actually just one-sided in reality (Weisstein; Herges, 2005). To prove that this piece of paper has only one side, a line is drawn starting from the seam down the middle on the strip, following the length of the strip. Without picking up the point of the pencil, going around the loop. The line will go all around the inside of the loop and all around the outside of the loop and finally meets the starting point; even though you never picked up the pencil to change sides, and covering double the length of the original strip. Thereby proving the Mobius strip only has one side (Doherty & Murphy, 1999). If such an illusion could be created in garments it could be a solution to the issue of fabric consumption. Using this concept we can achieve the illusion of double the fabric used where it uses actually only half of it. So a garment that would appear to use four metres would actually use only about two metres! Planar Flux- A Hybrid Technique When a Mobius strip becomes the pattern by accommodating the neckline, shoulders and armholes, it results in a layered garment where the material is turned over in some areas depending on the twist of the strip, i.e. the wrong side of the fabric is visible on the right side of the garment in those specific areas of the garment. The figures below represent the adaptation of the Mobius into garment pattern and the resultant form developed by joining the diagonally opposite shoulders. So the front left shoulder here meets the back right shoulder in the figure. Fig.2 Initial Pattern Development Fig.3 Resultant Garment This resultant ‘Mobius bolero’ is a Mobius strip’s most literal translation into pattern cutting. To diversify the possibilities and broaden scope, the concept of the Mobius is merged with Julian Robert’s Subtraction Cutting methods. Subtraction cutting is based on a model of design development through pattern cutting, a concept that is in alignment with the philosophy of Planar Flux that design generation is deeply rooted in pattern innovation. So instead of applying the concept of the Mobius to a circular strip, it is applied to the hollow space in the strip. The below figure shows the incorporation of Subtraction Cutting in Planar Flux. Here the difference is the fabric requirement as only one layer of 22.5mtrs length would suffice. Fig.4 Planar Flux-Subtraction Cutting Hybrid This hybrid pattern is again, as in the previous pattern, joined at diagonally opposite shoulders, i.e. a meets b’ and b meets a’. It can be observed that when this pattern is flipped and/or turned to enable connecting the shoulders, it appears as though the pattern is travelling through various axial planes if viewed in a 3D space. Taking the example of one of the patterns, Circle 1.1, this can be understood in Fig.5 and Fig.6. Fig.5 Placement in 3D space Fig.6 Planar Pattern Movement The pattern though placed on the XZ plane, moves through the Y axis where it twists/turns through certain degrees (in this case the front is turned by 360° followed by 180°) and then returns to the XZ plane. The dress in Fig.7 gives the illusion of a voluminous layered garment that has a 3D crater effect created on the front, with cascading and zigzag layers. These are all in actuality one single piece of fabric which ensures minimal seams, adding to its sustainability index. Fig.7 Circle 1.1 Dress Correlation to Fourth Dimension The Planar Flux is the first true representation of the fourth dimension in clothing since it works on the concept of the Mobius strip which according to researchers possesses four-dimensional characteristics as well (Mobius strip possesses multidimensional properties) (Weisstein; Gaspari, 2009). This clothing technique does not merely apply the outcome of the theory onto the garment (i.e. attaching Mobius strips onto a garment/silhouette) but applies the theoretical concept itself to the fundamental pattern. Hilbert (1952) advocates: “As to geometry, in particular, the abstract tendency has led to the magnificent systematic theories of Algebraic Geometry, of Riemannian Geometry, and of Topology; these theories make extensive use of abstract reasoning and symbolic calculation in the sense of algebra. Notwithstanding this, it is still as true today as it ever was that intuitive understanding plays a major role in geometry. And such concrete intuition is of great value not only for the research worker, but also for anyone who wishes to study and appreciate the results of research in geometry”. The following hypothesis is based on such intuitive thinking along with the study of research matter in the said field. Fig. 8 A Flatlander travelling on the Mobius (Kanetkar, 2013) It can be observed that the two-dimensional Flatlander travelling on a Mobius has its organs reversed once it reaches the starting point as shown in Fig. 9. In 1999’s Magazine Fantasy and Science Fiction, Paul Doherty and Pat Murphy (Doherty & Murphy, 1999) discuss that if the Mobius strip is one-sided as it has been proven to be, and if a hole was punched through such a strip, where does the hole go? It may be thought that the hole goes from one side of the strip to the other but the strip is one-sided making it a mystery that these two researchers have solved in their article. According to their hypothesis, the hole goes from one location on the one-sided strip to another location on the one-sided strip. This is explained by the example of a two-dimensional Flatlander for whom this hole could provide a startling shortcut to a distant location (a spot that the Flatlander would otherwise have to tread a long path to reach) (Doherty & Murphy, 1999). This shortcut would go through the third dimension, something the two-dimensional Flatlander would have a tough time visualizing. So this proves that if a twodimensional creature can be given a shortcut through the third dimension, then surely there exists a way to provide a three-dimensional creature a shortcut through the fourth dimension. Kip Thorne in his book Black Holes and Time Warps- Einstein's Outrageous Legacy, explored the science fictional possibilities of the wormhole, a hypothetical shortcut for travel between distant points in the Universe (Doherty & Murphy, 1999). Like the hole in the Mobius strip, a wormhole connects two points by taking a shortcut through another dimension (Doherty & Murphy, 1999). Thorne postulates something called "exotic matter" that holds the wormhole open by pushing its walls apart gravitationally (Doherty & Murphy, 1999). He indicates that such exotic matter does indeed theoretically exist: Stephen Hawking's discoveries related to black holes suggest that such matter may exist near a black hole's event horizon (Doherty & Murphy, 1999). Upon connecting this to that hole through the Mobius strip: A Flatlander mathematician or theoretical physicist might theorize that such a thing was possible, and be accused of indulging in science fiction (Doherty & Murphy, 1999). For the Flatlander, that hole was punched by some unimaginable entity existing in another dimension. From our point of view as three-dimensional creatures, wormholes are similar. Since the existing patterning methods create a three-dimensional garment using two axes, then can it be said that a method that uses three axes would result in a four-dimensional garment? These observations further establish that the Planar Flux can be considered a four-dimensional clothing technique. Conclusion Since viewing patterns and garments in terms of axis has not been explored greatly, there is certainly scope of further development. The Mobius strip is a vast concept with several experiments and interpretations by physicists. Experiments with different twists and turns of the pattern and possible collaborations that aim at amalgamating other innovative techniques with Planar Flux can also be done in the future. Furthermore, the concept of combining a theoretical mathematical or scientific concept into practical design through patterns has been explored in this method hence proving that the twodesign and science, can be brought together in a manner that is creative, productive and most importantly cost-effective. The idea of designing with patterns introduced by Julian Roberts (Roberts, 2011) has proven to be an exploitable approach and is the future of the new-age design. As explained above, Planar Flux works on a design process where the concept is applied on the patterns and thus emerges the design which can then be sketched out to communicate its appearance/details, instead of the typical approach of sketching the designs and then making patterns for them. This new design process involves a certain mystery and uncertainty about its possible outcomes. Risk and uncertainty are driving factors for innovation (McQuillan, 2012) and should be inculcated in the education model. Recent literature hints at the need for a positive change in the sustainable development of the fashion industry that are beyond the supply chain, to other areas such as business innovation, sustainable consumption, and consumer engagement (Kozlowski et al., 2015), all of which is addressed by Planar Flux. This study also shows that an alternate model of the design process that focuses on reducing Consumption, Cutting and Construction could have greater environmental benefits than only eliminating waste has, as such a model not only has the capacity of large-scale production but is also sustainable in all the three aspects namely social, environmental and commercial. It can thus be concluded that the Planar Flux is a method that intelligently strikes a balance between innovation, ethical fashion and aesthetically appealing/engaging design. 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