This paper explores the concept of the circular economy within the context of fashion and textile design in the UK, and does so from the textile and fashion perspectives to explore how this might be achieved. Within the UK alone, we dispose of approximately 10,000 garments every ten minutes (Kerr & Foster, 2011). This project focuses specifically on the practice of textile and fashion design in the UK to consider a more holistic approach for designing and manufacturing within these sectors. Our research aims are to explore the contribution open design can make in implementing the circular economy and thus a more sustainable material future. We ask what are the new models and systems of production that will support a circular economy in textiles? In this work we propose a vision for circular economic models of production in fashion and textiles that adopt open design approaches.

• Publisher