Characterization of Virtual Prototyping In ‘Refashion’ to Augment Circular Apparel Industry

Post-consumer apparel waste accounts for a large portion of waste in the fashion industry. Therefore, re-use of used garments for another, or extended lifecycles is essential to minimize them ending in landfills. Although there is a potential to expand the second-hand apparel industry, it struggles due to time and material wastage caused by manual handling, which increases the cost of production. Therefore, the aim of this research is to apply 3D CAD technology to re-fashion utilizing disassembled garment panels from second-hand clothes. The experimental research approach followed a sample of 92 secondhand garments, which were initially reviewed and the feasibility of re-fashioning them checked; finally 12 of them were sorted for feasible smart casual women’s wear simulations. Gerber AccuMark and Browzwear VStitcher software were employed for all the experiments. Importantly the proposed model provides various possibilities of colour, styling details, material blending, and reproducibility options to the consumers while including design flavour. Finally, minimum time and material wastage were experienced due to the technology involvement within the proposed process. Consequently, the physical product will be made after consumer approval of the virtual product. More importantly, this research suggests relevant software applications to manage this second-hand clothing business and directs the production of new clothing. It is contended that this circular approach to apparel production will lead to a more sustainable business model for second-hand clothing and the fashion industry as well.