Mansoureh (Sophie) Nikookar is a Ph.D. Apparel Studies student with a Master in Fashion and Textiles Design from University of Science and Culture, Iran. She worked as a freelance fashion designer for more than a decade before starting her PhD journey which brought her a reasonable knowledge and understanding of the principles of design, patternmaking, sewing, and fabric manipulation techniques. Her research interest has been mainly focused on Sustainability.

Keywords: Consumer behavior, Garment longevity, Sustainability, Design-led approach, Transformable Garment, Design Longevity; Sustainable Fashion, Co-Design, Indigenous People, Wearable garments

Design Longevity; A Solution for Changing Consumers’ Behavior

This is a collaborative research project with Dr. Elizabeth Bye looking at consumer priorities when purchasing garments for different purposes and about their attitudes and preferences toward sustainability issues and the sustainable option of transformability, aiming to change consumer behavior to keep their garments longer in use. The quantitative findings showed that the participants prioritized price as the most important factor affecting their clothing purchase, followed by design, quality, durability, and brand, respectively. The qualitative results revealed that the most worn garments by these participants were tops and jeans, regardless of the occasion. The themes that influenced their choice of clothing were the formality of the occasion, comfort, and ease of adapting to seasonal variations. The most highly desirable transformable features were multiple, changeable layers of fabric to accommodate season differences and pants/slacks with changeable length.

Keywords: Consumer behavior, Garment longevity, Sustainability, Design-led approach

Presentation: The International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) Conference Poster presentation, 2023

This is a collaborative research project with Dr. Elizabeth Bye builds co-design partnerships with two Indigenous apparel makers to co-design six garments that exemplify traditional approaches to modern restorative apparel. The project is conducted from the core values of Relationships, Connection to the Land, Community, Spirituality, Healing & Identity, and Sustainability. Wearable garments are developed that tell a visual story of gratitude, highlighting these core values. These are not intended to be ‘art’, but realistic examples of how a designer or customer might practice gratitude in how they make or purchase a garment. The garments will be used to teach and communicate with MN citizens about alternate ways to practice sustainable apparel use through public exhibitions.

Keywords: Co-Design, Indigenous People, Wearable garments

Presentation: 2024 College of Design Research & Creative Scholarship Showcase

Co-Designing Restorative Apparel

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Emily Seifert is a Ph.D. Human Factors & Ergonomics student with a bachelor in science and Masters in Apparel Design from the UMN.

She has around eight years of experience working as a researcher in various industries, and currently working in Human Dimension lab at UMN. Emily's research supports workspace, wearable product, and medical product design innovation through mixed methods research approaches to provide safer, more equitable environments and products.

Keywords: 3Dscanner, Hand, Feet, Anthropometricsurvey Landmark

Terry Haekyung Kim is a Ph.D. Apparel Studies student with a bachelor of science and master's degree in Textiles, Merchandising, and Fashion Design from Seoul National University, Korea.

Terry’s research interests are retail merchandising and consumer behavior, specifically sustainable consumption and digital retailing. Her work has been published in international refereed journals such as the Journal of Consumer Behaviour and Fashion and Textiles.

Keywords: COVID-19, pandemic, resale market, secondhand fashion consumption, consumer

motivations.

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