Fashion and Textile Upcycling Developments in Research and Practice

Introduction: Advancing fashion and textile upcycling research and practice for sustainability transitions

Kyungeun Sung, Pammi Sinha, Eunsuk Hur and Richie Moalosi

Part 1: From Theory to Practice

1. Emotional design as a method for supporting upcycling fashion practitioners in addressing Chinese consumers’ emotional barriers to upcycled fashion products

Yufei Hu, Pammi Sinha and Eunsuk Hur

2. A Typological Framework for Industrial Upcycling Fashion Design through Cutting and Packing Optimisation

Nesma ElShishtawy, Pammi Sinha and Julia A. Bennell

3. Upcycling as a catalyst for design led-innovation in fashion design and practice

Walter Chipambwa and Edlight Mutungwe

4. Redesigning for Circularity: Advancing Upcycling of Post-consumer Textile Waste through Intergenerational Planning and Systems Innovation

Donna Maione

5. Beyond Critique: Utopian Theory and the Reimagining of Fashion and Textile Upcycling in Contemporary Art

Benjamin Eghan and Kyungeun Sung

Part 2: Traditional Practices

6. Revitalising Japanese Textile Craftsmanship: Case Studies of Boro, Sakiori, Zanshi, Kasuri and Shibori

Kerri Akiwowo, Chetna Prajapati and Eunsuk Hur

7. Down, then Up! Rag Papermaking as a Textile Upcycling Strategy

Daphne Mohajer va Pesaran

8. Scaling Traditional Upcycling: Comparative System Mapping of Two US Circular Fashion Initiatives

Jianan Hu and Eunsuk Hur

9. Upcycling fast fashion waste through design: Advancing the circular economy in Ghana’s fashion industry

Ralitsa Diana Debrah, Anthony Kofi Badu, Ismaila Moro, Benjamin Kwablah Asinyo and Monica Di Ruvo

10. Traditional Upcycled Fashion in India

Pammi Sinha and Manju Sugathan

Part 3: Contemporary Practices

11. Threads Reborn: Transforming Post-Industrial Thread Waste into Upcycled Designs and Cross-Industry Materials

Kanchana Dissanayake

12. Transforming Textile Waste into Culturally Inspired Fashion

Chanjuan Chen, Kim Hahn and Gloria Mifetu

13. Chosen for redesign: an experimental study on design capital in a care economy

Kirsi Niinimäki

14. Cultural Contexts of Upcycling: Case Studies of Upcycling Fashion Brands in South Korea

Jihye Park and Eunsuk Hur

15. Unlocking sustainable growth in Zimbabwe’s Fashion and Textile Industry through upcycling

Rumbidzayi Masina and Kuziva Maringehosi

Part 4: Practitioners and Stakeholders

16. Perception, Awareness, and Acceptance of Fashion Upcycling in Botswana: Insights from Designers and Consumers

Keiphe Nani Setlhatlhanyo, Richie Moalosi and Patrick Dichabeng

17. Community-based circular fashion practices in the UK

Eunsuk Hur and Julia Roebuck

18. Governance instruments for circular and sustainable textiles in the EU and UK

Kyungeun Sung and Mark Charlton

19. Textile upcycling art work: Practice and practitioner 

Sally Gaukrodger-Cowan and Kyungeun Sung

Conclusion: Lessons, challenges, and future directions for upcycling

Pammi Sinha, Kyungeun Sung, Richie Moalosi and Eunsuk Hur

Biography

Kyungeun Sung is Associate Professor of Design Innovation at De Montfort University, UK. Her research focuses on upcycling, circular economy, and net zero, using design to drive product and service innovation, behaviour change, and the scaling of sustainable practices. She has published over fifty peer-reviewed works and several edited books.

Pammi Sinha is Professor in Fashion Management at the University of Leeds, UK. A trained fashion designer, her research explores design-market relations, design management, remanufactured fashion, post-consumer textile waste, and heritage craft sustainability, supported by AHRC, ESRC, and Research England, and industry funding.

Eunsuk Hur is Programme Leader for BA Sustainable Fashion at the University of Leeds, UK. Her research focuses on sustainability in the fashion and textile industry, particularly circular economy, sustainable production and consumption, co-design, and community-based circular practices, alongside future-oriented perspectives on transforming fashion systems.

Richie Moalosi is Professor of Industrial Design at the Department of Industrial Design and Technology, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, University of Botswana. His research interests include design and sustainability, upcycling, social innovation, design and culture, design research, design education, and additive manufacturing.