Between Waste and Style: Creating a Practical Guide for Democratizing Upcycling in Fashion Design.

• Grant number: 25/02482-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2025
• End date: March 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Industrial Design - Product Design
• Principal Investigator: Adriana Yumi Sato Duarte
• Grantee: Carolina Saavedra Vaz
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Arquitetura, Artes, Comunicação e Design (FAAC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Bauru. Bauru , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Human actions have contributed significantly to the degradation of the Earth's environment, causing countless natural disasters that could culminate in severe and irreversible damage that could jeopardize the survival of the human species on this planet. The global fashion industry notably contributes to such devastation through the enormous amounts of natural resources used in each piece produced. In addition, fast-fashion companies take over the market with their short-lived products, created to follow trends that easily become obsolete, which leads to the rapid disposal of the pieces. Such phenomena occur massively, resulting in enormous amounts of textile waste. According to the described scenario, this research emerged with the objective of simplifying and facilitating the democratization of the transformation of textiles and other types of materials through the creation of a guide to good upcycling practices, with the aim of disseminating information and techniques. To this end, the goal is to investigate, analyze, test and filter upcycling methods that can be applied to Fashion Design. Thus generating an important contribution to science, with positive environmental, social, and even economic impacts.