Shaw, A., 2009.

CRAFTING THE TECHNOLOGICAL: GANSEYS AND WHOLEGARMENT KNITTING, PhD Thesis

The launch of Wholegarment© machinery/technology by the Japanese company Shima Seiki in 1990 signified a paradigm shift for the way that garments could be manufactured.
Up to this point, knitwear manufacture had involved a series of operations, all of which added to the eventual cost of a garment. The research builds upon the concept of ‘seamless garments’ and utilises a design and craft practice approach to explore new possibilities for making clothes and examine the shift of focus of the cost from manufacture to design. The garments are given 'value' through post-knitting craft proceses and and an emotional connection between designer and wearer is made through storytelling.
In order to do this, data has been gathered from museum collections of early examples of seamless garments and this has been combined with a personal design vision, which is inspired by the landscape and cultural heritage of the fishing communities of the North East coast. Removed from the seasonal constraints fashion can impose, new ideas and concepts for making clothes have been developed.
The cultural context of the designs is central to the research and the importance of craft and the vision of the individual in post mass-production fashion are also explored.

The Main aims of the research are:

• To explain and conduct the research in a highly visual way.

• To explore the relationship between historical and contemporary seamless garments.

• To use a personal design vision beyond the restraints of seasonal fashion to test the potential of the new technology.

• To identify and build upon a new visual vocabulary which the limitations of the technology dictate.

• To identify new value structures with reference to Mass Production/Craft/Technology (Post Mass-Production Fashion).

• To open up and develop new approaches in garment manufacture and design and to indicate possible pathways for future development; ultimately a new concept beyond seamless knitting can be constructed.

• To indicate possible implications for design education.

In addition to fulfilling these stated aims the project also seeks to answer the following research questions:
What does WGT reveal about:
Craft?
Mass-produced clothes?
The future of design-led fashion product?

The findings were disseminated by thesis and exhibition.