Modular clothing : ideas from the past to the fashion of the future

Abstract

Modular Clothing Design for Sustainable Fashion advances the study of attachments in the fashion industry. Closure is a method that helps to attach, cling, bind, and assists in opening and loosening. Used for costumes, modular apparel refers to clothing that has a modular system design. Garments can be disassembled and reattached to original or different positions by using a variety clothing fasteners. By benefiting the needs of the wearer, modular clothing benefits humanity in many ways: functionality to meet basic human needs, aesthetics and sustainability. This article aims to study the origins of modular clothing, analyze the relationship of modular concepts with examples of past costumes and understand the apparel fabrication process related to a modular concept. So far, analysis of current modular clothing structure by type, description and comparative methods, along with illustrations, have shown that costumes in the past had employed modular thinking. Tailor-made construction methods are consistent with the modular sustainability principle. Currently, sustainability has promoted modular fashion with greater variation. It also found that there are three types of modular clothing structures: separate component structure, geometric structure, and compound structure. Effective modular clothing must have good elements: form, ease of use, and an efficient connective systems. These necessary elements can serve as a guideline for further development of research guidelines in the design of sustainable clothing attachments in the fashion industry.