I respectfully acknowledge the Wurundjeri people as the traditional custodians of the unceded lands, waters and skies where my studio is situated, and pay respects to their elders past and present and emerging and the stolen generations.
Wardrobe Maths Calculator
The Wardrobe Maths Calculator was developed to help people better understand the environmental value of clothes they already own. By entering how many pieces and how often those garment types are worn, the calculator estimates the minimum number of years clothing needs to remain in active use to offset the average carbon footprint.
Rather than focusing on what to buy next, the calculator encourages a shift in perspective towards what is already hanging in your wardrobe. It highlights the relationship between clothing longevity and environmental impact, helping individuals recognise the value embedded in each garment and the role that regular wear plays in improving sustainability outcomes.
The Wardrobe Maths Calculator was developed to help people better understand the environmental value of clothes they already own. By entering how many pieces and how often those garment types are worn, the calculator estimates the minimum number of years clothing needs to remain in active use to offset the average carbon footprint.
Rather than focusing on what to buy next, the calculator encourages a shift in perspective towards what is already hanging in your wardrobe. It highlights the relationship between clothing longevity and environmental impact, helping individuals recognise the value embedded in each garment and the role that regular wear plays in improving sustainability outcomes.
The calculator is designed to support more informed wardrobe decisions, whether that means wearing existing favourites more often, identifying underutilised garments, or reflecting on future acquisitions. While the estimates provide a useful benchmark, every additional wear extends the value of a garment and contributes to a longer, more meaningful clothing life.
The Wardrobe Maths Calculator also forms part of an ongoing research project. Users have the option to anonymously share their wardrobe data, contributing to a growing understanding of clothing ownership, garment quantities, wardrobe composition, and wearing practices across diverse groups of people. This collective data helps inform future fashion sustainability research, design strategies, and initiatives aimed at supporting longer-lasting relationships between people and their clothes.
Wardrobe Maths is a research project developed through Torrens University Australia.
The New Brief
Dresses account for approximately a quarter of Australian wardrobes (Khan, Shaw & Bandara 2022), making them one of the most commonly owned garment types. Yet despite their prevalence, they are worn less frequently than any other clothing category. This paradox raises important questions about how dresses are designed, purchased, and integrated into everyday life.
The Dress Audit Survey formed the first phase of my PhD research. Conducted as a digital wardrobe study, it invited participants to reflect on both their most-worn and least-worn dresses, exploring the factors that encourage or discourage ongoing use. By examining garments at opposite ends of the wearing spectrum, the research uncovered recurring themes relating to fit, comfort, versatility, occasion, personal style, and wardrobe compatibility.
Dresses account for approximately a quarter of Australian wardrobes (Khan, Shaw & Bandara 2022), making them one of the most commonly owned garment types. Yet despite their prevalence, they are worn less frequently than any other clothing category. This paradox raises important questions about how dresses are designed, purchased, and integrated into everyday life.
The Dress Audit Survey formed the first phase of my PhD research. Conducted as a digital wardrobe study, it invited participants to reflect on both their most-worn and least-worn dresses, exploring the factors that encourage or discourage ongoing use. By examining garments at opposite ends of the wearing spectrum, the research uncovered recurring themes relating to fit, comfort, versatility, occasion, personal style, and wardrobe compatibility.
These insights informed the development of a new design brief focused on supporting active use rather than simply creating new products. The brief shifts attention from acquisition to wearing, identifying design opportunities that could help dresses remain relevant, adaptable, and frequently worn throughout their lives in the wardrobe.
This research was presented at PLATE 2025 (Product Lifetimes and the Environment), contributing to ongoing discussions about clothing longevity, wardrobe practices, and the role of design in extending garment use.
Read the paper:
Kuzmycz, A., & McCorkill, G. (2025). Idle and Active Dresses: Design Briefings from the Wardrobe. Proceedings of the 6th Product Lifetimes and the Environment Conference (PLATE2025), (6). https://doi.org/10.54337/plate2025-10427
Zero Waste Festival - Panel Talk 2024
In 2024, I participated in a panel discussion at the Zero Waste Festival, sharing insights from my PhD research into clothing use, wardrobe practices, and fashion sustainability. The discussion explored a critical challenge facing the fashion industry: while significant attention is often given to how clothing is produced, far less consideration is given to how long garments are actually worn.
Drawing on findings from my research, I discussed the issue of garment underutilisation and the factors that influence whether clothing becomes a valued part of everyday life or remains largely unworn. Topics included wardrobe composition, wearing habits, garment longevity, and the gap that often exists between sustainable intentions and actual clothing use.
In 2024, I participated in a panel discussion at the Zero Waste Festival, sharing insights from my PhD research into clothing use, wardrobe practices, and fashion sustainability. The discussion explored a critical challenge facing the fashion industry: while significant attention is often given to how clothing is produced, far less consideration is given to how long garments are actually worn.
Drawing on findings from my research, I discussed the issue of garment underutilisation and the factors that influence whether clothing becomes a valued part of everyday life or remains largely unworn. Topics included wardrobe composition, wearing habits, garment longevity, and the gap that often exists between sustainable intentions and actual clothing use.
By bringing research findings into a public forum, the event created an opportunity to connect academic research with everyday wardrobe experiences, helping audiences consider how small changes in clothing use can contribute to more sustainable and meaningful relationships with fashion.
Snap Dress Prototype 02
Snap Dress Prototype 02 investigates how open fashion design can support ongoing interaction between garment and wearer. Designed with an oversized, adaptable silhouette, the dress can be worn by a wide range of body shapes and sizes. A network of metal snaps distributed across the garment enables the wearer to modify its shape, proportions, and fit, while also creating opportunities to attach additional components and introduce new configurations over time.
Constructed from deadstock either lyocell, hemp, or silk, the prototypes explored clothing as an open and evolving system rather than a fixed product. By inviting wearers to actively participate in altering the garment, the design examines how adaptability can foster personal expression, versatility, and longer-term engagement with clothing.
As part of a PhD research project, five versions of the dress were produced and distributed to participants for a three-month wearing study known as the Wearing Challenge. Participants incorporated the dress into their everyday wardrobes and shared weekly reflections on their experiences. This extended engagement provided valuable insights into wearing practices, garment adaptation, and the relationship between design, use, and everyday life, positioning the dress as both a wearable artefact and a research tool for understanding how clothing is lived, negotiated, and experienced over time.
Snap Dress Prototype 02 investigates how open fashion design can support ongoing interaction between garment and wearer. Designed with an oversized, adaptable silhouette, the dress can be worn by a wide range of body shapes and sizes. A network of metal snaps distributed across the garment enables the wearer to modify its shape, proportions, and fit, while also creating opportunities to attach additional components and introduce new configurations over time.
Constructed from deadstock either lyocell, hemp, or silk, the prototypes explored clothing as an open and evolving system rather than a fixed product. By inviting wearers to actively participate in altering the garment, the design examines how adaptability can foster personal expression, versatility, and longer-term engagement with clothing.
As part of a PhD research project, five versions of the dress were produced and distributed to participants for a three-month wearing study known as the Wearing Challenge. Participants incorporated the dress into their everyday wardrobes and shared weekly reflections on their experiences. This extended engagement provided valuable insights into wearing practices, garment adaptation, and the relationship between design, use, and everyday life, positioning the dress as both a wearable artefact and a research tool for understanding how clothing is lived, negotiated, and experienced over time.
Digital Prototypes
Rather than functioning solely as a technical tool, CLO-3D at times becomes part of the design process. Digital prototypes provided a space for experimentation, allowing ideas to evolve through cycles of reflection and redesign. This enables a greater number of design possibilities to be explored than would have been practical through physical prototyping alone, helping to identify opportunities and challenges before garments are produced.
The use of digital prototyping also reflects a growing shift within fashion design toward more sustainable development practices. By reducing the need for repeated physical samples, digital workflows can help minimise material consumption and support more efficient design processes. For this research, digital and physical prototyping worked in tandem, with virtual garments informing the development of physical prototypes and physical wear experiences, in turn, informing subsequent digital iterations.
Through this process, digital prototyping became a valuable method for investigating how garments might be designed not as fixed products, but as adaptable systems that respond to the changing needs of wearers. It supported the exploration of clothing that could evolve over time, encouraging ongoing interaction between designer, garment, and wearer while contributing to a more reflective approach to fashion design.
Rather than functioning solely as a technical tool, CLO-3D at times becomes part of the design process. Digital prototypes provided a space for experimentation, allowing ideas to evolve through cycles of reflection and redesign. This enables a greater number of design possibilities to be explored than would have been practical through physical prototyping alone, helping to identify opportunities and challenges before garments are produced.
The use of digital prototyping also reflects a growing shift within fashion design toward more sustainable development practices. By reducing the need for repeated physical samples, digital workflows can help minimise material consumption and support more efficient design processes. For this research, digital and physical prototyping worked in tandem, with virtual garments informing the development of physical prototypes and physical wear experiences, in turn, informing subsequent digital iterations.
Through this process, digital prototyping became a valuable method for investigating how garments might be designed not as fixed products, but as adaptable systems that respond to the changing needs of wearers. It supported the exploration of clothing that could evolve over time, encouraging ongoing interaction between designer, garment, and wearer while contributing to a more reflective approach to fashion design.
