ReMantle and Make: explorations into Circular Innovation for the Scottish Textiles industry

This project was a six-month feasibility study titled ‘Re-Mantle and Make’ led by Dr Jen Ballie while in post at the Glasgow School of Art. This research was funded by a larger project titled ‘Future Makespaces in Redistributed Manufacturing’, a two-year research project funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The larger project is led by the Royal College of Art, London, and explores the role of maker spaces in redistributed manufacturing (RdM). The study was undertaken in partnership with Kalopsia Collective, a micro-manufacturing unit based in Edinburgh, Scotland and MakLab maker space in Glasgow.

Together we led practice-led research to produce a small collection of fashion accessories within a circular economy model. In addition to the collection we will prototype a potential future maker space for circular textile design to scope what tools, techniques, equipment and materials might be required for a future sustainable manufacturing scenario. Our study aimed to explore the barriers and opportunities to implementing a close loop innovation within the textile sector and on what scale it could be possible, and the role maker spaces could have in a sustainable future for design.