Browsing by Subject "Clothing"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
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    A Sustainable Fashion Business Opportunity? Exploring Clothing Redesign with the Theory of Planned Behavior
    (2015-12) Janigo, Kristy
    In the United States, more than half of post-consumer used clothing has been discarded into landfills (Chen & Burns, 2006). Redesigning used clothing could be a sustainable alternative to disposal. Through in-depth interviews, visual analysis of redesigned clothing, and questionnaires, redesign behavior was explored. Thirty women participated in the study (mean age 43.75, 86.67% Caucasian). Participants were divided into groups based on their experience with redesign. Redesign Consumers (RC) 30% of participants, hired someone for redesign or redesigned without advanced sewing and fashion design skills. Redesign Enthusiasts (RE), 33.33% of participants, redesigned clothing for themselves, implementing advanced sewing and design skills. Redesign Professionals (RP), 36.67% of participants, had sold redesigned garments in the past. The theory of planned behavior was used as a theoretical framework for data analysis (Ajzen, 1991). Participants had a generally high level of concern for the environment, were somewhat likely feel social pressure from friends and family to behave ecologically, and engaged in several types of sustainable fashion behaviors, especially wearing used clothing. Eighty percent (n = 16) intended to keep their redesigned garments and indicated high likelihood to redesign again in the future. Participants discussed barriers to redesigning clothing, such as worry that the garment wouldn’t turn out as expected. Almost half of participants (48.28%), expected to pay less than the original retail price of the garment for redesign which could make it difficult to profit from redesign. The findings will have practical implications for entrepreneurs, who might use these results to weigh the pros and cons of starting a new redesign business.
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    Wheelwomen: Women's Dress in a Transatlantic Cycling Culture, 1868-1900
    (2016-05) Cohn, Caitlin
    The purpose of this study is to understand the relationship between women's cycling and cycling dress from 1868-1900, by examining three periods of cycling: The velocipede (circa 1868-1869), the tricycle (circa 1880s), and the safety bicycle (1890s). My research examined intersecting discourses relating to women’s dress and bicycling. Bicycle technology was in tension with women’s dress, as the bicycle was difficult to ride without adapting women’s dress. However, the bicycle also was adapted in relation dress to in the late 1880s. The study of extant bicycling garments has been neglected in previous research. My research addressed both women’s actual clothing, including extant garments, images, and written descriptions, and the significance of women’s cycling clothing. The way I approached my research varied depending on the period I was researching, due to differing availability of sources. My research on bicycling dress is not exhaustive, nor is it possible to determine whether or not the existing examples are “typical” of the period in which they were worn. My interdisciplinary methods included the study of extant artifacts, material culture, cultural studies, and literary sources along with visual analysis of different types of images. I developed a process for how to find, keep track of, and analyze written materials. I took notes and wrote memos, roughly basing my data coding on a qualitative social science method. I integrated my analysis of extant garments with analysis and interpretation of other period sources, particularly articles and bicycling guides that women wrote during the period under analysis. Using material culture methods, I analyzed extant bicycling garments from the 1890s, following the basic steps of identification, classification, analysis, and interpretation. I utilized a variety of American and British bicycling magazines, along with popular magazines and newspapers. For visual analysis, I looked primarily at fashion illustrations and photographs from the periods in my study. Each type of cycle (velocipedes, tricycles, and safety bicycles) necessitated different clothing, which was determined both by the structure of the machine and by which types of clothing were fashionable at the time. Women riders who were successful at convincing others of their legitimacy as cyclists often did so by dressing in a manner that was sufficiently modified to make cycling physically possible, but not so modified as to appear too out of place when the rider was off the machine. Their dress and behavior was meant to show others that women who cycled were just ordinary women. Written and illustrative materials that argued in favor of cycling must be understood as creating an ideal concept of how women should dress for cycling, not as providing a comprehensive description of what all women actually rode in. My most important finding is that writers from 1868 to 1900 had similar discussions about women’s dress, with recommended styles tending to be adapted from fashionable dress. In the late 1860s, writers grappled with how women could ride a velocipede in a ladylike manner. By the 1890s, cycling was both more common and more acceptable, but writers still wondered as to how women could best dress in order to both be able to safely maneuver a bicycle while still looking feminine. Women’s dress was one of the most significant aspects of cycling, both because well-to-do women were expected to have costumes for many activities and because the physical structure of cycles necessitated adaptations. My central argument is that discussions of women’s cycling dress were meant to legitimize the idea of women as cyclists. Proponents of bicycling believed that women who dressed both practically and appropriately, that is following the precepts of fashion just enough but not so much as to appear frivolous, served as positive examples that could both help other women become cyclists and convince skeptics of cycling’s benefit to women.