Adjustable Children’s Clothes
Children are constantly, quickly growing, so they always need new clothing. This frequent need for new clothes can be expensive and time-consuming for parents. Additionally, the fashion industry is very harmful to the environment because it produces significant CO2 emissions, pollution, and waste. In this project, I explored the design of adjustable children’s clothing as a cost-effective and sustainable way to address these problems.
Sustainability
Young children go through a lot of clothes. “In the first two years of life, an average child uses over 200 pieces of clothing, each of which only fits for about two or three months.” Older children continue to grow quickly. “On average, children grow out of their clothes every six months.”
As reported by the EPA, “Americans throw away 68 pounds of textiles per person a year.” As seen in the chart, the waste produced by the fashion industry has increased dramatically since the 70’s, and the vast majority ends up in landfills.
Extending the life of a product can reduce its environmental impact, however. According to A New Textiles Economy, “if the number of times a garment is worn were doubled on average, GHG emissions would be 44% lower.” By reducing how much clothing a child needs, adjustable children’s clothing helps protect the environment.
Clothing and Footwear Waste Management
EPA’s report on Clothing and Footwear Waste in thousands of U.S. tons. Adapted from “Nondurable Goods: Product-Specific Data.”
Sketching
After sketching out dozens of concepts, I landed on four ideas I wanted to create for my mini-colection.
Samples and Fittings
Final Prototypes
Design Details
Length Changing Zippers
The length of these pants can be easily changed with a simple zipper. This allows the pants to grow with a child, and then be passed on to a younger sibling.
Reinforced Knees
To make sure the pants will last long enough to be used again and again as a child grows, the knee section is reinforced with a quilted on patch on the inside.
Adjustable Waistbands
A common problem with buttonhole elastic waistbands and drawstring waistbands is that the elastic or the drawstring can get stuck deep inside the waistband when trying to adjust it. This pants’ buttonhole elastic, and the skirt’s drawstring are sewn in place at the waistband openings, so they can’t get lost inside the waistband when making adjustments.
Adjustable Waistbands
A common problem with buttonhole elastic waistbands and drawstring waistbands is that the elastic or the drawstring can get stuck deep inside the waistband when trying to adjust it. This pants’ buttonhole elastic, and the skirt’s drawstring are sewn in place at the waistband openings, so they can’t get lost inside the waistband when making adjustments.
Length Changing Skirts
The skirt and the nightgown have snaps on the inside at several levels, so it’s easy to change the length of the skirt. You can quickly change up the style from a midi skirt to a short and puffy bubble skirt!
Sleep Sack to Pajamas
These baby sleep sacks transform into toddler pajamas: a nightgown or a one piece pajama set. This way, these cozy pajamas can be worn by the baby for years as they grow up.
