Ethical and Sustainable Fashion Portfolio

21/4/2025 - 25/7/2025 | Week 1 - Week 14
Johanna Leong Hui Ninn 0359221
Bachelor of Fashion Design Technology (Honours)

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Week 1

In the first week, our lecturer provided an overview of the module and introduced us to the principles of ethical and sustainable fashion, highlighting the significance of understanding ethical practices and sustainability within the fashion industry. After the briefing, we were tasked with starting our first assignment of the semester. The assignment includes selecting a topic related to waste and develop a proposal that demonstrates the incorporation of ethical values across different stages of the fashion process. We were then instructed to present our proposals in a slides format this week. For my chosen topic, I selected “Botanical Extinction” for this assignment. Once I received approval from my lecturer, I began developing the slides for my proposal.

Week 2

I had finished preparing my slides to present to the lecturer in class this week. During the the class, our lecturer informed us that for Assignment 1, we are required to create a creative textile fabric piece using a 70cm x 70cm fabric, for a wall decoration. He also shared examples of previous students' work to give us some inspiration. After that, I began brainstorming ideas for my fabric piece based on my chosen topic.

Week 3

This week, I presented my fabric piece ideas to the lecturer and received constructive feedback accordingly. After everyone was done presenting their ideas to the lecturer, we then continued our lesson on ethical and sustainable practices. After this class, I then began sourcing my materials that I plan to use for my fabric piece, such as the flowers that I will be using.

Week 4

This week, I started working on my fabric piece for Assignment 1. I prepared the required 70cm x 70cm fabric and began working on my piece. The starting of my progress in developing my fabric piece was to dye the white fabric I had with butterfly pea flowers for a natural color. I selectively placed different amounts of the dye on various places of the fabric to create a unique pattern on the fabric for this piece. This process took some time as I needed to wait for the fabric to dry before deciding if I should add more dye to it. A couple of times, after seeing the fabric when it is done drying I would then decide to add more dye to make my fabric look more accurate according to my desired idea. I had also started sticking the pressed flowers, leaves and twigs on my fabric to be later sprayed with some adhesive spray paint to make the fabric more durable.

Week 5

This week, I had submitted my textile fabric for the first assignment and our also then lecturer briefed us on our final assignment. We were required to design a functional and creative fashion bag using recycled IKEA bag material. After this class, we were instructed to source some IKEA bags and creatively transform them into fashion bags such as a handbag, tote bag or gadget bag. For this assignment, we are also required to sketch two different bag designs and present them to our lecturer next week.

Week 6

In class this week, our lecturer asked us to select one of the two bag designs we previously sketched to develop into our final product. We were then tasked with creating detailed sketches showing multiple views of the chosen design, along with any necessary revisions. I selected the sketch design for my final product and focused on refining its details.

Week 7

In this week's class, I presented my revised sketches to the lecturer. Following the presentation, I began working on my final product by creating the pattern for the bag. After cutting the pattern pieces out on box board, I carefully reviewed them to ensure they aligned with my intended design. I then assembled the box board pieces together for the structure of the bag to take shape. 

Week 8

After completing my box board prototype, I redrafted the pattern on some calico fabric and incorporated the revisions suggested by the lecturer. I then cut out the fabric pieces so that I can begin sewing them together for the calico prototype.

Week 9

This week, I continued working on my calico prototype for the final project. The progress is going well, and I plan to present it to my lecturer in the upcoming classes.

Week 10

In this week's class, I presented the progress of my calico prototype to my lecturer and received some feedback. He mentioned that it looked good and also suggested a few additional improvements for the final bag design.

Week 11

This week, I began working on my final product since I have completed both prototypes. I started by cutting out the pattern pieces onto the IKEA bag material and began sewing them together to assemble the bag. It was quite challenging, as I had to redo and make some changes to certain sections, which made the process more time-consuming.

Week 12

By the time of this week's class, I had already completed my final product. Our lecturer instructed us to create a short video that is under one minute featuring cinematic shots of our bag and showcasing its functions. My friends and I decided to film the video on campus together, it was really fun and enjoyable doing the process along with them. I’m especially grateful to my friends for helping me film and modeling with my bag to showcase it.

Week 13

This week marks the final submission for all of our assignments for this module. For classes this week, we brought our IKEA bags for a photoshoot of our final products, capturing different views such as the front, side and back views of the bag. Some of us, including myself, took additional shots such as the interior of the bag in order to showcase the pocket compartments and the design details.

Week 14

This week marks our visit to the LLCM factory (Life Line Clothing Malaysia Sdn Bhd). From the visit, we were required to write a report about the factory tour, which is to be presented in the form of slides for one of our assignments.