“Many claim that pattern-making is inevitably wasteful. If we were to follow the traditional approach, then this assumption is correct. Since the beginning, we learn to make garments and cut patterns in specific ways, which include disregarding excess material. It is seen as part of the process. But, why should waste be accepted as an inevitable byproduct?”, zero-waste patternmaker Rena Rishani argues.
This stance led Rena towards a different design approach. Her zero-waste practice treats textile as a material to be respected in its entirety, and not something that can be easily discarded. In Habkit Eed, her gender-inclusive ready-to-wear label, if the seams are undone, the garment returns to its original state: a complete piece of fabric.
“When working with a zero-waste mindset, both the approach to creativity and process change. I don’t start by sketching a bodice or a skirt. I go directly into draping and pleating on the body, pinning and unpinning. It is about feeling the fabric, listening to the material, and discovering what form naturally emerges from it. The fabric dictates the outcome, not me, the designer.”, Rena explains.
One might assume that sustainability in fashion is no longer a choice, but a necessity, given all the events that happened in the past decade. Yet, zero-waste pattern-making remains marginal, despite its environmental and creative potential. The issue lies in the industry’s reluctance to slow down and invest resources in fundamentally rethinking the systems and practices it has long normalized.
According to Rena, real impact begins at the institutional level. Universities and academies have the power to shape a new generation of designers capable of approaching fashion more consciously. “We need to encourage more experimentation, more out-of-the-box thinking, more documentation, and a stronger knowledge of textiles.”, she insists.
While I agree with Rena, I also believe there is a deeper cultural dimension that needs to be considered. A good example would be to analyze the Western and Afro-Asian design philosophies. Traditionally, the latter gave garments a rectangular shape because fabric is respected in its original form and smartly manipulated rather than aggressively ripped. Instead of forcing the fabric to adapt to the body, the body surrenders to the fabric. In contrast, the former has always prioritized fitted silhouettes, rounded shoulders, and cinched waists. Therefore, inevitably cutting into fabric and generating waste.
Western designers have always believed that nature should be controlled and transformed to satisfy our needs. In other parts of the world, the relationship is reversed. Mankind adapts itself to nature and works alongside it rather than against it.
The question is no longer whether zero-waste design is possible, but whether the fashion industry, consumers included, are truly willing to redefine what “beautiful clothes” look like. Rethinking pattern-making is not a simple technical exercise. It is a cultural one.
It requires reevaluating the silhouettes we idealize, the systems we teach, and the values we are told to reward. Perhaps, moving forward does not only necessitate innovation, but a willingness to revisit ancestral methods of garment making, which were sustainable long before sustainability entered the fashion vocabulary.
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