{"id":62455,"date":"2019-12-20T14:57:31","date_gmt":"2019-12-20T19:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=62455"},"modified":"2025-10-10T10:25:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T14:25:44","slug":"accessible-fashion-future","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/accessible-fashion-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Piecing Together the Future of Accessible Fashion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Piecing Together the Future of Accessible Fashion\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Fashion and function can co-exist, especially when you start from square one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Digital Media PhD student at Carleton University is working to expand the range of accessible clothing, facilitating a co-design approach that aims to break down the physical and social barriers of existing assistive technologies and smart clothing, and place more power in the hands of users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co-design allows for the user to be a partner in research, which can be complicated in the specialized field of wearable e-textiles. Lee Jones\u2019 PhD thesis project, Wearable Bits, helps position individuals with mobility disabilities in the design process early on at the prototyping stage.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cI want the wearers of e-textiles to design for themselves,\u201d says Jones.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about expression, and creating fashionable garments that provide support while reducing the stigma that often leads people to abandon their assistive devices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"PhD<\/figure>\n\n\n

Wearable Bits: Smart and Accessible Fashion Solutions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Wearable Bits \u2013 the name for Jones\u2019 toolkit developed for prototyping wearable e-textiles \u2013 does not require any sewing or electronics knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though it\u2019s appropriate for any beginner audience, the toolkit can also assist e-textile practitioners and adaptive fashion designers wishing to prototype garments alongside people with disabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what\u2019s in the kit? Primarily, a series of laser cut felt squares that can interlock. These modular bits allow for flexibility when producing garments for many different body shapes and assistive devices. Electronic components unique to the wearer\u2019s needs or requests are then machine-embroidered on to the felt pieces, and because of their modular design, the prototype garments can change over time, become other garments, and be adapted to different functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A single Wearable Bit, two joined Wearable Bits, and a wearable garment prototype.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can think of them like textile puzzle pieces,\u201d she explains. \u201cEach piece has its own function such as lighting up, heating up, or changing colour, but when you put them together you create an interactive garment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, Jones says test participants have engaged with Wearable Bits\u2019 prototyping tools in unique, unexpected ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEssentially, my job is to be the facilitator,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThe idea is that I help scaffold creativity. I\u2019m not designing what the outcome will be. Instead, the participants with their life experience are the ones who are designing the end result, and we\u2019re just providing the tools.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

At the end of her thesis, she plans for her Wearable Bits toolkit to be available online for anyone hoping to create their own e-textile garments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can put out patterns, and anyone who has access to a makerspace can make whatever they want,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Piecing<\/figure>\n\n\n

Make-Your-Own Pockets<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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A natural extension of Jones\u2019 thesis research, she recently took part in a fellowship at the non-profit accessible fashion organization Open Style Lab in New York City under the supervision of Prof. Grace Jun from the Parsons School of Art and Design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fellowship was an opportunity to learn more about the field of adaptive fashion. The co-design project linked Jones with fashion designers and occupational therapists to create wearable solutions in collaboration with clients from the NYU Langone\u2019s Initiative for Women with Disabilities (IWD).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe worked with young women who have cerebral palsy,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cMost adaptive clothing is pretty expensive, and even if you can get it, it\u2019s not always in your style. We worked on a toolkit so people can alter their own clothes, and do it accessibly.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The process allowed teams to explore the client\u2019s physical and social contexts, and ultimately meet the client\u2019s needs. Her team\u2019s end product: make-your-own pockets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of people we worked with [from IWD] felt it was easier to have their belongings close to them, and didn\u2019t want to have to ask others to get stuff for them,\u201d says Jones. \u201cSo we developed various stitchless pocket hacks using laser cutting and 3D printing for stencils, fabric tape solutions instead of sewing, and came up with accessible tools to go with the pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWorking with people directly is where the innovation comes from. If you had asked me for accessible clothing ideas, or what the priorities are, I wouldn\u2019t have thought pockets,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Piecing<\/figure>\n\n\n

Building Wearable Technology<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Jones\u2019 passion for wearable technology stems from an early interest in digital art during her bachelor\u2019s degree in art history and theory. Instead of writing about it, she wanted to make it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before Carleton, she completed a master\u2019s in Digital Futures at OCAD University in Toronto.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWhen I started at OCAD, I was learning about code and about electronics in an artistic environment,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Jones is now a member of the Creative Interactions Lab (CIL) at Carleton, led by Prof. Audrey Girouard in the School of Information Technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pursuing her PhD project at Carleton and working with the CIL team has taken Jones\u2019 knowledge of electronics, wearable technology and accessibility practices even further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Girouard, Jones\u2019 PhD supervisor, worked with her to find the perfect project for her skill set and their collective interests.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cLee is passionate about working with textiles and making soft sensors, so she designed this project that has the potential to help people, especially those with accessibility needs, to design and adapt their own clothes,\u201d says Girouard.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cShe\u2019s driven and thriving, and it\u2019s wonderful to see her progress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with her colleagues in the CIL, Jones names Hannah Perner-Wilson and Mika Satomi, the handmade wearable technology pioneers behind Berlin\u2019s KOBAKANT collective as great inspirations on the work she\u2019s producing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re the first ones who started using handcrafted textiles, and I appreciate that they\u2019re open source about it,\u201d says Jones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September 2019, Jones attended the International Symposium on Wearable Computers in London, U.K., where she shared her project\u2019s progress with a global network of peers and leaders in her field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jones says researchers were excited about the concept of using e-textiles to adapt and alter clothes that individuals already own.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cToday, there\u2019s a greater awareness of the amount of waste that fast fashion produces, so people are thinking of ways that we can be more sustainable,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cWhen creating any new technology, it\u2019s important to think about the lifecycle of what you\u2019re creating.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fashion and function can co-exist, especially when you start from square one. A Digital Media PhD student at Carleton University is working to expand the range of accessible clothing, facilitating a co-design approach that aims to break down the physical and social barriers of existing assistive technologies and smart clothing, and place more power in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":62457,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[19],"cu_story_tag":[1930],"class_list":["post-62455","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-technology-innovation","cu_story_tag-equity-diversity-and-inclusion"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/62455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/62455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97668,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/62455\/revisions\/97668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=62455"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=62455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}