Today, in the world of high technology, modern consumers’ desire for complex design is soaring up. Meanwhile, consumers in pursuit of unique lifestyle and personality seek for fashion different from others. In order to satiate the needs of their fas...
Today, in the world of high technology, modern consumers’ desire for complex design is soaring up. Meanwhile, consumers in pursuit of unique lifestyle and personality seek for fashion different from others. In order to satiate the needs of their fast-changing preferences and sensibility, fashion industries are making new attempts and approaches, to think outside of the box. Today, many industries are introducing multi-purpose products with creative edge, and fashion industries in turn are introducing designs that enable diverse styling. Consumers, nowadays, express themselves by imbuing special meaning and sensation to fashion. High-technology enables convenience in people’s lives yet their instincts remind them of the significance of life itself and necessity to return to the past to highlight the emotional and aesthetic value of life. Many consumers are seeking for those values especially in knitwear which causes rise in demand of knitwear today.
The objective of the study is to suggest diverse designs of knitwear by expanding the scope of the use and application of knit fabric with the combination of the diversity given by the zipper used in attachable and detachable method and the traditional knit patterns representative of North Europe. Through the use of the zipper, used in the attachable and detachable method of fastening system which is one of the ways of contributing diversity to fashion design, and the combination of North European traditional knit patterns with knit fabric, new and unique knit styling can be created. The location of the zipper was determined after a thorough analysis of the patterns and diversity in consideration of aesthetic value created from the combination of zipper lines, the fastener of the fastening system, and geometric feature of North European traditional knit patterns.
The content of the research focuses on the history and definition of North European traditional knitwear based on the analysis of theoretical background, types and characteristics of the knit patterns and the observation of the case studies showing the application of knit patterns. The methods of the study used are preceding research along with research, collection, and analysis of data and information from Korean and foreign literature and Internet websites. In order to observe the theoretical background of diverse fashion design using attachable and detachable method, the definition, characteristics and types of diverse fashion designs were observed; the types of attachable and detachable method were categorized; and case studies observing modern design with attachable and detachable method were studied.
In the production of work, zipper, used in attachable and detachable method of fastening system, was used to give diversity to the design and the fabric of knit was created with the combination of the four traditional knit patterns representative of North Europe, Aran, Fair Isle, Nordic, and Lopi. The knitting techniques applied are CABLE FISHERMAN (5GG, SES 124CS) and Tubular Jacquard (3GG.7GG, SES 122CS) for knitting machinery, and the technique of whole garment for hand knitting.
The conclusion from the production of work based on the theoretical background of knit patterns is as follows.
First, the result of observing case studies of applying diverse designs showed that methods of “layered,” “reversible” and fastening system were most commonly used. The zipper, the fastener of the fastening system, is easily attached and detached and found out to be used most often.
Second, the Tubular Jacquard, the Jacquard knitting technique, was knitted with threads of color mix 2 and 4 degrees at 3GG, which showed reversible effect. The produced fabric turned out to be heavy and thick enough to be suitable for coat design.
Third, it was found out that diverse designs were expressed more explicitly when the zipper line was vertical rather than horizontal.
Fourth, various and new types of design were created after recombining pieces of knitwear that were separated by the fastening system.
This study showed the significance of thinking outside the box by suggesting diverse knit designs using the combination of attachable and detachable method of the fastening system and North European traditional knit patterns. Further studies and attempts to create new and unique knit design may contribute to the development and future of the industry of knitwear.