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Participatory research tool · 2025–2026

Circular Shirt Builder

A physical garment configurator for exploring how participation can build agency, knowledge and attachment.

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Circular Shirt Builder installation with modular shirt components and tailoring tables
The installation places configuration within a retail-like living-lab setting.
Project typeResearch · Tool / prototype
ThemesCircular textiles & sustainability · Materials & making · Participation & co-design
FormParticipatory research installation
Year2025–2026
StudyLiving lab with 19 participants
ContextRegenerative Fashion Hub

01 · Proposition

Customisation as embodied learning

Circular Shirt Builder turns garment configuration into a hands-on encounter with construction, choice and possible future use.

Participants assemble a modular shirt from five component families: length, side and fit, collar, pocket, and sleeve finish. Each offers two alternatives attached through concealed snap fastenings.

A components library, short assembly videos, a tailoring table and a full-length mirror make the process readable and social. An instant photograph records the final configuration on the Flaunt Your Creation wall.

Published research · 2026

Read the paper

Open access · CC BY 4.0

Cleaner and Responsible Consumption · Volume 21 · 2026 · Article 100390

Circular shirt builder: An apparel configurator to support healthier consumption boundaries in the textiles circular economy

Ricardo O’Nascimento, Bruna Petreca, Morag Seaton and Sharon Baurley

The peer-reviewed study reports how a physical apparel configurator supported emotional attachment, garment-construction learning, creative self-expression and reflection in a living lab with 19 participants. Playfulness, agency and prospective thinking emerged as important qualities for encouraging longer product use and more mindful consumption.

Published online 6 January 2026 · 13 pages · ISSN 2666-7843

Read open-access PDF ↗View published article ↗Research record ↗
A participant selecting modular shirt components from a wooden display
Five component families expose the garment as a system of choices.
Instant photographs of participants wearing their configured shirts
Flaunt Your Creation turns individual configurations into a collective record.

02 · Experience

Choose, assemble, inhabit

  1. 01

    Configure

    Participants select one of two options across five component families.

  2. 02

    Assemble

    Hidden snap fastenings and concise videos make construction tangible and reversible.

  3. 03

    Reflect

    Wearing, viewing and photographing the result connects choice with self-expression and future use.

03 · Reflection

Agency can strengthen attachment

A garment becomes easier to value when its decisions, labour and capacity for change are made available to the wearer.

The study found that embodied customisation supported learning, self-expression and reflection. Playfulness and prospective thinking helped participants imagine longer relationships with a garment rather than treating purchase as the end of design.

19 participants

A living-lab study in a retail-like environment.

10 components

Two alternatives across five modular families.

Reconfigurable

Assembly remains visible, reversible and open to change.

Credits & archive

Project record

Research
Ricardo O’Nascimento, Bruna Petreca, Morag Seaton and Sharon Baurley
Modular shirt design
Morag Seaton
Project photography
Ezzidin Alwan

References

Circular Shirt Builder — open-access research record ↗Published article — DOI 10.1016/j.clrc.2026.100390 ↗

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