Refashioning repair culture through the circle of value creation: A case study of the Japanese brand KUON

Abstract

During the past ten years or more, sustainable fashion and slow lifestyle has received a growing amount of attention from design scholars, creative practitioners and fashion brands. In addition to new technologies of material development, the recent incorporation of repair-inspired designs into current fashion practice is also notable. Among the origins of global repair traditions, the Japanese patchwork boro receives a shared interest from a global creative network of fashion designers, textile collectors and artisans in their exploration of sustainable materials and reinvention of ancient craftsmanship. Born from humbleness, boro signifies a class of Japanese textiles that have been extensively mended and patched together by people who could not get or afford proper clothes. The recent resurrection of boro as a style and an eco-friendly fashion statement follows the trend for sustainable design, and also benefits from the recognition of Japanese aesthetics in western fashion and design industries. By investigating the boro-influenced patchwork menswear brand KUON from Japan, this case study acknowledges and exemplifies the historical and contemporary ideological alignment of sustainable fashion with Japanese repair culture, aesthetics and material interpretations. This research considers boro as an alternative solution to the current development of new material technologies, and the discussion of boro offers future possibilities to reimagine the meanings and representations of this traditional repair craft which may inspire creative practitioners to participate and contribute to sustainable fashion design.