The global fashion industry discards around a third of its materials before garments ever reach the shop floor. As sustainability legislation tightens, researchers at The University of Manchester are exploring how artificial intelligence could help reimagine this process – turning waste into opportunity.
Through diary studies and interviews with fashion professionals already using AI in design and product development, the project examines how emerging tools such as digital prototyping and generative design can reduce physical sampling, improve material selection, and enable more circular production cycles.
This human-centred approach reveals both the potential and the practical barriers to adopting AI in creative workflows, offering insight into how technology can support a just transition to sustainable, data-driven fashion.
Dr. Courtney Chrimes, Lecturer in Digital Fashion Marketing explains: “By rethinking design through AI and circularity, we can transform fashion from one of the world’s most wasteful industries into a force for regenerative change.”
By bridging creativity and computation, this research positions Manchester at the forefront of sustainable innovation – helping an industry long associated with excess move toward circular, intelligent design.