I was asked to design a hoodie for a friend of mine using zero-waste pattern cutting and as I’ve never attempted menswear before using this process i was a bit apprehensive. Timo does it so well and I’m definitely more of a womenswear designer. After begining the design I found myself with alot of extra fabric which in womenswear can be more easily integrated into the design. My menswear client is a bit of a bloke – skater and wears the usual streetwear styles – so flounces would not be acceptable. So I decided perhaps i could design a hoodie/t’shirt combo on the same pattern to use up the extra bits. Perhaps it’s cheating, but i feel like it’s sensible…
Materialbyproduct have done a similar thing – I think they did a dress in two ways, one was a simple dress with a standard fit and the negative space was draped to become the other dress which was far more experimental looking. In this case I’m trying to design both garments to be acceptable to by regular streetwear wearing bloke friend – therefore I’m designing both at the same time. It’s almost like a twin set for men!
It will be printed digitally also, and ive got a few ideas for how that might look already. I think for fabrics i will use a reasonably heavy weight double knit so it can function well as the fabric for both the hoodie and tshirt.
Anyways, here is my design at planning stage – the colours help me to decode what goes where and is a new technique im trying out – it won’t be those colours.
Holly McQuillan 
no-waste is an interesting proposition..whether it is better to use up a whole piece of fabric just for the sake of having no scraps, or better to use the scraps for other things. either way as long as nothing ends up in the bin it’s a good thing.
i like that notion of colour coding the pieces and would probably add a line element to the colour so that the grain of the fabric could be easily determined on the paste-up as well
best wishes
india
Good idea about the linear element to help with grain-lines. I am personally aware of how they sit/behave with each other when I’m designing the pattern and then putting it together – part of the design process occurs when sewing and i deal directly with the issues that opposing grain lines cause.
My choice to eliminate waste at the pattern cutting stage is really just a personal aesthetic decision – I’m not a huge fan of fiddly detail on garments (either to design or wear) but I admire those who can wear it and design it with style! Either way is great from an environmental perspective – so it really is just personal choice and the particular aesthetic you are after at the time.
not sure how your ‘client’ would feel about being referred to as “a bit of a bloke – skater and wears the usual streetwear styles”.
You better buy him a coffee the next time you see him.
Ahahaha! Will do.