New Vision On Knitwear Design. How the traditional craft methodologies are evolving into fashion international scenarios.

Abstract: If for traditional fashion design as clothes making or as basics for the creation of fashion products the concept of good design is now acquired, knitwear is now facing its decisive change from hobby into project; the enhancement of craft (Micelli S. 2011) does not refer to any nostalgia for the past times, and even better in Italy it is a very fertile area to be innovated and experimented. The ability to innovate and promote new points of view in design processes does not arise only from a thorough understanding of specific areas, but also from a lifestyle open to diversity, that society has to accept and recognize (Micelli S . 2011). Today, the ability of designers to explore contexts in an original way, proposing ideas and results that are not just technical solutions of established problems, sees in creativity and in fashion design education the ability to solve problems through materials and their constant innovation for clothes, to experiment or to look at old problems in a different way with the aim of going beyond the usual “fashion” idea. This paper is written at the end of an educational experience in the Knit Design Lab at the School of Design of Politecnico di Milano, where Missoni, the most important Italian knitwear brand, together with Woolmark, the most influencing certification body at an international level for the promotion and enhancement of Merino wool, in collaboration with Knitlab, a digital platform for the learning of the traditional knitting techniques active in the School of Design at Politecnico di Milano, realized a project in which the knitting techniques have been the first tool for the creation, design and prototyping of a clothes collection for the spring-summer 2017, coherent with the brand identity of Missoni and with at least the 70% of merino wool as a condition dictated by Woolmark. The aim of the paper is to highlight the moments of convergence and differentiation regarding the methodologies and the design process into the different areas of design. In this way today we can talk about knitwear design: a specific field of Made in Italy completely changing: to become project, knitwear must produce garments and collections enhancing traditional techniques while expressing the spirit of time and in which the manual technique becomes a research tool and method to deal with all the aspects in their influence on the industrial production chain.