Materials Selection for Fashion Designers: a preliminary mock-up tool.

The fashion industry is currently facing the need for a profound transformation of its production systems, particularly regarding textile materials and their phases of production, use, and end-of-life (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017; Textile Exchange, 2023). Material selection represents a critical step in this transition, as it directly influences environmental impacts and the implementation of ecodesign strategies (Gwilt, 2014; Clark, 2008; UNEP, 2023). However, in fashion design practice, fabric selection is still largely guided by experiential evaluation of physical samples, making it difficult to establish standardized procedures. As a result, manufacturers typically provide heterogeneous and non-standardized datasheets, which limits transparency and comparability across materials (Niinimäki & Hassi, 2011; Papile & Del Curto, 2025; European Parliamentary Research Service, 2024; Zhang, 2024). To support a sustainable transition within the fashion sector, designers must develop a more systemic understanding of fabric materials, integrating technical properties, environmental parameters, and design requirements. While such decision-support approaches are well established in other industrial sectors (Ashby, 2017), they remain underdeveloped in fashion design, where structured tools for material selection are still lacking (Fletcher & Tham, 2019; IPCC, 2023). This contribution proposes the development of a preliminary mock-up tool aimed at facilitating material selection for fashion design practitioners. The tool seeks to create a coherent interface that links material properties, ecodesign strategies, and the specific needs of fashion design practice. By providing an organized and comparable set of information, it aims to support more informed decision-making processes and foster design practices that are both sustainability-oriented and better aligned with emerging industry standards.