TED RESOURCE: ABOUT

The TED project was set up in 1996 to look at the role that the designer can play in creating textiles that have a reduced impact on the environment. Since 2003 this research has centred around the TED Resource which is an open access facility that houses a collection of fabric and clothing samples, press cuttings, academic papers, research projects and case studies for students, designers and researchers.

The contents of the Resource is divided into three sections which reflects the current research work of the TED project as a whole:

1) The most obvious starting point for any designer trying to create textiles that have a reduced impact on the environment is materials selection. This could include choosing materials that are non-toxic or recycled, such as organic cotton or reclaimed textiles.

To reflect this first stage, the Resource includes information on all types of manmade and plant fibres; fibre cultivation and production; fabric manufacture including finishing processes and dying and printing.

2) Moving beyond materials selection, the designer can take a broader view of the product/ their design and its environmental impacts. Considering that up to 80% of a product’s environmental costs are determined at the design stage, there are several eco design concepts that further increase opportunities for environmental improvements.
The Resource includes information on lifecycle thinking, short life/long life textiles, fair-trade and ethical production, design for recycling, new technologies and consumer use.

3) Finally, the designer can go beyond product design and broaden their focus to reanalyse the whole system in which their textile product is produced and consumed. At the heart of most of the environmental problems is the issue of consumption. Society needs to address its over-reliance on product consumption and the subsequent environmental impacts that are associated with this.

Designers should therefore be encouraged to disengage from consumer culture and to play a radical and innovative part in the creation of a more sustainable society and to find new directions for product and service innovation.

The Resource includes information on systems and services design, local/global issues and social sustainability.