Design Meets Nesting: Review of a Noteworthy Review

ElShishtawy, N., Sinha, P. and Bennell, J.A. (2021). A comparative review of zero-waste fashion design thinking and operational research on cutting and packing optimisation. International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, pp.1–13. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/17543266.2021.1990416.

According to the authors, and from what still appears to be the case now, this article is the first of its kind to survey the scene of academic literature and locate all known papers at the intersection of zero-waste fashion design (ZWFD) and operational research (OR). In their lit review, a pool of 595 papers were narrowed down to the 22 most relevant (16 from ZWFD and 6 from C&P (cutting and packing*).

While there are important case studies of zero/low waste designers adapting ZWFD to the needs of industry, the two initiatives remain largely separate. The authors of this paper were right to point out how "operational research is ignoring the flexibility of the problem constraints." And, generally, zero waste designers have been ignoring the constraints of mass production methods.

There is a wealth of OR that can be mined by ZWFD for insight into how the tedious number crunching of ZWFD can be automated--earlier in the design phase. The nesting algorithms used in marker making software seek to improve the efficiency of nested shapes after they have been designed and after the waste is in the system.

Software engineers in the fashion design space are usually unaware of how or when pattern pieces can flex to minimize waste. Also, the narrow scope of their work does not encourage them to solve for this. They need the expertise of pattern cutters to bridge the gap in understanding. Direct teamwork between designers, pattern cutters, and software engineers is a recipe for a dramatic reduction in textile waste. This article by Nesma ElShishtawy, Pammi Sinha, and Julia A. Bennell was a critical step forward.

*See also "2D irregular shape nesting" for similar search results

Written by Abby Keul