Pluriversal fashion-textiles : redirecting toward holistic, autonomous, place-based & relational fashion-textile worlds

Zoltkowski, Ania

Pluriversal fashion-textiles : redirecting toward holistic, autonomous, place-based & relational fashion-textile worlds

Zoltkowski, Ania

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Publication Type:: Thesis
Issue Date:: 2024

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Zoltkowski, Ania
dc.date.accessioned	2025-10-03T04:31:43Z
dc.date.available	2025-10-03T04:31:43Z
dc.date.issued	2024
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/190299
dc.description	University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building.	en_US.UTF-8
dc.description.abstract	Current fashion-textile practices have wide-ranging adverse effects on ecological systems, human communities, and more-than-humans, exemplifying a broader crisis in our relationship with the world and ourselves. Despite numerous sustainability initiatives, the industry’s detrimental global impact continues to grow, due to approaches rooted in mechanistic, modern/colonial ontologies that fail to address underlying paradigms. This study explores how a pluriverse may manifest through fashion-textiles, fostering the emergence and coexistence of diverse ways of being and knowing (Escobar, 2018a) and redirecting the field toward more holistic approaches inspired by Earth Logic (Fletcher & Tham, 2019). In the context of this research and guided by Escobar (2020b; 2018a, 2007), pluriversality encompasses the acknowledgment of multiple worldviews, knowledge systems, and modes of existence, rejecting the notion of a singular truth in favour of embracing a diverse tapestry of ontological paradigms. Adopting a post-qualitative performative research paradigm (Haseman, 2006), this study employs a multidimensional methodology triangulating theoretical exploration, practice-led making, and social learning workshops. Four key ontological redirections are investigated—Wholeness, Autonomies, Place, and Relationality—essential for cultivating pluriversal fashion- textile worlds. Through workshops with fashion-textile stakeholders and practice- led experiments, the research examines what emerges when introducing pluriversal methods in communal environments. It provides an embodied understanding of complex theoretical concepts. This process resulted in a creative output of an Earth-cloth, a modular fashion-textile garment that represents one contextual manifestation among countless possibilities in a fashion-textile pluriverse. This research further contributes to an integrated approach to knowledge generation in fashion-textiles that is autonomous, place-based, and relational, emphasising the equal importance of Spirit, Heart, Mind, and Body as collaborative sources of insight. By synthesising these diverse aspects, the study aims to cultivate a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of fashion-textiles, creating new knowledge in the field. This work offers pathways for fashion-textile practitioners, researchers and educators to embrace pluriversal approaches within their own practice toward more intentional and integrated possibilities. By illuminating toward hidden and devalued pluriversal worlds, this research expands the scope for what sustainable transitions in fashion- textiles could be (de la Cadena & Blaser, 2018). The study’s significance lies in its novel exploration of pluriversal approaches for fashion-textiles, which presents a holistic pathway toward reimagining and redirecting the field towards more sustainable practices. This research addresses a critical gap in current academic discourse and practice, establishing foundations for future scholars and practitioners to explore and develop pluriversal approaches to fashion-textiles across diverse contexts.	en_US.UTF-8
dc.format	Thesis (PhD)
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US.UTF-8
dc.relation	https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/190299/1/thesis.pdf
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights	The author owns the copyright in this thesis including all reproduction and reuse rights for the work. The work may not be altered without the permission of the copyright owner. Attribution is essential when quoting or paraphrasing from this thesis.
dc.rights	© 2024 Ania Zoltkowski
dc.rights	au.edu.uts.lib/cph
dc.title	Pluriversal fashion-textiles : redirecting toward holistic, autonomous, place-based & relational fashion-textile worlds	en_US.UTF-8
dc.type	Thesis
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*

Abstract:

Current fashion-textile practices have wide-ranging adverse effects on ecological systems, human communities, and more-than-humans, exemplifying a broader crisis in our relationship with the world and ourselves. Despite numerous sustainability initiatives, the industry’s detrimental global impact continues to grow, due to approaches rooted in mechanistic, modern/colonial ontologies that fail to address underlying paradigms. This study explores how a pluriverse may manifest through fashion-textiles, fostering the emergence and coexistence of diverse ways of being and knowing (Escobar, 2018a) and redirecting the field toward more holistic approaches inspired by Earth Logic (Fletcher & Tham, 2019). In the context of this research and guided by Escobar (2020b; 2018a, 2007), pluriversality encompasses the acknowledgment of multiple worldviews, knowledge systems, and modes of existence, rejecting the notion of a singular truth in favour of embracing a diverse tapestry of ontological paradigms. Adopting a post-qualitative performative research paradigm (Haseman, 2006), this study employs a multidimensional methodology triangulating theoretical exploration, practice-led making, and social learning workshops. Four key ontological redirections are investigated—Wholeness, Autonomies, Place, and Relationality—essential for cultivating pluriversal fashion- textile worlds. Through workshops with fashion-textile stakeholders and practice- led experiments, the research examines what emerges when introducing pluriversal methods in communal environments. It provides an embodied understanding of complex theoretical concepts. This process resulted in a creative output of an Earth-cloth, a modular fashion-textile garment that represents one contextual manifestation among countless possibilities in a fashion-textile pluriverse. This research further contributes to an integrated approach to knowledge generation in fashion-textiles that is autonomous, place-based, and relational, emphasising the equal importance of Spirit, Heart, Mind, and Body as collaborative sources of insight. By synthesising these diverse aspects, the study aims to cultivate a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of fashion-textiles, creating new knowledge in the field. This work offers pathways for fashion-textile practitioners, researchers and educators to embrace pluriversal approaches within their own practice toward more intentional and integrated possibilities. By illuminating toward hidden and devalued pluriversal worlds, this research expands the scope for what sustainable transitions in fashion- textiles could be (de la Cadena & Blaser, 2018). The study’s significance lies in its novel exploration of pluriversal approaches for fashion-textiles, which presents a holistic pathway toward reimagining and redirecting the field towards more sustainable practices. This research addresses a critical gap in current academic discourse and practice, establishing foundations for future scholars and practitioners to explore and develop pluriversal approaches to fashion-textiles across diverse contexts.

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