The Circular Design 4F x Viamoda project will be carried out within the 4F Change strategy that has been implemented by the 4F brand since January 2022. Circularity of clothes is one of the strategy’s main objectives. Wear_Fair zones were created in selected 4F stores; unwanted clothes donated there will be used, e.g. by Viamoda’s students.

The aim of Circular Design 4F x Viamoda project will be to discover the creative potential in pre-owned garments and use them as a source material for creating new products.
Three design teams will be created; they will handle a wide range of creative activities with the use of damaged and worn clothing. The UPCYCLE team will focus on the form of selected clothes, and create new clothes using the techniques of deconstruction. The RECYCLE team will handle material and surface work. Pre-owned clothes will be cut up and utilised to create new materials by means of weaving and knitting. The students will make patchworks, textures and embroidery, which will become the starting point for designing clothes. Students from the REPAIR group will have to come up with creative ways to repair damaged clothes or garments with visible signs of wear. The aim is to use the student’s talent and creativity to re-evaluate aesthetical concepts in line with the Japanese wabi-sabi philosophy that embraces the natural product lifecycle and finds beauty in the signs of passing time. In our culture, a repaired product is perceived as worse and less attractive than a new one. The task of VIAMODA students will be to propose design solutions that will show flaws and wear in a new light, bringing out their aesthetic value and turn a defective product into a unique one.

„For 4F this project perfectly fits into the implementation of the 4F Change environmental strategy. The clothing industry has an impact on current climate change and the transition to circular models is one of the key directions for corrective actions. Putting pre-owned clothes back into circulation, their repair, recycling and upcycling are the foundations of the Wear_Fair program which we launched this January. That’s why we proposed these three directions for design teams in the very beginning of our talks with VIAMODA. We’re convinced that a collaboration between a business and a university in the area of sustainable approach to design on the one hand opens up the space for growth and innovation for both parties; and on the other, significantly contributes to the conscious education of future designers who will create their collections under completely different environmental conditions than before,” – says Przemysław Feliga, ESG Project Manager.