Open source co-production
Open Source Co-Production refers to a collaborative approach in which multiple stakeholders, including designers, manufacturers, and users, participate in the creation and production of fashion products through an open and transparent process. It involves sharing knowledge, resources, and ideas to collectively develop and bring a fashion product to fruition. This collaborative model allows for a greater diversity of ideas, skills, and perspectives to be incorporated into the design process. It fosters a sense of community and encourages active engagement from participants.
In Open Source Co-Production, the design process and related knowledge are openly shared and accessible to a wider community, enabling collaboration, innovation, and collective decision-making and, enabling anyone to access and contribute to the development of fashion products. In this context, “open source” refers to unrestricted access to design information, processes, and resources, allowing individuals and organizations to freely contribute, modify, and distribute the resulting products. The concept draws inspiration from the open-source software movement, where the source code of a program is made freely available for modification and redistribution.
Open Source Co-Production allows for the exchange of ideas, techniques, and expertise among individuals and organizations. It promotes inclusivity, sustainability, and creativity by breaking down traditional barriers and hierarchies within the industry. The goal is to leverage collective intelligence, creativity, and resources to develop innovative and sustainable fashion solutions.
Through Open Source Co-Production, designers can share their design files, patterns, and technical specifications openly, allowing others to modify and build upon their work. Manufacturers can contribute their expertise in production processes and techniques. Users can also engage by providing feedback, suggesting improvements, or even actively participating in the production process. This approach promotes co-creation and democratizes the fashion industry, blurring the lines between designers, manufacturers, and users.
By embracing Open Source Co-Production, the fashion industry can benefit in several ways. It facilitates knowledge sharing, enabling designers and manufacturers to learn from each other and improve their practices. It encourages innovation and experimentation, as different stakeholders can collaborate and iterate on designs more freely. It also promotes sustainability by reducing waste and encouraging the reuse and repurposing of materials. Open Source Co-Production can manifest in various forms, reflecting the diverse nature of the fashion industry and the collaborative possibilities it offers.
Open source design platforms
Online platforms or communities dedicated to sharing open-source fashion designs, patterns, and resources. These platforms allow designers to upload their designs for others to access, modify, and utilize for their own creations. Examples include Open Style Lab and Open Wear.
Collaborative workshops and hackathons
Events that bring together designers, makers, technologists, and fashion enthusiasts to collaborate on open-source fashion projects. Participants share their skills, knowledge, and resources to create innovative and sustainable fashion solutions. These workshops and hackathons often result in the co-creation of prototypes, designs, and ideas.
Maker spaces and fab labs
Physical spaces equipped with tools, machinery, and resources for individuals to collaborate and create fashion products. These spaces provide access to shared resources and foster a community-driven approach to fashion production. Participants can work together on open-source fashion projects, exchange ideas, and learn from each other’s expertise.
Open source material libraries
Platforms or databases that compile information about sustainable and open-source materials for fashion production. These resources enable designers and manufacturers to explore alternative materials, share knowledge about their properties and sourcing, and contribute to the development of sustainable fashion practices.
Fashion Hackathons and Challenges
Events or competitions focused on solving specific fashion-related problems through open-source co-production. Participants form teams and work collaboratively to develop innovative solutions, leveraging open-source principles. These initiatives encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration and foster a culture of sharing and collaboration within the fashion industry.
Collaborative design projects
Partnerships between fashion brands, designers, and consumers to co-design and co-produce fashion collections. This can involve engaging consumers in the design process, soliciting their ideas and feedback, and incorporating their input into the final products. The open-source approach allows for greater transparency and inclusivity in the design and production phases.
These examples illustrate how Open Source Co-Production can encompass a wide range of collaborative initiatives, all aimed at leveraging collective creativity, knowledge sharing, and sustainable practices. By embracing open-source principles, the fashion industry can tap into the power of collaboration and community to drive innovation, foster inclusivity, and promote sustainable fashion practices.
Case studies
Open Style Lab – Inclusive adaptive fashion co-production
Open Style Lab is a non-profit organization that brings together designers, engineers, and occupational therapists to co-create adaptive clothing with and for people with disabilities. Through interdisciplinary collaborations, public programs, and open educational resources, the organization shares methods and design outcomes that can be adapted by other practitioners, exemplifying open, community-oriented co-production in fashion.
Project link
Openwear – Collaborative Clothing open-source fashion platform
Openwear is an open-source fashion initiative that experimented with a distributed network of designers, makers, and wearers who collaboratively developed garments under Creative Commons–style licensing. By publishing patterns, guidelines, and brand assets for shared use, Openwear tested how open licenses and peer production could enable shared authorship and localized fashion micro-productions.
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Fab Textiles (Fab Lab Barcelona) – Open source fashion and textile prototyping
Fab Textiles at Fab Lab Barcelona is a research and prototyping lab that applies open-source principles to textile and fashion experimentation, including digital fabrication, bio-based materials, and parametric garment design. The lab documents techniques, workflows, and design files online, enabling other labs, designers, and students to replicate and build on open textile processes as part of a global Fab Lab network.
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AWAYTOMARS – Crowd-sourced fashion co-creation platform
AWAYTOMARS is a fashion platform that invites a global community of users to submit, vote on, and iteratively refine garment concepts, with selected designs moving into production and revenue shared among contributors. This model positions the platform as an open co-creation environment where design, development, and storytelling emerge from a distributed network of participants rather than a single brand-led studio.
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Open Source Circular Economy Days (OSCEdays) – Open circular fashion experiments
Open Source Circular Economy Days (OSCEdays) is a global, community-driven initiative that organizes events where citizens, designers, and companies collaboratively prototype open-source solutions for a circular economy, including textiles and fashion. Local OSCEdays events host open hackathons and design sprints in which participants document patterns, toolkits, and material experiments under open licenses, enabling others to reuse and adapt circular fashion practices worldwide.
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References
Bujor, A., Avasilcai, S., & Alexa, L. (2017). Co-creation in fashion industry: The case of AWAYTOMARS. Annals of the Oradea University, Fascicle of Management and Technological Engineering, 26(3), 22–25. https://doi.org/10.15660/AUOFMTE.2017-3.3295
Lee, J., & Choo, H. J. (2023). New fashion products development through consumer co-creation. Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles, 47(3), 475–491. https://doi.org/10.5850/JKSCT.2023.47.3.475
Lorenzo Romero, C., Alarcón-del-Amo, M.-C., Gómez Borja, M. Á., & Del-Pozo-Ruiz, L. (2025). Fashion cocreation: Cross-cultural insights and strategies. Spanish Journal of Marketing – ESIC. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1108/SJME-11-2022-0241
Särmäkari, N., & Vänskä, A. (2020). Open-source philosophy in fashion design: Contesting authorship conventions and professionalism. In DRS2020: Synergy. Proceedings of the Design Research Society Conference 2020. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2020.195
Zhang, H., & Ma, Z. (2022). Is my design better? A co-creation perspective for online fashion design. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 16(3), 384–402. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-05-2021-0132