Wearable narratives: material, technical, and structural integration in industrial apparel—a practice-based multiple-case study

Abstract

This study develops a three-mode analytical typology (material, technical, and structural narrative integration) for comparing how industrial apparel designers translate narrative intent into the material fabric of garments; a fourth strategy, phygital, is advanced as a proposed extension. The typology emerges from a multiple-case study of four narrative-design projects at a Turkish apparel brand (KAFT), conducted within its registered Design Centre between January 2024 and June 2025. The analysis applies Practice-Based Design Research methodology within a sociosemiotic analytic lens, drawing on internal closeout reports, design briefs, production records, and product-page narratives. Three cases each occupy a distinct mode: a custom-developed canvas-textured woven fabric (material); a heavyweight knit engineered for integrated serigraphy and embroidery (technical); and a diagonal-panel tank with jacquard-woven external labelling and internal serigraphy replacing the conventional care label (structural). A three-piece capsule translating Blender-generated 3D digital assets to direct-printed textile surfaces instantiates the proposed phygital extension. The study further names a methodological contribution, the designer-side/user-side evidentiary asymmetry: the structural separation of what an industry-collaborative study can document (designer-side decisions) from what it can only claim (user-side or sustainability outcomes requiring instruments the brand does not deploy). A consumer-survey study of attachment, a longitudinal wardrobe study, and a comparative life-cycle assessment are specified as falsifiable follow-ups.