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Digital Upcycling Breathing New Life into Wardrobes, Virtually
For my master’s project, I explored digital upcycling by giving physical garments a second life in a fully digital space. I sourced unique pieces from friends' wardrobes and reimagined them into a six-look collection, showcasing how digital tools can make upcycling more versatile and sustainable. Using Clo3D to create zero-waste garments and Substance Painter to texture them, each design was inspired by the original item, capturing the worn-in feel of natural wear like frayed denim and softened cotton.

To tie everything together, I created mood boards and renders that illustrated the journey from physical to digital. This project envisions a future where upcycling goes beyond physical fabrics, opening up endless creative possibilities without generating waste.

 The final output, a fashion campaign, promotes the idea of giving old clothes a fresh start in the virtual realm, paving the way for a more sustainable future in fashion.


To kick off designing the upcycled garments, I gathered visual inspiration and researched to define key elements for the looks.
  
Garment Design Process
 Once I had the key elements in place, I began designing 6 unique looks for the campaign—3 menswear and 3 womenswear. I made sure to include diverse body types, with both a curvy and plus-size figure to ensure size and gender inclusivity. Most of the designs are gender-neutral, allowing for versatility. Below is a glimpse into the creative process, from sketching the initial ideas to drafting patterns from scratch in Clo3D.


OUTFIT 2
OUTFIT 5 I noticed there was a lack of representation for plus-size figures in digital fashion, so I made sure to include a plus-size look in the campaign to help address this gap
Digital Fabrics
 Once I had the six garments constructed and the collection taking shape, the next step was creating the digital fabrics to match the physical textiles. I started by sketching patterns in Procreate, Adobe Illustrator, and Photoshop to get the right designs and textures. From there, I used Substance Sampler and Substance Painter to bring these fabrics to life, creating detailed texture maps and digital materials that would match the look and feel of the original garments. This step was key in ensuring that the digital versions felt as authentic and tangible as the physical.




Promotional Movie For the final outcome of my project, I created a promotional movie for a generative AI platform I proposed as part of my research—ThreadSync. This platform digitally upcycles physical garments, exploring various possibilities for refreshing the wardrobe. To bring the platform to life, I designed a working user interface on Figma, then integrated it with Canva and the fashion campaign film to create a cohesive promotional video. 
I opted for a marketing film as my final output because I believe it would have the most impact on consumers, effectively showcasing the concept and potential of digital upcycling.

And here it is—my final marketing video for the ThreadSync platform.
This is the culmination of the project, bringing together everything from the digital upcycling concept to the fashion campaign, all wrapped up in a compelling promo film.



© 2024 by Ananya Ramesh.