Fashion Knitwear Design department release new book exploring the industry

Entitled Fashion Knitwear Design, the book has been written and edited by nine academics across NTU’s Fashion Knitwear subject team

The Fashion Knitwear Design course team and contributing students

An exciting new book is to be released next month, written and edited exclusively by academics from NTU’s Fashion Knitwear Design subject area. Published by The Crowood Press, the book is entitled Fashion Knitwear Design, and explores in depth this influential and innovative area of contemporary fashion design.

BA (Hons) Fashion Knitwear Design and Knitted Textiles course leader Helen Hill, and senior lecturer and researcher Dr Amy Twigger Holroyd, have edited the publication, in addition to each contributing a chapter on their area of specialism within knitwear. Seven further academics and researchers from the department have written chapters for the book: Cathy Challender, Kandy Diamond, Will Hurley, Ian McInnes, Claire Preskey, Juliana Sissons and Jane Thomson cover topics spanning the entire process, from the industry’s rich history, research and concept development, fabric and garment design development, through to pattern cutting and garment construction, fabric technologies, communication and careers.

Along with the authors, the book includes many images from NTU alumni and students from the Fashion Knitwear Design course, in addition to photography by MA Photography student Rasha Kotaiche and illustrations from BA (Hons) Graphic Design student Alice Stone.

Helen told us: “This was a real team collaboration of putting pen to paper and writing about the subject. It is a global take on the industry, and looks at the whole journey from the concept through to final product and careers. The support mechanism at NTU really helped us to deliver this book.”

Photo Dr Amanda Briggs-Goode

Amy commented: “It was great that each member of the team wrote a chapter – no individual could have written this book alone. So many different areas come together. All the way through the process, we were thinking about what our students and young professionals in the industry would want to know, and that guided us all the way through writing and editing.”

Rasha added: "Getting involved with the Fashion Knitwear Design book was really fun, and it gave me the chance to explore a new style of photography. It is great to see my images printed in a real publication that will be widely seen!"

When asked where the idea for the book came from, Amy explained: “We were approached by the publisher, who had identified the scope for a publication like this. There are some books on fashion knitwear design, but they tend to be written by one person – and whilst they are really good books, that person’s experience can only go so far. Here we have nine people who each have professional experience in the industry in very different contexts, so it inevitably is going to be more comprehensive. As editors, we were keeping an overview of the publication as a whole and ensuring the nine voices were coherent and consistent with terminology – taking all that individual expertise and turning it into one book.”

Helen added: “Fashion knitwear is so broad, and what is so amazing about this book is that a reader can drop in and out it, depending on what specialist knowledge they are looking for. Having the student input was also really great – certain students were doing things which we could write about, and a lot of examples in the book are student and alumni work. It has been a huge journey for the whole team, and we are all extremely proud.”

Fashion Knitwear Design will be published on Friday 5 April 2019.

Published on 20 March 2019