MIT’s Refashion Software Revolutionizes Sustainable Clothing Design with Modular, Reconfigurable Garments

Published: October 17, 2025 | Source: MIT News, CSAIL

Tackling Textile Waste with Reconfigurable Fashion

The fashion industry generates approximately 92 million tons of textile waste annually, driven by rapidly changing trends and disposability. Addressing this environmental challenge, researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) in collaboration with Adobe have developed Refashion, an innovative software system enabling the design of eco-friendly clothing that can be easily reassembled into new garments.

What is Refashion?

Refashion breaks down clothing design into modular components, allowing users to:

• Draw and plan outlines for versatile fashion pieces.
• Visualize how different garment parts can be combined, resized, or restyled.
• Create adaptable items like pants that transform into dresses, skirts into formal wear, or maternity clothes fitting different stages.

The software produces visual blueprints and assembly diagrams, guiding a seamless transformation from one garment to another.

Features and User Experience

• Intuitive Pattern Editor: Users connect dots on a grid to define clothing panels and determine the connections between modules.
• Customizable Design Elements: Options such as pleats, gathers, and darts facilitate various shapes—from maxi dresses to tailored blouses.
• Flexible Connections: Modules are fastened with user-friendly connectors like metallic snaps, Velcro dots, or pins called brads, enabling easy reconfiguration without sewing.
• 3D Visualization: Garments can be simulated on diverse body shapes through 3D models, providing accurate fitting previews.

A preliminary user study showed that both designers and novices could create versatile clothing prototypes (e.g., tops turning into jumpsuits) within 30 minutes, demonstrating the system’s accessibility and effectiveness.

A Sustainable Vision for Fashion’s Future

Lead researcher Rebecca Lin emphasizes that Refashion promotes reuse and longevity in clothing, countering the traditional "static" fashion model where garments are discarded once outdated or ill-fitting. MIT professor Erik Demaine highlights the synergy of computation with art and design, applauding Refashion for making fashion both customizable and sustainable.

Ongoing Development and Future Directions

The CSAIL and Adobe team plans to:

• Expand support for more durable materials and curved garment panels.
• Optimize designs to minimize material waste during production.
• Explore patchwork-style clothing, assembling small fabric pieces like recycled denim or crochet blocks for personalized styles.
• Test whether Refashion can remanufacture or “remix” existing store-bought clothing.

Expert Commentary

Adrien Bousseau, Inria Centre senior researcher, notes that Refashion exemplifies how computer-aided design can revolutionize sustainable fashion by extending garment lifetimes through modular reconfiguration, thus inspiring innovation despite production constraints.

Research Collaboration and Recognition

The project was led by MIT PhD student Rebecca Lin with Adobe Research scientists Michal Lukáč and Mackenzie Leake. Their work received support from the MIT Morningside Academy for Design, an MIT MAKE Design-2-Making grant, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Findings were presented at the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology.

Learn More

• Refashion Project Page
• Paper: “Refashion — Reconfigurable Garments via Modular Design” (ACM UIST 2025)
• MIT CSAIL: csail.mit.edu

Contact for Press: Rachel Gordon, rachelg@csail.mit.edu | +1 617-258-0675

By enabling consumers and designers to rethink clothing as adaptable, long-lasting products, Refashion represents a major step forward in sustainable, circular fashion innovation.

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