Abstract
The performing arts industry, particularly costume design, is facing increasingly urgent challenges in environmental sustainability. This research presents a qualitative study that explores how the needs of various stakeholders—such as designers, performers, and audiences—can be integrated into sustainable costume design practices. It also investigates principles for sustainable costume design based on biomaterials derived from fish processing waste. By developing costumes using biological materials sourced from fish industry by-products, the research examines sustainable pathways within costume design. At the same time, the study uses three analytical axes — "functionality of costumes", “material circulation system” and “theatre stakeholders' relational networks”— to understand how interactions among designers, performers, audiences, and other stakeholders influence material choices and design strategies, aiming to construct a dynamic circular design system. Ultimately, this research not only offers an ecologically responsible design approach for theatrical costumes but also contributes theoretical and methodological support for introducing circular economy principles into the performing arts.
Keywords
Costume design; Circular economy; Sustainable design; Stakeholder embedded approach
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.711
Citation
Xu, F.,and Li, Y.(2025) From Waste to Stage: A Stakeholder-Embedded Approach to Sustainable Costume Design with Fish Waste Biomaterials, in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.711
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 8 - Circular/Sustainable Design
From Waste to Stage: A Stakeholder-Embedded Approach to Sustainable Costume Design with Fish Waste Biomaterials
The performing arts industry, particularly costume design, is facing increasingly urgent challenges in environmental sustainability. This research presents a qualitative study that explores how the needs of various stakeholders—such as designers, performers, and audiences—can be integrated into sustainable costume design practices. It also investigates principles for sustainable costume design based on biomaterials derived from fish processing waste. By developing costumes using biological materials sourced from fish industry by-products, the research examines sustainable pathways within costume design. At the same time, the study uses three analytical axes — "functionality of costumes", “material circulation system” and “theatre stakeholders' relational networks”— to understand how interactions among designers, performers, audiences, and other stakeholders influence material choices and design strategies, aiming to construct a dynamic circular design system. Ultimately, this research not only offers an ecologically responsible design approach for theatrical costumes but also contributes theoretical and methodological support for introducing circular economy principles into the performing arts.