Shared Governance for Digital Garment Production: Towards a Dynamic Model

The problem with investments in digital technology arise when much wanted and needed small companies and entrepreneurs have to invest in costly device the benefits of which are largely unforeseen, or unpredictable. An example of this is the use of 3D whole garment knitwear machines, there not only the machine itself is costly, not only the outcomes unpredictable in terms of sale, but also and mostly the development of knowledge necessary to create and translate fashion into informatic tools is more unique than rare. In the specific case of fashion as a creative industry, unpredictability of outcomes poses serious problems to making joint investments. So how can multiple small companies best share such investments and benefits from these? Mostly in the context of local production (eco)systems, this is a fundamental question to be answered. In this paper we further elaborate on the question using the pivotal framework as developed by Ostrom E [1] and further elaborated by Bridoux F, et al. [2]. We discuss three possible collaborative frameworks in the specific context of fashion and textiles production.

In the paper we look at the case of a shared 3D whole-garment knitwear machine to test and further develop this framework of collaboration. The paper ads to theoretical knowledge where we do contribute to adding insights from the creative industry into existing knowledge of collaborative efforts, or the literature on shared ownership, which is mainly applied e.g. in the context of finance of real estate ownership. The practical relevance lies in the applicability of the model to implement and foster the use of technologies carrying a high financial risk, to promote local, communitybased ecosystems of production (and consumption).