Meet Marina Toeters (By-Wire.net)

INTERVIEW WITH ELEPHANTASIA
DESIGNER MARINA TOETERS

www.by-wire.net

Why do you think collaboration is so important?

Collaboration is a tool to make fashion much more relevant. It can make a product so much more advanced and then in my work that makes garments that take better take care of people.

Are people skeptical of the fashion and technology field?

Yes absolutely. I have been working in this field for more than nine years now and I see so much opportunity for fashion designers and always here the question even from them ´yeah but why do we need it?´ and of course we don´t need it we also don´t need very many things that are in the fashion industry as it currently is. And what about the sustainable isues: We need the change! We need to change fashion toward relevance in technology. Technology can help us in advancing and we need to change with it so fashion becomes relevant again

What do you think of the future of your field?

There are so many prototypes waiting for us but we still need to find the balance of the complexity of the garment, how we can benefit from it and how we can communicate it ‘ those are the three skills that we have to bring it together.

How is your work relevant to sustainability?

Fashion and technology has a lot of relevance to the health world. This also pushes the relevance away for people; I think ¨well being¨ is better because you have to take of your health all the time even when you´re not sick. There innovative fashion and wearable can help you a lot so that they support you in your every day life instead of only when it is too late that you need the health professionals to start healing you and caring for you. I think these products as a prevention of the health world is way better. This can be done by wearing fashion; supportive fashion.

Marina’s Design for Elephantasia, inspired by the Elephant’s communication system.

Bio

Marina Toeters operates on the cutting edge of fashion technology and fashion design. Through her business by-wire.net she stimulates collaboration between the fashion industry and technicians for a relevant fashion system and supportive garments for everyday use. She advises, amongst others, Philips Research and the European Space Agency on product development. As a teacher, coach and researcher, she works for the fashion department in the Utrecht school of Arts, textile department at Saxion University for applied science and industrial design faculty in the Eindhoven University of Technology.

For more info visit www.by-wire.net.