Theatre costume production faces a particular problem: whilst digital innovations have transformed other performance production areas like staging, lighting, sound and projection, costume work remains perceived as technologically stagnant, reliant on tools such as the sewing machine that are so familiar they are no longer recognised as technologies. This perception has limited investment in the costume sector, which is notably feminised, potentially contributing to reduced technological investment in the field.
However, costume practitioners demonstrate acute problem-solving orientations and learning capabilities, evidenced through increasing uptake of digital technologies offering substantial opportunities for costume work. Technologies including 3D printing and digital patternmaking are being implemented globally across the EU and locally in Finland, yet adoption remains constrained by systematic and attitudinal barriers. This project explores the diffusion of these innovations and their implications for theatre practice, drawing on practitioner experiences worldwide to develop theoretical models and practical industry-focused resources. The research addresses both practical and attitudinal factors hindering or facilitating adoption of new manufacturing technologies into professional costume practice.
Through interviews with over 30 international costume practitioners who are early adopters of 3D printing or digital patternmaking, alongside non-users, the research examines first experiences, adoption challenges, how new technologies complement or substitute existing practices, and how practitioners inscribe technologies with personal meaning. Early findings reveal that costume professionals embracing these technologies often discover productivity, cost, sustainability and creativity benefits beyond simple digitisation. Digital patternmaking enables prototypes that reduce material waste whilst allowing greater creative experimentation. 3D printing opens possibilities for accessories and structural elements impossible through traditional methods. Both tools offer efficiency gains for chorus lines or multiples.'A second phase convenes diverse costume industry practitioners in workshops to advise on designing an industry toolkit guiding adoption of new technologies. These outcomes enable practitioners to engage more deliberately, effectively and empowered with new manufacturing technologies, addressing the identified gap between technological potential and sector-wide implementation.
