Jon Amund Søfferud

PhD fellow at Oslo Metropolitan University - Manufacture Oslo

I am a PhD candidate at OsloMet, Faculty of Technology, Art and Design (TKD), working at the intersection of design, digitalisation and sustainability in the textile sector. I hold a Master’s degree in Fashion Design from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp (2012). Before entering academia, I worked in the fashion industry, including at Helly Hansen, gaining experience in product development and industrial production contexts.

I have since taught fashion design and textile subjects at SoFI, Esmod and OsloMet, combining creative practice with digital tools and sustainability perspectives. Alongside my doctoral research, I am employed at Manufacture Oslo as Academic Manager, where I engage with innovation and circular strategies in the textile value chain.

My research investigates how 3D simulation software can reposition garment repair as a digitally integrated, system-level strategy for circular transition in the fashion industry.

Tell us about your project!

This industry-PhD project investigates how 3D simulation software can strengthen and systematize garment repair practices within the fashion and textile industry. While repair is increasingly framed as essential for circular transition, it remains marginal in industrial systems structured around linear production and rapid consumption. The project explores how digital tools can enable new repair ecosystems by integrating repair into design processes, product development, and value chains. Combining perspectives from sustainability transitions, socio-technical systems theory, and design practice, the research examines structural and technological that limit the normalization of repair. Through practice-based research and collaboration with industry actors, the project aims to contribute both theoretical insights and practical frameworks for embedding repair as a viable, scalable, and digitally supported strategy within sustainable fashion systems.

“My research investigates how 3D simulation software can reposition garment repair as a digitally integrated, system-level strategy for circular transition in the fashion industry”

— Jon Amund Søfferud on his PhD project “Enhancing Garment Repair Through 3D Simulation Software”