About the Authors

Gozde Goncu Berk, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Design in the University of California, Davis, Department of Design, where she directs her research group under WearLab and teaches studio classes on fashion design and functional clothing design. Merging backgrounds from Industrial Design and Clothing and Textile Design, Professor Berk’s research focuses on human-centered design of textile-based wearable products for people with special needs, such as the disabled, elderly, children, and those suffering from chronic diseases. Her work explores the possibilities of electronic textiles and smart clothing, including new material and digital fabrication technologies to facilitate design for a variety of body types and environmental and activity-based contexts. Some of Professor Berk’s current research includes the development of reactive clothing that responds to anxiety through tactile actuation, a kid’s face mask with adjustable fit and improved usability features, and 3D printed e-textile structures. Her work is published in high-impact journals such as Textile Research Journal and Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, and presented at international conferences such as the Design Research Society and the International Textile and Apparel Association.

Marilyn DeLong, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Apparel Design and Studies in the College of Design at the University of Minnesota. She has served in leadership positions within the Colleges of Human Ecology and Design as Associate Dean for Research and Outreach Engagement, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, and Director of Graduate Education. She is a Fellow in two professional organizations, the International Textile and Apparel Association and the Costume Society of America. Her scholarly research focused upon design history, aesthetics, material culture, and activism related to design, societal, and cultural issues and trends. DeLong was co-editor of Fashion Practice: The Journal of Design, Creative Process & the Fashion industry for 14 years, from its inception in 2009 until 2022. She has authored numerous journal articles in such venues as Fashion Theory, Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, Senses & Society, Textile, Qualitative Market Research, and the Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, and has given presentations at global conferences throughout the U.S. and in 11 countries—Canada, Spain, Portugal, France, England, Denmark, Korea, China, HongKong, Australia, and Brazil. She has taught graduate and undergraduate classes at the University of Minnesota in Material Culture, Aesthetics of Design, Innovation Theory, Trends, and the History of Fashion and Ethics, and her graduate students are situated at universities and in the fashion industry around the globe.