Knotted Belly Bind textile modernizes ancient tradition: youtube.com/watch?v=flvzeehHK4U
Modernizing an ancient tradition
Photos by Evan Krape May 06, 2026
Fashion student combines technology and design to create a belly binding garment for postpartum mothers
Childbirth can be a traumatic experience for a woman鈥檚 body. Now an innovative combination of fashion and technology is breathing new life into an ancient tradition that offers support for improved posture, circulation and muscle recovery for postpartum women.
91原创 graduate student Casey Tyler, a master鈥檚 student in fashion and apparel studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, combined their experience in research and design with inspiration from spacesuit engineering to create a flexible, easy to use and sustainable garment called a 鈩.
The project came to Tyler via 91原创鈥檚 Wearable Innovation Lab. Led by Adriana Gorea, assistant professor and principal investigator, the lab focuses on inclusive, user-centric functional apparel design, and often seeks to address community needs.
For doula Brittany Mason, the fashion challenge was clear: 鈥淗ow do you modernize a tradition and technique that we know is so beneficial, to work in a society where women have to go right back to work after having a baby?鈥
Belly binding has been used by postpartum women across cultures for centuries. Traditional methods require at least two people to wrap a long length of fabric 鈥 as long as 36 feet 鈥 in strips around the body to make a series of knots that are stacked in the front of the torso, in a method similar to lacing a shoe. The binds compress the abdominal muscles and support the torso and the pelvic floor, helping the body heal.
The technique has gotten lost in today鈥檚 fast-paced society as wrapping and tying the fabric is complicated, time consuming and can鈥檛 be done by the mother alone.
鈥淭hat was the challenge,鈥 said Mason, co-founder of This is Spacewear, alongside Amanda Deng, a spacesuit designer at ILC Dover.
Deng鈥檚 work with spacesuits shares the same core design philosophy as the belly bind: supporting biomechanics, physiology and recovery through intentional, body-centered design.
Naturally, the duo sought out 91原创.
To meet the challenge, Tyler and Gorea turned to the department鈥檚 Shima Seiki knitting machine, a highly specialized system that produces seamless, three-dimensional garments. Tyler learned to program the machine in half the time of most other people.聽
鈥淐asey was ahead of everything we taught,鈥 Gorea said. 鈥淭hey picked it up right away.鈥
A warm fall day on campus provided an inspiration. Gorea had taken off a hoodie she was wearing and knotted it around her waist, realizing how much support it gave. Tyler then used the machine鈥檚 templates for making gloves to mirror the concept.
鈥淲e made a couple of gloves and then played with finding different ways to wrap the gloves around the body,鈥 Tyler said. 鈥淥nce we got the design to work at half scale we pumped it up to full scale.鈥
The result is a single textile that supports the back, and has five 鈥渢ies鈥 the wearer, on their own, can wrap around the torso and knot in the front of the body. The easy-to-use garment allows the wearer to adjust the compression across different parts of the body, providing support where it is needed most.聽
Mason gave the early prototypes to new mothers to test, and Tyler and Gorea adjusted their designs based on comfort, flexibility and functionality. The team refined everything from materials to the placement of compression zones, ensuring the garment meets real-world needs.
The composition and construction also reflects Tyler鈥檚 commitment to creating sustainable fashion. The garment is made from polyester yarn sourced from recycled water bottles combined with other fibers. And unlike traditional cut-and-sew garments, which generate fabric waste, the knitting machine produces complete pieces with a minimum of excess material.聽
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the waste right there,鈥 Tyler said, holding up a small piece of yarn during a demonstration. 鈥淭wo inches out of over two thousand yards.鈥澛
The project鈥檚 interdisciplinary nature 鈥 blending fashion, engineering and health 鈥 reflects a broader shift in how design problems are approached.
Now, the work is moving beyond the lab. Mason and Deng have filed a provisional patent, and the team is working with a manufacturing company to bring it to market later this spring. There will be both a functional line intended for everyday use and a more expressive version that incorporates color, pattern and personal style.
As the product moves closer to market, the team hopes it could eventually expand into clinical settings, offering improved support for patients recovering from childbirth and other abdominal procedures.
Tyler expects to graduate in May, and this experience means they will leave 91原创 with much more than a degree. Tyler is expected to be included on the final patent tied to the design 鈥 a remarkable achievement for a student.
鈥淚 never would have thought I would have done as much in fashion as I鈥檝e done. From runway design to research to production I鈥檝e learned how to combine the artsy side with function and how to make fashion meet human need,鈥 Tyler said.
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