PhD Consumer Science Clothing Management (Pret), MConSci Clothing Management (Pret), BConSci Clothing Retail Management (Pret)

Position: Lecturer

Fields of expertise:
Teaching: Design Principles, Pattern Use and Good Fit, Clothing Production, Product Development, Fashion Forecasting.
Research: Intentional Living and Quality of Life, Well-being, Anti-consumption, Voluntary Simplicity, Consumer Behaviour, Sustainable Consumption.

Telephone: +27 (0)12 420 4310
E-mail: [email protected]

Academic memberships:

• Member of the South African Association for Family Ecology and Consumer Science (SAAFECS)
• Member of the International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA)

Orchid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4720-5578

Dr Taljaard-Swart is a lecturer and researcher (with a PhD in Consumer Science Clothing Management) in the Department of Consumer and Food Sciences, University of Pretoria. Her PhD investigated basic psychological needs and self-determined motivation as antecedents of female consumers' voluntary simplistic clothing consumption practices in South Africa.  She has lectured various subjects in the past few years, including design principles, pattern use and good fit, clothing production and product development, of which many relate to sustainable production and consumption.

Her field of research can be best described as intentional living and quality of life. This includes concepts such as anti-consumption, voluntary simplicity, collaborative consumption and boycotting, specifically with regard to clothing consumption and sustainable clothing practices. She has also ventured into a broader field of consumable goods, such as food. The research conducted is mainly quantitative, but she is also venturing into qualitative techniques.

Dr Taljaard-Swart is at the beginning of her academic career and has accumulated a few publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings thus far. She has also attended and presented oral presentations and posters at various local and international conferences and reviews for several national and international journals that are sustainability, clothing, and consumer related.