About Me
Chicago-born Fashion Design Graduate from Heriot-Watt University
Erik Dibos is a 24-year-old fashion designer from Chicago, and recent graduate of Heriot-Watt University in Scotland. His work focuses on construction, storytelling, and attention to detail—approaching design as a way to explore how lived experience, personal narrative, and emotional context shape the way we design and wear clothes.
He works through ideas by researching, sketching, and exploring materials—letting the concept guide how the piece takes shape. His final-year collection looks at the link between music and memory, using texture and interactive elements to bring sound to life in a physical form. Erik is especially drawn to garment construction and textiles, often blending traditional techniques with subtle modern touches. He’s interested in design that carries meaning in subtle ways, allowing the work to speak for itself.
INSPIRATION
The starting point for this collection came from Otis Redding’s “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay.”
Music connects us to the past in ways few other things can. A single song can bring back vivid memories — the place you first heard it, the people you were with, even the way you felt. These moments often live quietly in the background until the right song draws them out. This collection explores that connection through garments that carry hidden nods to memory. Each piece includes an NFC tag linked to a specific song, allowing wearers to access a personal moment or feeling through music.
The prints take inspiration from cymatics — the study of how sound creates visible patterns. These forms are screen printed in puff ink onto durable fabrics, turning workwear-inspired silhouettes into sculptural pieces. The collection aims to act as a wearable playlist and photo album. Each piece holds personal meaning while offering function and durability. It reflects the belief that clothing, like music, tells a story — one that connects the past, present, and future.
MY WORK
PORTFOLIOS
"SOUNDSCAPISM" - MOOD BOARD
MARKET RESEARCH
COLOUR
FABRIC
DEVELOPMENT 1
DEVELOPMENT 2
DEVELOPMENT 3
CLO3D DEVELOPMENT 1
CLO3D DEVELOPMENT 2
CLO3D DEVELOPMENT 3
COLLAGES WITH NFC TAGS LINKING MEMORIES TO A SONG
SCREEN PRINT WITH PUFF INK
PRINT DEVELOPMENT 1
PRINT DEVELOPMENT 2
"SOUNDSCAPISM"
"SOUNDSCAPISM"
"SOUNDSCAPISM"
"SOUNDSCAPISM"
"SOUNDSCAPISM"
DETAIL
"What song makes you reminisce?"
The NFC tags are small, embedded elements placed discreetly within each garment, blending seamlessly into the design. Each collage is made with fabric scraps, hand stitched and machine embroidered with unique motifs. When scanned with a phone, they link to a specific song chosen to reflect the mood, memory, or story behind the piece. This transforms each garment into more than something to wear — it becomes a personal playlist and photo album, a quiet form of storytelling that lives within the fabric. The tags offer a way to pause and reflect, reconnecting the wearer to a memory, a place, or a feeling. They serve as a bridge between the emotional weight of music and the physical presence of clothing. Rather than a flashy tech feature, they are an intimate tool for connection — allowing music and memory to stay close, woven into something we carry every day.
“I was born on a Sunday, by Thursday I was working out on the job. I ain't never had no day off since I learned right from wrong.” - Creedence Clearwater Revival
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