Using design to support consumers develop stronger sustainable behaviours towards their clothes & footwear.
Summary
Through user research I developed a prototype for a novel digital tool with the aim of fostering stronger sustainable relationships between consumers and their apparel (clothes and shoes). This was my final project for my masters course, known as an Industry Research Project (IRP), which was documented within a 15,000 word academic thesis.
The Context
The fashion industry massively contributes towards a range of negative environmental issues. It is the second-biggest consumer of water and is responsible for between 2-8% of global carbon emissions. Plus, Fast Fashion has accelerated throw away culture and in turn accelerated further negative environmental impacts, for example, 85% of all textiles end up in landfill, often shipped to developing nations creating unjust environmental havoc.
The Challenge
Consumers have limited power when it comes to developing positive sustainable behaviours in relation to clothing and footwear. They have little incentive or information to help them prolong the use and life of their apparel. The repair economy is a growing trend, especially among millennial and Gen Z consumers, and has a place in the circular economy, yet much more can be done by the fashion industry to help consumers learn how to reuse, rewear, reduce and eventually recycle their apparel.
What I did
I took a mixed methods approach to uncover needs around how consumers approach repairing their apparel. I gathered secondary research, conducted ethnographic studies and one to one interviews with experts from the repair economy plus interviewed multiple millennial and gen z in group settings to analyse and synthesize to uncover true needs and desires around the opportunities towards stronger sustainable usage of apparel items. Those user needs were developed through online co-creation research workshops to further understand how features for a digital clothing label would create more sustainable relationships between consumers and their apparel.
The Learnings
The prototype was tested with repair experts and ux designers to learn how the digital label could be improved. Digital labels are still in the infancy of being developed, with legislation requiring such labels (or digital passports) to be mandatory in some areas of the world, the EU for example.
