May——Aug.2020
Glasgow School Of Art——Design innovation and Service design
Exploration On Ethical Fashion & Consumption Behavior Lin Ting (Elaine)
Stage 3 Research & Design Project
FOREWORD Why sustainable fashion matters?
What l am concerned about...
As we all know, the over-produce and over-consumption in the fashion
The current "circular economy" thinking in the apparel industry is mainly
industry has a huge impact on the living environment. The traditional
focused on manufacturing processes (e.g. innovative materials) and
linear model of "produce, use, dispose" is no longer applicable to the
business model innovation (e.g. collaborative consumption), but the
current social environment. Since McDonough and Braungart's propose
aspect of reducing fashion-related waste by changing the perception of
the "cradle to cradle" circular model, extend the product life cycle by
mass consumption is weak. Without a fundamental change in people's
incorporating technical or biodegradable methods to maximize zero
consumption awareness and behavior, it will still be difficult to reduce
consumption. Although the introduction of circular thinking has
total consumption and pollution, even if we look for alternatives from
improved waste and pollution to a certain extent, it also brings new
the outside. At the same time, alternatives are costly in terms of capital,
challenges to the social environment, the industry, enterprises and
manpower and time and do not guarantee a long-term effectiveness.
consumers. The problem with the current consumer society is that consumer attitudes, values and environmental awareness do not play an important role in determining environmental consumer behavior. Most consumers still prioritize individualism even though they are aware of the serious impact clothing has on society. It is difficult for consumers to build relevant empathy. In other words, the recycled behavior can not give them a long-term connection or feedback which is beneficial to them, which leads to a low correlation between attitudes and actual actions. So here the main question I want to ask is...
"How to make consumers change the perception and build empathy for fashion consumption in the nearly future to achieve a long-term sustainability?"
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CONTENTS Part 1 Understanding the problems Why sustainable fashion matters?
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Part 3 Ideation How to build the empathy ?
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Background research of fashion problems [Desk research]
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Ideation [Propose the idea]
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The factors influence sustainable beahvior [Literature review]
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Contextualization [Prototype]
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Linear economy and Circular economy [Case study]
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User test [User feedback & iteration]
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Information classify [Johari Window model]
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Reflection
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Reflection
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Part 2 Understanding people Who,What,Where,When,Why & How
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Part 4 Propose the future solution How to connect now and the future?
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Finding patterns of users [Online survey & Affinity map]
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Contextualization [Ideation & case study]
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Define the target user [Venn map & Persona]
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Feedback [Interview]
Define the situation [Talk to stakeholders & Experts]
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Future vision [Service blueprint & Business model]
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Dig deeper in the situation [Case study & Interview & Journey map]
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Acknowlegements
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Bibliography
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The point of view [Insights & HMW]
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Appendix
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Reflection
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Part1 Undertstanding the problems
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The start point of the research "Why should we pay attention to sustainable fashion?"
01 Discover
Desk Research: As a start point, I did online research from different perspectives. From fast fashion culture, the fashion impact in the world wide, consumerism to a sustainable economy. Literature Review: Through the concept of strong and weak sustainability(Pelenc et al., n.d.), I got the theoretical support for my research on sustainable consumption behavior, which focuses on the factors influencing the reduction of material consumption behavior, and the advantages and disadvantages of strong and weak sustainable consumption. This is the basis and reason for my study of consumer behavior. Case Study: Understanding the model of linear economy and circular economy(McDonough & Braungart, 2010).This provides the theoretical model for my research. Information classify: Based on the structure of the circular economy model, I narrowed down roughly who will be involved in my research. The Johari Windows model(West & Turner, 2010) was used to categorize the information I had collected into open, blind, hidden and unknown four areas. This helps me to determine who and what questions I would like to address in the next step.
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Muti-perspective of the problems in the fashion field Background research
Consumption behavior According to the information I found on the Internet, the most frequent phrase is the threat of the fashion industry to the natural and social environment. However, none of these impacts can be separated from "human behavior". In terms of "consumer behavior",l find that there is a contradictory but inseparable relationship between human behavior, the social environment and economic factors. Therefore, l will discuss the relationship in these three factors further. Sustainability At the same time, in the face of the challenges posed by the fashion industry, the word "sustainable" is the antithesis of the concept. Although the concept of sustainability is well known in the UK, "Why is the problem of apparel consumption and pollution still serious"? This will be as one of my subsequent research directions. Location As I set the research for this study in Glasgow, Scotland, I also inquired about some local organizations and institutions to conduct the research later.
figure1. Mind map of background research
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Sustainable consumption behavior Literature review Based on the formation of sustainable consumption patterns, achieving sustainable consumption requires thinking in two ways.(Reisch & Th_gersen, 2015, p. 120) The first is weak sustainable consumption.(Pelenc et al., 2015, pp. 1–4) Through environmentally friendly design to reduce the pressure on the ecological environment. The disadvantage is that total consumption has not declined, and the environmental pressures are much greater than the environmental pressures of increased consumption efficiency.
From the perspective of weak sustainable development, I think people should focus on improving the efficiency of production rather than production volume. Such as the development of biodegradable fabrics or completed services to extend the life cycle of garments.
Ethical issues in fashion Weak sustainability
improve the consumption efficiency
What
change the consumption patterns and reduce consumption levels
environmental-friendly design /improve the production
How
educate on the consumers change their consumption patterns and values.
Result
reduce consumption will slow down the economic growth rate
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The environmental pressure caused by the increase in total consumption far exceeds the environmental pressure reduced by the increase in consumption efficiency
environmental improvement/ increase the consumption
Effect
Goal: Achieve sustainability
contrary to the country's pursuit of economic development
"Fashion needs to reassess its value system, and quickly. We have to change the way money is invested and spent; we have to shop with brands whose values reflect our own; and we have to change the way we assign value to what we buy and wear." ——Vogue
Strong sustainability
figure2. Differences between weak and strong sustainability Reference: report 《Reducing material consumption: a literature review on sustainable consumption》
The second is strong sustainable consumption, which reduces consumption levels by changing overall consumption patterns. The overall level of consumption can be lowered by changing consumption patterns, educating consumers to change their values, and increasing the basic knowledge of sustainable consumption so that people voluntarily make changes.The disadvantage is that it runs counter to the goal of developing the economy.(figure2)
From the perspective of strong sustainable development, I think the reason why there is a lot of consumption is because most people are not aware of or have
The concept of fashion economic development and environmental protection are contradictory in today's society. Although the apparel industry is beginning to think about how to reduce the impact of society and nature, retailers and consumers are still not considering "sustainability" to be the main factor when they sell or buy. The current "circular economy" thinking in the apparel industry is mainly focused on manufacturing processes (e.g. innovative materials) and business model innovation (e.g. collaborative consumption), but the aspect of reducing fashion-related waste by changing the perception of mass consumption is weak. Without a fundamental change in people's consumption awareness and behaviour, it will still be difficult to reduce total consumption and pollution, even if we look for alternatives from the outside. At the same time, alternatives are costly in terms of capital, manpower and time and do not guarantee long-term effectiveness.
less knowledge of sustainability, so a way to reduce consumption is to educate people about ethic fashion.
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Differences in linear economy and circular economy Case study
LINEAR ECONOMY
raw material
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
produce
material
use
product
dispose
end of use
produce
raw material
re-use
material
use
recycle
product
after-using end of use figure3. Differences between linear and circular economy
"The current wasteful,linear system is the root cause of this massive and ever-expanding pressure on resources.The industry's immense footprint extends beyond the use of raw materials." ——ELLEN MACARTHUR FOUNDATION
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According to the United Nations report(2019), the worldʼs population is expected to increase by 2 billion persons in the next 30 years,from 7.7 billion currently to 9.7 billion in 2050, which means that the market to meet the basic clothing needs of nearly 9.7 billion people in future.While the process of designing, producing,manufacturing, using, transporting and selling apparel has generated huge costs. If the traditional linear model of buying, using and then dispose is followed, consumption and waste are conceivably enormous.
To achieve maximum zero consumption, McDonough and Braungart develop the idea in their concept ʻCradle to Cradleʼ(2010) which is a well-known principle for closing the loop in bio-cycle and technical cycle. In the circular economy, where goods are reused, discarded through a change in consumption patterns and change the life cycle of products. Thus, the circular economy largely changes the huge waste of the traditional linear model, especially for the apparel industry. (figure3)
"To transition to circular design, apparel professionals need to expand their horizons and to understand the use and end-of-use phases of a garment’s lifecycle." ——Fashion United(2020)
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Case study applied into the research process Information classify By understanding the differences in perceptions of sustainable fashion among consumers, the relevant organizations in Glasgow and designers, it helps me to conduct the research questions for different users.
Recycle designer
Produce
re-use/re-made/ repair
Use the method of "Johari window model " to classify the information of stakeholders into the areas of open, blind, hidden and unknown.(figure5)
experts/ related organizations
GLASGOW,UK
consumer Use charity-shop/ swap/rent/repair second-hand stores
consumer/ Glasgow Donate/transfer/ recycling throw association/ organization Dispose
figure4. The progress and stakeholders may refers into the research
Research question 1: Why consumers'attitudes,motivations and influences towards sustainability are not as attractive in the market? Research question 2: What the relevant local organizations have been done for promoting ethical fashion and what are the advantages?
Based on the model of the sustainable circular economy,l set the scope of my research on the fashion sustainability in Glasgow, which is based on four main areas, from the part of "design and produce","consumption and use","after-using and disposal" and "recycling". From four perspectives to look for the stakeholders who might be involved in the progress.(figure4)
figure5. Johari window model of consumer/second-hand stores/designer)
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01 Reflection
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Conclusion: Extensive desktop research helped me to understand the problems in the fashion industry, which was the background and motivation for the research question "Why we all should care about fashion sustainability".At the same time, through the views and related models put forward by previous generations, which helped me to put forward critical thinking and served as the theoretical basis for my research. Based on the original theoretical model, I propose a process structure for my research process and the potential stakeholders. Challenges: When I came across the concept of "weak & strong sustainability" during my desk search, I didn't fully understand it as the information available on the internet was all academic. But I got a general explanation of the concept from a Chinese scholar, which helped me a lot, and based on his academic report, I knew exactly where to focus my attention, and I used visual language to illustrate the concept.
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Part2 Undertstanding people
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Engaged in with people "What's the problem?" "Who is the target user?" "Where and Why it occurs?"
Quantitative research:
02 Define
Finding the patterns of users: Based on the direction of my research, I started with an online survey to understand the patterns in the user groups, and the general impression I got was that most of the young consumers are environmentally conscious but not very active when it comes to their daily behavior. Therefore, I wanted to find out more about the possible reasons for their 'inconsistency' and conducted in-depth one-on-one interviews with four UK consumers via social media platforms.Then l categorized their topics by using an affinity map.
Qualitative research: Define the target user: After understanding the user's behavior and thoughts, I used the Venn map to distinguish the commonalities and differences of the users, and then I gathered some typical user characteristics, behavior patterns and user thoughts from the five perspectives of "who, what, where, when, and why". In this step, I mainly identified the types of user groups are the young consumers and the "use-recycling stage" as the problem situation.
Define the situation: I did the interview with target users and also searched for information from other stakeholders. Through online interviews with two designers and a volunteer with experience of working in the" UK Cancer Research",the charity store in the UK. I was able to identify problem scenarios at the 'recycling process' stage, and through observation to find some recycling problems through the field research.
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I also found an expert and participated in an online workshop by joining a Facebook Sustainable fashion development group to explore the possibilities of ethical fashion development in the future. The expert provided me with some of her experience from previous research projects and explained to me the barriers and challenges to sustainable fashion.She gave me some suggestions on "How to increase sustainability awareness education for young consumers".
Dig deeper in the situation: Having established the persona, the main problems and the user scenario, I want to know a complete picture of what the organization's working system would look like, so I found a Glasgowbased organization whose main business is 're-cycle', 're-use' and 'create'. l used their model as a case-study to help me find some insight into what issues exist for different stakeholders in the recycling process, after which I use the 5WH method to analysis the relevant issues involving the system and process.There l got some pain points and opportunities. In addition, I further combed the information from the user journey map to identify user's pain points and opportunities in the problem scenario.
Define the point of view: Based on the problem scenarios derived from induction and some of the more important insights previously derived, the final point of view is determined, and the "how might we" questions and some possibilities are proposed.
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Finding patterns of the consumers Quantitative research (survey)
The survey (figure6) aims to understand current consumer motivations, consumption and usage habits, attitudes towards sustainable fashion and recycling awareness and behaviour. The initial survey found that the majority of consumers have an awareness of sustainable fashion but they are not very active in sustainable fashion.
Categorization:
Using
quantitative
research method (Bryman,1984) to
Consumption habit
conclude three types of users, most
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Function requirement.
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Only a few people would like to buy sustainable clothes due to the reason of high price, personal style preference and bad user experience.
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People have no idea where to buy sustainable clothes.
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Few people consider about reducing shopping frequency.
majority of consumers aware of the problems but not active. Very fewer consumers aware of the problems and also take actions. And few consumers never think of this problem.
Using habit •
Only a few people will repair the clothes after using.
Recycling experience •
No motivation because people have no idea where the items will go.
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No trust because the recycling chain is not transparent.
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The private items can not be recycling.
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Feel trouble to do the recycling.
Sustainable awareness
figure7. Part of survey data
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Don't know society impact.
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Need to enhance social awareness.
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Benefit to the vulnerable people.
figure6. Online survey
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Finding patterns of the consumers Qualitative research (Online interview) From the questionnaire, I found that most people have some sustainability awareness but are not active. So my focus was "Why are people aware of sustainability but not making a real impact?" Then I conducted one-on-one interviews online. I didn't have the structure of the specific question, mainly focused on the "Consumption-UseRecycling Habits" as the three contexts and used the affinity map (figure7) to category the information.
l posted my research requirements online and found four users who are aged from 19-30 years old.They are all living in London and Glasgow.According to the method of qualitative research (Bryman,1984),l analyzed the different behaviours and habits of users.
figure7. Affinity map
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Define the target user Venn map Most of the consumers groups are the young adult aged around 1930 years old. They all have the same habit of frequent shopping, especially young students. All of them have the habit of giving the disposed clothes to the second-hand store or other relatives. They will not consider repairing clothes when there is a problem after a while because they do not have the relevant skills and are not willing to waste time on it.
Among the commonalities, I categorized these information according to the main user group, location, time phase, the main behaviours of the users and their reasons for these behaviours.(figure9)
WHAT have the awareness of recycle no idea where the second-hand items will go
WHERE pursue the personalized shopping experience (good brand/quality/stylish...)
recycling center no repair skills
charity shop
don't want to waste time on repairing no sustainable awareness during buying
second hand stores shopping frequently
WHO young generation like fashion
use internet
fast lifestyle WHY figure8. The differences and common points in their consumption and recycle habit
creative WHEN
life-style habit use lack of empathy
One of them is an employee of a fashion company who also runs his own recycling business. He mainly described to me his habits and his clientele, which are mostly young international students, mostly Chinese students. There is also a local woman who is a fashion lover. Their lifestyles, motivations, habits and attitudes towards recycling are different. Based on the interviews with the users, I divided them into three groups, one is the overseas students, one is the local young students, and the other is the young consumers have certain purchasing power.
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The main purpose of the Venn map (Baron,1969) is to help me define the characteristics of the user group. This helps me to find out the common points of different users from the interviews.(figure8)
after-used
recycle
benefit-driven
buy
weak education thinking stereotype self-oriented
figure9. The common points of the users
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Define the situation Online Interview & Field research
In the buying & recycle phase
society
According to the common points, l list down the stakeholders may be involved in the "buy & dispose" phase, and found designers, charity-shop volunteer and the recycling centre as the main stakeholders. Meanwhile, l did the field research on how people recycle the items in Glasgow.(figure10)
recycle center
school
community "love your clothes" organizations
secondhand shop
designer
WEAP swap shop
home
R:evolve & repair
Designer
young people
cash4clothes
manager in shops
repair coffee store
family members
other relatives online rent platform
highfashion stores
local community
The development of sustainable fabrics has become the focus of the designer and the future trend of the garment, but due to the current high technical barriers, it is difficult to achieve fully biodegradable fabrics, the cost is high and the market acceptance is not high, so she suggested to focus on how to educate the young people to use and extend the life cycle of the garment.
recycle bank
volunteer
big charity shops
Volunteer According to the experience of volunteers working in "UK Cancer Research", the main problems in the recycling process are: lack of transparency in the recycling process, asymmetric information, over-recycling and the ethical awareness of consumers. These problems were also confirmed in my observations of field research (Gray,2013).
Zero Waste Scotland UK cancer research
figure10. Stakeholder map
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Talk to the expert
Online interview with Maddie (Ethical magazine founder) by E-mail Wednesday, 24th June 2020
ME: What factors the youth are interested in sustainable fashion and for what reason they will concern about the sustainable problem? MADDIE: I think you have two groups of teenagers/young people: the first group are those who are super well informed about environmental issues and how fashion contributes to these issues. (These people are really active about how they buy and wear clothes...)Then, you have the second group of young people who have essentially no understanding or awareness of how fashion plays into environmental issues - this group buys from fast Refashion the future, a digital platform and online magazine for all things fashion,planet & people
fashion brands. In their minds, price, trend and convenience are key. I'm hoping to reach out to this group to see how they might interact with the shopping and wearing differently. Fingers crossed I'll be running a campaign to get them involved.
ME: Many people said that they were aware of the huge impact that over-consumption has on the environment, but when they buy things, they don't prioritize sustainability, so I think it doesn't really affect the way people think about it. Do you have any research or suggestions on this issue? MADDIE: This is a really annoying issue. I've read a lot about awareness campaigns and actually how they aren't particularly useful in the long term and with respect to behaviour change. It's all well and good creating awareness, but the million dollar issue is behaviour change! Getting that to happen is a complex issue - some things I have come across say that positive commands are more effective in this than negative commands. In other words, a campaign calling upon people to "buy slow fashion" will do better at Maddie Pope,the founder of "Refashion the future",Durham/York
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changing behaviour than a campaign that says "don't buy fast fashion".
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ME: For some of the collaborative consumption models developed in the UK, such as shared wardrobe, used clothes restoration, etc., do you think it has a good and long-term impact for the residents? What is the challenge do you think at the moment? MADDIE: I think it is a great idea. It means people have the freedom to still process lots of different clothing without it going to landfill etc. One issue I'm finding when talking to people is that certain rental models are too expensive for students - I've encouraged friends who don't want to rewear dresses to balls/parties that they rent, but they argue, rightly so, that it costs them ÂŁ30 to rent - the same amount of money it would take to buy a new dress!!! So I definitely think that price is a challenge, as well as the logistical aspect of it - it's a bit of a faff.
ME:
Future Sustainable Fashion
I asked some participants and l have found some problems about recycling, many users have feedback that the recycling process is not transparent and the information is not clear, so they lack confidence in recycling, what do you think can be done to improve this problem in future? MADDIE: I know that in the UK that each district/borough council has different recycling policies. I really think that standardising it across districts would be SUPER beneficial. As well as this, I think a national campaign would work. I.e. big adverts at bus shelters. It all feeds into the subconscious - it's like subliminal marketing! I also think that there needs to be more of an incentive for recycling. I also think that many people lack faith in the UK's recycling system - recently it was found out that certain councils were shipping off waste and recycling abroad....
Online Workshop by "Gate church carbon-saving project" and "Zero Waste Scotland" Wednesday, 10th June 2020
l gained the views of sustainable fashion with designers, ethic fashion advocates, fashion manufacturers and people who concerned fashion issues‌They gave some suggestions for current conditions and the future opportunities for the recycling progress. Including the improvement of recycling experience, upcycling in fabric, the new form of re-using.
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Dig deeper in the situation Case study keep the stock
retailor
recycle the clothes buy clothes from shops
classifythe disposed clothes
young consumer
charity shop/second-hand stores
throw the clothes
choose the clothescan sale throw the clothes can't be used
repair the clothes
the old generation
swap the clothes t
old clotheschange forcredits
recycle
each the old generation repair technique skills repair store in the local community
workshop
collect the clothes
organizethe activity to engaged in more younger gnereation
dispose
the clothes can't be used or recycled anymore
volunteer
designer/art students
give support
Leap organization
reference:http://www.revolve-recycle.co.uk/ waste recycling center
After talking to different stakeholders, I found that there are more challenges and opportunities in the recycling process. Thus I want to engage in with some local organizations that do garment recycling and find out the insights and opportunities from their successes and challenges.(figure12)
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l found a recycled & swap shop"R: EVOLVE RECYCLE" in the suburbs of Glasgow by looking on Facebook and interviewed their volunteer leader to know more details. There I get to know "R: EVOLVE" is a charity shop under the government organization "LEAP", the main business is mainly focused on reuse, exchange, and create new things. (figure11) Due to the community-based nature of the organization, their organization's primary audience is the elderly living in the community. They have set up a simple point system to get positive feedback on recycling, and they have worked with a high fashion brand to collect and redesign their inventory with designers and art students. Most of their clothes are sourced not only from the community but also from second-hand stores, where they help distribute the pressure of their inventory.The products can't be reused or redesigned they will deliver to the local recycling centre to destroy.
figure11. System map of"R: EVOLVE & RECYCLE"
figure12. Interview questions syllabus
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Dig deeper in the situation 5WH
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? WHAT I WANT TO KNOW?
lot of elderly people annoyed how much the younger people buying habit
the item quality is not always good
It's no sense for individual to educate, target on the community is better for people understanding ethic fashion in subconsious...when people buy the things ,in the shop...
like other charity shops they only want to take the item which can swap on in the shop
WHO IS INVOLVED? WHO IS AFFECTED? WHO DECIDES?
some customers find the mode tricky at first
deal with the tonnes of fabric
still a lot of fabric can't recycled
something which are not able to swap they will take and use to make something else
WHY IMPORTANT? WHY OCCURS? WHY WAS IT NOT SOLVED?
Relvove is under the old people charity --leap organation
The main focus is communityfocused
most of the are older generation
organize volunteer
everything run by volunteer
alarge charity with old people
workshop teach people howto mend and fixclothes
someone knew how to repair they will not want to buy more stuff
the skills of mending and fixingare more familiar tothe old people
so the old people will pass these skillsto their children
structured classes for people to learn techniques
Social media actictives, popup workshop, cooperate with the universities
go around the second hand stores
cooperate with high fashion stores ,it's a large scale
a parternership with them,the clothes endof season will give tothem.
WHAT HAS BEEN TRIED TO RESOLVE THE PROBLEM? HOW COULD IT BE SOLVED?
Zoom meeting with Anne Marie, 13th July 2020 young people don't aware of sustainable fashion because it's irrelative to them.
fast fashion are the only choice for them because
totally different thinking for the old and the young
young peopleare too dependent on the elderly people who has skills so they willnever take actions
organize volunteer/many peoplene ed balance workand volunteerwo rk
fast fashion is so cheap and accessible
get the msg to people
the stuff quality/onemonth don't get the things
Bad fashion retailor
PAINS
people not understanding this non-profit work
cooperate with zero waste recycle
for the clothes can't be recycled, we will Taketo the waste recycling center
get young people come in to swap
reduce the frequency of buying
a certificate of approval, and make sure allof the things inthe shop is upstandard
the stuff moves quickly inthe shop so they don't worry about the stock
become famous and welcomed in the community ,the shop isfast turn over.
simple systemthat use points to exchange the clothes, points instead of the currency in the three chain stores
maximun 20 points toavoid people taking lot of stocksin the shop
the pointsare not based on thebr and orthe conduction of the clothing but based on what the items are
Based on the interview with volunteer and understanding their organization's service process, I used the 5WH approach (Isaksen et al., 2010) to identify people, touchpoints, successes and remaining problem involved in their service process, as well as to list the insights and opportunities that helped me identify the user needs.(figure13)
try to get away people from thinking in brandoriented
OPPORTUNITIES
difficult because they are a small community based organization.
young people more focuson the value of clothes, but the elderly more focusedon the function.
low price of the clothes is the main reason
if the business iskeep pursuingfor the benefit ,the problem cannot solve.ifit ishard to change the way from retailer,what can wemake people aware to changethe situation?
many people are brandoriented
no sense for individual to educate, target on the community is better for people understanding ethic fashion in subconscious
Young people has no skills and awareness on fashion recycle
what willhappen in the nextgeneration? if the youngpeople become old?who will be responsible?
the standard of selecting clothes create waste.
The organization's volunteer leader told the reason why ethical fashion is not impacted well on the young people in the community:
system
people
How to deal with the things can't be recycled?
How to establish young people's empathy?
How to encourage the young people to take action initatively?
How to change the young people's understanding of "fashion"?
How to change people's thinkingon recycling ?
what willhappen in the nextgeneration? if the youngpeople become old?who will be responsible for the role of repairing?
How to make more people participated into the swapping?
how to deal with the materials are not good enough?
How to stop people's thinkingfrom brandoriented?
How to reduce the frequency of buying?
How to reduce the impact of "low-price"?
How to make the hook model for the young generation?
How to spread the value of this organization in the community?
How to utilize the role of different stakeholders?
How to change the stereotype of the recycling process ?
how can we make the young people get benefit from the service?
community
How to make the information transparent in different stakeholders?
• • •
Young people are not interested in repair skills and they prefer to work quickly. Teaching the young adults knowledge of ethic fashion directly is not that effective. It is difficult to establish a long-term connection with some larger institutions.
figure13. 5WH approach
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Dig deeper in the situation Problem define From the insights of the relevant users, touchpoints, and issues involved in the process, I summarized in two main problem scenarios:
Young people's awareness of recycling is only on the surface, and their purchasing behaviour is not decreasing, leading to an increased burden of recycling. At the same time, they don't get in touch with the recycling process afterwards, so it's hard to build empathy.
Based on the community asset approach (Roehlkepartain, 2001), l find the way of top-down ethical fashion education for young people is not successful, partly because the young are in a passive state of acceptance of external changes and they are not interested in making changes, also it is difficult for organizations to find the external support.
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figure14.User journey map
User journey map Through user journey map (figure14), I put users into the problem scenarios where young consumers are on a "buy-use-recycle" journey, then put the previous user information into the context and gaining insights.
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The insight from all the previous interviews is that young consumers prioritize their own will in the consumption process, with little regard for the environment, and in essence, do not reduce their consumption behaviour. In the process of use, most of the younger generation do not have sewing skills, so they choose to use and send them away or throw them away, which results in a large amount of work for recycling.
Insights: Most young people are not aware of the significance of the behaviour of “give the clothes to someone…”, and motivation of doing recycling is normally based on the “if it is convenient for me, or what benefit can l get from this recycling behaviour”. They seldom consider the other factors(ex: impact on society or environment)…Therefore, the thinking of recycling is more like a stereotype …the recycled circle ends at the behaviour of giving and people also hard to think of the relationship between the impact of recycling and themselves, which is one of the reasons why they are not reducing buying behaviour. How might we... So I think it's important and achievable in the short term to increase education about ethic fashion, develop empathy for sustainability and change people's behaviour in the recycling process. I believe that only a fundamental change in the behaviour and mindset of young consumers can reduce clothing waste from origin.
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The point of view Analysis
Problem Scenario Buy Use
Facts
Dispose
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recycle as a stereotype
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no empathy on ethical fashion
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can't engage more into the recycling process
How might we...
The point of view "Making consumers change the perception of recycling and build empathy for the ethical fashion in the nearly
Persona: Young consumer
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future to achieve long-term •
shopping & dispose frequently
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do recycling frequently
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no repair habits & skills
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less/no knowledge of fashion impact
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passive in fashion education
sustainability."
Insights
•
build consumer's empathy
•
make change actively
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prolong the life-time of clothes using
•
reduce the buying frequency
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make them engaged more into the recycling process
•
change the consumption mode
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Conclusion:
02 Reflection
In this part of the research, I mainly used quantitative research and mostly qualitative research as my main research method. In the quantitative research, I did not restrict the geographical area I chose, because in the first stage of collecting user information, I mainly wanted to understand most of the society's consumption and views on sustainability, and find the commonality. The feedback I got from people's consumption, use and recycling of clothing was that most people are aware of sustainable consumption but not in their behaviour.Then l used a qualitative approach to analyze which user groups were the most significant in this problem and where the potential problem scenarios were. Challenges: In this part of the research, I interviewed a total of nearly ten users, and I also joined some Facebook groups with ethical fashion topics to see what people in this field are doing and to try to find potential interviewees. Also being involved in a workshop and two online lectures, I found it a huge task to process information from different perspectives and I tried to use some different tools to help me organize the information and gain some insights from it.
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Part3 ideation
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Find the opportunities "How to build young consumer's empathy on sustainable fashion and what could be the future consumption mode?"
03 Develop Ideation: Based on the problem points, I give directions for solutions from present to future scenarios, from building consumer empathy to making behavioural changes and how to create a long-term effect by creating value.
Contextualization(Now): To put the problem into context, I made a prototype and placed it in the charity shops to test the first two goals of the process, namely "How to build consumer empathy" and "How to change consumer behaviour".
Prototype test: Prototype test was conducted to test the public's acceptance of the program and some suggestions and feedback.
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Ideation From now to future
the emotional bond with their own story of old items
Sceanrio 2
change their role and provide the future idea
add the touchpoints of information create the value of the idea
The point of view "Making young consumers change the perception of recycling and build empathy for the ethical fashion in the nearly future to achieve a long-term sustainability."
Now
Sceanrio 1
forming subconscious educational influences
Step 1:
Step 2:
Step 3:
Build young consumers' empathy on sustainable fashion
Make young people engaged in the recycling process and change their behaviour
Future idea investment
the future consumption pattern and fashion market
Future
The scope of future
Short-term goal
Reduce the behaviour of buying and create a new model of future consumption.
Long-term goal
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Sceanrio 3
The idea I got from the previous problem situations is that to change young people's consumption habit is to get them to take the initiative to change from inner. To change the young generation's perception of sustainability in the short term, starting with building empathy, making information symmetrical and transparent, increasing young people's awareness of ethic fashion, then playing on young people's interests as a motivation to change their overconsumption behaviour. Finally, to translate this future scenario into design objects that can be placed in a real environment, allowing the user to reflect on the process and involve more people in the sustainability process.
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Contextualization Change from now
01 Build Empathy
Scenario 1
To increase the touchpoints for the young to know the ethical fashion because they are passive to accept the knowledge.
figure15.Prototype (1)
What if they are in the environment where could get the information of ethical fashion so that they can quickly establish the empathy.
(The first step is to raise awareness of sustainability among young people... I think l can look for opportunities in their recycling behaviour. For example, if they go to a second-hand shop to exchange their clothes, can I expose them to the concept of ethical fashion in the shortest possible time? So that they can see the impact of fast fashion and build empathy.)(figure15)
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Contextualization Change from now
02 Change Behaviour Scenario 2
To change the role of the young consumer because they think fashion is a kind of way to reflect their personalities. What if make them provide their ideas for the disposed items so they are more involved in the recycling process and they will re-think what they have done and what they can do for.
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figure16.Prototype (2)
(In the previous insight, l learned that the younger generation is keen to present their individuality through their outfit. Also, they are not interested in learning repair skills. Is it possible for young people to use their ideas and creativity to come up with their design? If the role reversal can bring more interest to young people?) (figure16)
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Prototype test Feedback
Scenario 2
The added part ( 02 Change Behaviour) After talking with my tutor Pedro, he suggested that I add a layer to this section, namely "the social life of the things"(Appadurai,1988), which I thought was a very interesting angle because it is another scenario that builds a bridge between the consumers' inner world and making changes.(figure17)
But I didn't show this part in the prototype test because the prototype had already been built and tested in the shop, but I did ask the user about it in a later interview. Insight: The main problem is that the cards are designed to try and get the consumer thinking about recycling in the shortest possible time, so it's possible that filling out the story will increase the time and may cause the consumer to lose the interest for the later content, so I'll be selectively omitting this part in the later improvements.
figure17.Prototype (3)
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Prototype test Feedback To check if my idea is accepted by the public, I got some suggestions and feedback through prototype testing. The first scenario I set up was to place my prototype at the cash registers of two charity shops, "Shelter" and "UK Cancer Research", with the original purpose that it would be great to attract a high volume of people in a charity shop, but when I went to collect the cards three days later, I noticed that no one had filled them out. At the first charity shop, I was told that the customers were busy at the checkout and didn't have time to fill out the cards. The feedback from the other charity shop was interesting. The owner said that the customer noticed the card and was attracted by
Interviewer1: Consumer in the charity shop (figure18) The consumer's attitude to the card is not very positive, he understands the impact of the clothes, but he doesn't care where they go in the future. He does not deny the significance of the card, and also believes that the model is achievable. He claimed that his attitude is only his opinion, he thinks that some people from the middle class and those who are interested in fashion culture or have a background in design will be more interested in this new model. Insight: I can understand the thinking of the consumer, and this confirms the validity of my previous user research, consumers do have the mentality of "I understand but I don't do it", and l know it's a long process to change that. Meanwhile, l get some feedback on how to improve the cards. For example, he draws boundaries on his identity because he doesn't think he can come up with a good solution, so I reflect on how to avoid the cognitive errors that rang users fall into.
the numbers on the card and thought figure18 &19.
it was a discount, but then put it down when it turned out to be data about sustainable impact. So I'm thinking about the direction of improvement:
how
can
we
draw
consumers' attention to the cards. As the charity shop wasn't as effective as expected, I decided to take the card and ask the user and stakeholder
Interviewer2: Second-hand shop owner (figure19) I interviewed the owner of a second-hand store who was very interested in the potential of my solution and agreed with my previous research that there is no interaction between the majority of users and the recycling process.The lack of sustainability awareness among the young consumers leads to a situation where the majority of consumers appear to be doing something sustainable with their recycling but actually creating more pollution.
directly.
Interviewer with consumer & Vintage shop owner,28th July 2020 62
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Prototype iteration iteration •
Insight: Users worried that they couldn't give a good opinion on the design part which make them lose interest in the following content.
•
Chance: Change the sequence of the content, making users understand the whole story of this future design and then ask them for their opinions.
•
Insight: Users will soon be attracted by the discount information.
•
Chance: Giving incentives.
•
Insight: Users have limited time to pay attention to the card.
•
Chance: simplify the content.
•
Insight: Make users think rather than write.
•
Chance: Reduce content need writing.
•
Insight: Users have a misunderstanding of the usage of the card
•
Chance: Change the format
The final delivery Leaflet: After feedback, I modified and iterated the prototype. The final output form is a small square brochure can put in the charity shop or the second-hand store, which mainly contains four functions to increase consumers' awareness of sustainable fashion: establish the empathy of ethic fashion, reflect on their own behaviour, put forward ideas for the future of recycled clothing and increase their attention to sustainable clothing. (figure20)
...
figure20. The leaflet
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Conclusion: In this phase, I mainly conceptualized the solution based on the problem and verified that my conceptualization through prototype testing. After getting some feedback from the user test, l improved and analyzed the user needs and iterated with the new artefact.
03 Reflection
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Challenges: The difficulty I had at this stage was in the testing. My initial thought was that in these shops , more people would get involved, but I was disappointed to find that after three days when I went to collect the cards, no one had filled them out. I thought that maybe there was no pen on the table where the cards were placed, or maybe the cards were in the wrong place because I could see that the cards had been looked through... The clerk explained to me that most of the customers were busy at the checkout, so I finally had to choose to do a one-on-one test, which is a bit different from what l expect.
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Part4 Solution
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Design for the future "How to connect now and the future?"
04 Deliever Contextualization(Future): Based on short-term goals, I conceived whether sustainable clothing consumption can exist in the market in a new model as a future long-term goal. Combining the insights obtained from the previous organizational interviews and after analyzing the operating model of the store in Glasgow. I got my vision for the future and verified my idea with the previous organization.
Service blueprint: From now to the future service process design, I use a blueprint to show the main scenarios, function points and the relationship between core users and stakeholders in the service.
Business model: The business canvas mainly reflects the value proposition of this service.
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Contextualization Future scope
Scenario 3
Now to Future
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To make the young consumer care about the recycling process continuously because they invest their future idea. What if their ideas can turn into real products and create value on the market so that they will cultivate the habit of buying "slow-fashion".
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Contextualization Future scope
The inspiration for this idea based on future investment was a direction in the last interview with the organization "R: EVOLVE & REPAIR".The leader mentioned that their organization would recycle clothing from some second-hand stores, and upgrades some clothes through redesigning the fabric in their design workshops. At the same time, I also found some organizations(ex: Remode) in Glasgow is currently doing this kind of clothing upgrade, but their current challenge are: relatively small in size and are not well known. (figure21) I hope that I can provide a platform to deliver the consumers' idea so that they can build a bridge of communication with the workers at the backstage of the recycling process, also making more consumers have this opportunity to be exposed to the recycling process. When the ideas become reality, in when the circulation in the market benefits more people, young people are more motivated to do sustainable fashion. A longer-term vision is if such a model becomes mature in the future, whether it will form a new market,new consumption mode and change the current traditional fashion industry condition.
figure21. Remode Youth in Glasgow( Remade fashion studio) References: https://www.remodeyouth.org
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Feedback Feedback from organization
Organization leader: Anne-Marie I had a conversation with Anne (figure22), the volunteer leader of the "R: Evolve" community organization, and the conversation mainly involved comments and feedback on the program. Anne said: "The program is very interesting and it is achievable. From increasing young peopleĘźs exposure to recycling and extending the recycling, it is a completely new concept and new opportunity for the future." At the same time, I also told her what difficulties l encountered during the test. Such as no one was willing to fill in the cards or misunderstood the context, etc., and proposed to her my improvement plan for these problems. She also gave me some opinions from the perspective of consumer psychology and the establishment of a reward and feedback mechanism.
figure22.Zoom meeting with Anne Marie, 30th July 2020
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FUTURE FASHION RECYCLE SERVICEE BLUEPRINT The service blueprint aims to show the future consumers' contact points with different stakeholders from the recycling to re-consumption process and the task assignments that the different stakeholders are responsible for.
Main context
Key gains
•
Second hand /Charity shop
•
Empathetic service experience
•
Reward point
•
Young consumers
•
Repair/Remade store
•
Transparent
•
Future investment
•
Second-hand shop/Charity shop staff
•
Remade/Repair store staff & designer
•
Related stakeholders communication
and procedures
Online store
Consumer actions
want to dispose the old clothes
take the old clothes to the second-hand store nearby
see the leaflet during checkout
see the information of fashion imapct on the front side
give his own idea of future fashion recycling
shared his deisgn on his social account and follow up the offical account
get the reward point from the leaflet and leave the store
instagram official account
the part with the reward point (can be used as coupon for the buy/swap for next time)
get the reward point from the leaflet and leave the store
one month later...feel excited to see his own idea was remade into the new fashion
Since that,he seldome buy fast fashion but more often buying the re-made clothes online
Physical evidence the old clothes
Onstage contact actions
Backstage contact actions
the sustaianble leaflet
give the old clothes to the second-hand store for recycling
see the sustainable leaflet
think and write his own idea for the future design of the recycling items
follow up the official account and post his design online with tags
tear off the reward point part on the leaflet after writing his idea or posting his idea online
the store owner collect the card and the recycled items to the Re-made store
the second-hand store volunteer take the items can be re-used
the re-made clothes
see his design was selected and post online by the official website
buy the item online /offline
the remade store selected some ideas as well the recycled items to give the new life of the old items
Support processes manage the leaflet
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manage the social account
transport
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Future vision ON
Business model
ER EN
EW
P
The value proposition of the service is to change the stereotype of recycling habits and thinking with young consumers by increasing the touchpoints during the fashion recycling process. This service provides them a chance to come up with innovative design ideas for the future of disposed items and to circulate them in the market as sustainable products. This investment in the future allows consumers to build up their knowledge and thinking about the past and future of clothing and to positively influence a broader segment of society.
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Acknowledgements
My graduate service design project has come to an end so far, but I know it will not be the end. I'm grateful to everyone who has helped me during these two months and has been actively involved in the project. First and foremost, my advisor, Dr. Pedro Almeida, for his continued support and guidance throughout the project. I would like to thank Dr. Iain Reid for his feedback and guidance during the project. Secondly I would like to thank all the participants for their input into the activities and discussions in this work during special times. In particular, I would like to thank Ms Anne Marie, Volunteer Leader of "R:EVELOVE & REPAIR" in Glasgow, for her enthusiasm and approval, and for providing me with information and effective feedback on many occasions throughout the research period. I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to the Glasgow charity shop "Shelter ", "Uk Cancer Research" and a number of second-hand shops for kindly welcoming me to their premises to test my prototype and provide me with feedback. I would like to thank all the professionals I had the opportunity to interview and discuss with via email, online workshops, including Project Manager of "Zero Waste Scotland", Ms Miriam Adcock; Founder of "Refashionthefuture", Ms Maddie Pope. Finally, I would like to thank all the interviewees for their input and help with my research.
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Appadurai, A. (1988). The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective. Cambridge University Press.
Gray, D. E. (2013). Doing Research in the Real World. SAGE Publications.
B Baron, M. E. (1969). A Note on the Historical Development of Logic Diagrams: Leibniz, Euler and Venn. The Mathematical Gazette, 53(384), 113–125. JSTOR. https://doi.org/10.2307/3614533 Bryman, A. (1984). The Debate about Quantitative and Qualitative Research: A Question of Method or Epistemology? The British Journal of Sociology, 35(1), 75. https://doi.org/10.2307/590553
I Isaksen, S. G., Dorval, K. B., & Treffinger, D. J. (2010). Creative Approaches to Problem Solving: A Framework for Innovation and Change. SAGE Publications.
L Littler, J. (2005). Beyond the Boycott. Cultural Studies, 19(2), 227–252. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/09502380500077771
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Contributor, G. (2020, March 27). The re-education of fashion professionals for a circular economy. https:/fashionunited.com/education/news/the-re-education-offashion-professionals-for-a-circular-economy/2020032732824
McDonough, W., & Braungart, M. (2010). Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Contributor, G. (2020, March 27). The re-education of fashion professionals for a circular economy. https:/fashionunited.com/education/news/the-re-education-offashion-professionals-for-a-circular-economy/2020032732824
F Farra, E. (n.d.). The Future of Fashion Is Circular: Why the 2020s Will Be About Making New Clothes Out of Old Ones. Vogue. Retrieved 23 July 2020, from https://www.vogue.com/article/sustainability-2020s-circular-fashion-textilerecycling Fashion and the circular economy. (n.d.). Retrieved 23 July 2020, from https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/explore/fashion-and-the-circulareconomy
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Gwilt, A., & Rissanen, T. (2012). Shaping Sustainable Fashion: Changing the Way We Make and Use Clothes. Routledge.
Montgomery, E. P., & Woebken, C. (2016). Extrapolation Factory - Operator’s Manual: Publication version 1.0 - includes 11 futures modeling tools (Bilingual edition). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
N Niinimäki, K. (2017). Fashion in a Circular Economy. In C. E. Henninger, P. J. Alevizou, H. Goworek, & D. Ryding (Eds.), Sustainability in Fashion (pp. 151– 169). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-31951253-2_8
P Pelenc, J., Ballet, J., & Dedeurwaerdere, T. (n.d.). Weak Sustainability versus Strong Sustainability. 4.
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Bibliography
Appendix
R
Desk research
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Reisch, L. A., & Th_gersen, J. (2015). Handbook of Research on Sustainable Consumption. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Survey
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Roehlkepartain, E. C. (2001). An Asset Approach to Positive Community Change. Search Institute, 615 1st Ave.
Interview
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Workshops
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Consent forms
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U UN DESA | United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. https:// www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/world-populationprospects-2019.html
W Waterstaat, M. van I. en. (2016, October 11). From a linear to a circular economy— Circular economy—Government.nl [Onderwerp]. Ministerie van Algemene Zaken. https://www.government.nl/topics/circular-economy/from-a-linear-to-a-circulareconomy West, R., & Turner, L. H. (2010). Understanding Interpersonal Communication: Making Choices in Changing Times, Enhanced Edition. Cengage Learning.
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Desk research Initial concept & inspiration before forward:
About consumerism: When we think about consumption, in today's society, many people donʼt know what their real needs are, but they are dependent on other people ʼs consumption views. Over time, people ʼs desire for “things” (social values) is greater than the demand for these “goods”. (Functional requirements), and then once personal values have become a universal social consciousness, a disguised attitude to consumption has been formed, which has brought many problems to society. Based on Baudrillard ʼs discussion of the symbol of "things" and Plato "Cave Theory"(Littler,2005), I want to think about more on people's perception of symbols and their definition of self, as well as the cultural phenomena that individual behaviours reflect in groups.
About the economy: If the "circular economy" is a proper word for everyone? (because once people know the materials of the product are sustainable, and the product is cheap so people don't care and to create more waste.)If it is a permeant conflict between consumer behaviour and circular-economy? (I think production will bring consumption. No matter how the sustainable economy develops, it still can't achieve zero consumption but just extend the life of the item, The speed at which people are consuming and far exceeds what the earth's resources can bear. But what makes me feel contradictory is that society cannot stop production because of the need for capital exchange. Can we achieve sustainable resource use only by reducing the population? If change people's concept of consuming is more important based on the current situation? What kind of ways can interfere with it?... Thinking board 1.
Some thinking with the relationship of consumer behavior in the fast-fashion industry, sustainable development and the circular economy.
Social media: In economic society, consumers are easily led to losing themselves by various information media, which makes it difficult for them to discover their real needs, which leads to the formation of undesirable social groups over time. And when there are more followers, it's hard to change people's mindset.
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Desk research
Business perspective: I think businesses are inherently profit-driven, even though they have added green, sustainable labels to their product lines, but some retail company research reports show that green consumerism is not getting the desired results. People in the market are buying much less green products than expected, there is increasing confusion about what is green, and even the widespread use of green marketing has resulted in a broken sense of greenness among consumers.
There are also examples of used clothing recycling programs by fast-fashion companies where the total cost of recycling is actually more than the cost of a single collection, and consumers are not aware of this, which is an increased waste of resources. Some of the new economic models that have been developed in the apparel industry today, such as the second-hand economy, the sharing economy, consumer-designer co-creation or remodelling of used clothes。These are all good start-points of circular-economy, but have not been widespread because they are not so strongly related to the consumer's self-interest to recycle. (There is very little promotion of this in China) So I think l can look into the habits and motivations of consumers to recycle. What kind of model triggers consumers to be spontaneously motivated to be environmentally conscious?
I think that the fact of catching up with various trends in mass consumption is the root cause of the waste of resources. If we don't fundamentally change the consumer consciousness, then even if we apply various circular economy models or look for environmentally friendly alternatives, it won't reduce consumption significantly, it will be more of a delay. Also, find an alternative product requires a lot of money, manpower, time, and there is no guarantee that the method will be viable in the long term, so will produce more consumption?
Thinking board 2.
But it is also challenging to fundamentally change consumers' attitudes, values and environmental awareness, which will require the collaboration of the government, companies and social groups. So which is the more effective option to change traditional goods, to find alternatives and to change the consumer's motivation? In the future, what changes can designers make to think from the user's point of view, to change their behaviour patterns to achieve sustainable solutions with long-term effects?
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Survey
Recycling Habit Survey Thank you for your time taking participate in the reserach of recycling behavior. These steps are going to help me to figure out what's your recycling habit and provide some useful insights and opportunities for the ethic fashion.
1
Do you have the recycling habit/ experience with the dispoal clothes?
no
Recycling Habit Survey:
For what reason will stop you do the recycling?
The recycling habit survey is a simple engagement tool designed to get a quick understanding of recycling behavior during user interviews, because it is not easy to communicate directly with people due to the epidemic.The original purpose of the tool was to get quick feedback from the users, but in reality it didn't work very well, so I asked questions from the survey directly to the interviewees in the online interview.
yes
2
Do you considered about the impact of disposal clothes in the society?
yes
WhatĘźs the motivation for you to do the recyling?
no
Do you ever think of the value of disposed items could create?
no
3
Do you classify or disinfect the items before dispose?
yes
Charity shop 4
5
How do you deal with the disposal items and what problems have you met before?
Do you want to know about the further information of where your items will go?
yes
Secondhand shop
Recycling bin
others
what kind of information you want to know about?
Comments or suggestions for the fashion recycling:
Common points from user interview
Survey
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Interview questions The questions list: Questions for Charity shop / Second-hand shop 1.What is the operation process here? 2.Are these actions have arise good impact of most of locals? 3.What are the problems in the recycling process? 4.Who will be responsible for the sorting and sorting of used clothes? 5.Is there a high cost on labor cost? 6.Are most of the customers here young or old? Which type of customer is more acceptable? What kind of clothes do they usually like? 7.Will consumers want to know where the clothes came from? 8.Would you want to know about the recyclables? Such as access to clothes and information? 9.What to do with the textile can't be recycled and reused?
Questions for the "R: EVOLVE & REPAIR": Information record from Liz
About the Procedures: 1. What are the operational procedures? 2. Who is generally involved in the provision of this service? 3. Do you have a standard on the selection of items? (ex: reusable frequency) 4. What do you do with fabrics that can't be reused? 5. Do you have some suggestions on fabric up-recycling and down-recycling? About the Consumers: 1. Whether the lifestyle of “repairing old clothes” is widespread in the community? 2. Whom is more interested in this lifestyle? 3. How do consumers know about the store? 4. What do you think about the relationship between garment repair and utilization rates? 5. In which way do you think will make more people engaged in to the ethic fashion? Others: 1. Whatʼs the differences among mending clothes, garment recycling and buying second- hand clothes, in which way do you think is more eco- friendly and sustainable? 2. What do you think are the challenges in the current model of mending clothes? Information record from Anne Marie
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Workshops
"Loving your clothes" Workshop & "How to take the fast out of your fashion" Workshops I attended two online workshops. One was run by Zero Waste Scotland and the Gate Church Carbon Saving Project via a Facebook group, the other one was held by sustainable fashion expert--Jenn Gale. Before the workshop started, I listed the questions I wanted to know more about ethical fashion and asked questions to the experts in the workshop.
Questions for the first workshop
1. What are the problems in the recycling process? 2. What's the recycling process? 3. How to make more people engage in the recycling system? 4. What to do with the textile can't be recycled and reused? 5. How to make the recycle chain more transparent? 6. Who is more interested in recycling progress? 7. Has the government considered re-dividing the surplus fabric stock of clothing retailers? 8. Many consumers are concerned about the opaque information of some old fabric re-made clothes, any action for this? 9. About the second-hand economy, it supposed to reduce the waste of the pollution, due to the low price of second-hand clothes, people tend to throw them away more frequently..How do you look at this problem?
Workshop"Loving your clothes"
Workshop held by Jenn Gale, the author of《The Sustainable Living Guide》
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Workshop record
Love Your Clothes 10th June 2020 Zero Waste Scotland & Gate Church Carbon Saving Project Hello to those who joined the workshop and those who didnʼt manage to make it… here are all the tips I managed to note down from the discussion, although there were so many I may not have managed to catch them all so do let me know if I missed anything important! See Miriamʼs slides for all the other info. -Lots of sites for buying second hand – Thrift plus a great one where you can choose to give a portion to charity if youʼre selling to them! -Avoid giving clothes as gifts, or if you really want to then make sure and give them the receipt -Some great tips re washing to maintain the quality of the fabric (and reduce microplastics) that we hadnʼt thought about – washing clothes inside out, and reducing the RPM of the spin cycle, itʼs normally far too high by default -As an eco-friendly alternative to regular dye, why not think about natural dyes from vegetables and other plants! -We got some fabulous ideas for further workshops people might be interested in… natural dyes as above, how to turn adult clothes into kids clothes (particularly without a sewing machine as lots of people donʼt have – someone also suggested using Wonderweb!) and what to do with fabric scraps – particularly love this last one, great idea! -Some stores take clothes back/buy back once your finished, one example here: https:/ /www.clarks.co.uk/sustainability/unicef -We also discussed a few ways of having a clothes swap while we canʼt do it the normal way! Probably involving having only one or two people in at a time, and clearly displaying items so nobody has to touch anything, or letting one volunteer show them the items rather than lots of people touching different items! Food for though for us and for others hopefully! -We also heard concerns about what the charity shops etc do with excess items when they have too much, Miriam recommended checking out the WRAP website for info and advice on that: https://wrap.org.uk/sustainable-textiles
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-One of our attendees has only bought second-hand for 12 years (bar underwear, obviously!) and did an archive here http://www.instagram.com/allbornnaked and her website here: https://www.clgamble.com/blanket-fort -Second-hand clothing allows you to have a more individual style, not the same as all the other people who bought the same thing from a chain store -People who grew up in Countries like Uganda and others are more used to secondhand clothing, it is the norm – we need to restore that here! -Vintage items quite often have seam allowances (never on modern clothing!) so people can adjust these clothes more easily! -Recommended Facebook groups: Fabric upcycling community & The Re-makers -One of our attendees was a student from Glasgow School of Art and asked if anyone would be interested in hearing more/discussing more about a sustainable fashion project of hers to get in touch: t.lin2student@gsa.ac.uk -Miriam also mentioned at the end a good site a lady in Aberdeen set up with sewing tutorials, here are the links: https://repairwhatyouwear.com/ and https:// www.facebook.com/Repair-What-You-Wear-108508920817431/. -We recently started a blog which may have some useful tips for some of the things mentioned today, as well as other climate friendly activities: https:// www.gatechurch.co.uk/carbon-saving-project-blog
Thanks everyone for coming, we hope to try and do a few different ones so keep an eye out for it on our website and facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gatechurchcarbonsavingproject/ https://www.gatechurch.co.uk/events
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Consent forms
Consent forms: I interviewed three leaders of different organizations and seven users in total. Among them, three organization's leader helped me fill out the consent form, and the others agreed to the interview request but didn't help me fill out the consent form, so for the participants who did not submit my consent form, I did not put their interview photos in my project.
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Lin Ting (Elaine) Design innovation and Service design