Human Hair as a waste-based fibre: gaps and possibilities

Human hair as a waste-based fibre : Gaps and possibilities A research project submitted to the Manchester Metropolitan University for the degree of Master of Arts at the Manchester Fashion Institute, Faculty of Arts and Humanities 2018 – 2019 Nicole Tsz Ching Wong 15103948

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Abstract The purpose of this research is to evaluate the potential of human hair as a waste-based fibre for fashion design.

Following the initial three stages of the Stanford Design Thinking Process; focus groups were implemented in this study to ‘empathise’ with participants in order to understand possible design problems. Thus, the study’s findings, discussion and conclusion were to ‘define’ the problems and ‘ideate’ human hair’s potential to be a waste-based fibre for fashion design. In this study, three focus groups were conducted based on a sample of UK respondents and 18 people were recruited as research subjects. The results of this study enriched the understandings that drives consumers’ acceptance and objections towards human hair and its products. In addition, this study has suggested three key design principles to enhance consumer acceptance in future designs, using human hair, which will certainly be useful in the fourth stage of the Stanford Design Thinking Process- ‘prototype’.

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Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction ..........................................................................................6 1.1 AIM AND OBJECTIVES ...........................................................................................8 Chapter Two: Literature Review .................................................................................9 2.1 PROBLEMS FACING THE FASHION INDUSTRY .........................................................10 2.2 CIRCULARITY IN FASHION- THE WAY FORWARD ....................................................14 2.3 RECYCLING FOOD WASTE INTO FIBRES FOR FASHION ..........................................18 2.3.1 Orange ......................................................................................................18 2.3.2 Coconut ....................................................................................................19 2.3.3 Pineapple ..................................................................................................20 2.3.4 Fish Skin ...................................................................................................21 2.3.5 Mushroom .................................................................................................22 2.4 CONSUMER ATTITUDES TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE FASHION ....................................24 2.4.1 Marketing Techniques ..............................................................................24 2.4.2 Quality, Style and Price ............................................................................24 2.4.3 Product Involvement .................................................................................25 2.4.4 Green Identity and Demographics ............................................................25 2.4.5 Fashion Designers.....................................................................................26 2.4.6 Negative Attributes ...................................................................................27 2.5 THE FUTURE NEED FOR SUSTAINABLE FIBRE DESIGN ...........................................27 2.6 CASE STUDY: HUMAN HAIR ................................................................................28 2.6.1 Fundamental Properties of Human Hair ...................................................31 2.6.2 Social Cultural Acceptance ......................................................................31 2.6.2 Unequal Practices in Human Hair Trade ..................................................32 2.7 LITERATURE REVIEW SUMMARY ..........................................................................33 Chapter Three: Methodology ...................................................................................34 3.1 RECRUITMENT AND SAMPLING .............................................................................37 3.2 MATERIALS.........................................................................................................38 3.3 FOCUS GROUP PROCEDURES AND QUESTIONS .....................................................38 3.4 DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS .......................................................................39 Chapter Four: Findings .............................................................................................41 4.1 REACTIONS TO HUMAN HAIR AND ITS PRODUCTS .................................................42 4.1.1 “Dirty” and “disgusting” .............................................................................42 4.1.2 “The Secrets of the Hair Trade” .................................................................43 4.2 ‘HAIRY’ DESIGN PROBLEMS .................................................................................44 4.2.1 “If I didn’t know […] then happy chappy fine” ...........................................44 4.2.2 Physical Discomfort ..................................................................................45 4.2.3 ‘Hairy’ challenges for using hair waste .....................................................45 4.3 THE PURPOSE OF HUMAN HAIR ..........................................................................46

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4.4 ‘TOO HUMAN’- AN AVERSION TO USING HUMAN BY-PRODUCTS ...............................47 Chapter Five: Discussion ..........................................................................................49 Chapter Six: Conclusion ...........................................................................................55 6.1 DESIGN PRINCIPLE 1 ...........................................................................................58 6.2 DESIGN PRINCIPLE 2 ...........................................................................................58 6.3 DESIGN PRINCIPLE 3 ...........................................................................................58 6.4 LIMITATIONS .......................................................................................................59 REFERENCE ............................................................................................................61 IMAGE REFERENCES .............................................................................................67 APPENDIXES ...........................................................................................................69 APPENDIX A: VISUAL PROMPTS .................................................................................70 APPENDIX B: FOCUS GROUP SCRIPT ........................................................................71 APPENDIX C: PARTICIPANT INFORMATION SHEET ........................................................74 APPENDIX D: CONSENT FORM ..................................................................................77 APPENDIX E: FOCUS GROUP 1 TRANSCRIPT ...............................................................78

Table of Figures Figure 1: Linear flow of material used in fashion ......................................................13 Figure 2: The flow of material in a circular model .....................................................14 Figure 3: Natural Fibres ............................................................................................15 Figure 4: The process of recycling plastic bottles into fibres ....................................18 Figure 5: Orange Fibre x Salvatore Ferragamo Collection .......................................19 Figure 6: Nanollose fibre and finished garment ........................................................20 Figure 7: Pineapple leaves fibre and Piñatex Ananas Anam bag ............................21 Figure 8: Fish skin leather ........................................................................................21 Figure 9: Stella McCartney Falabella handbag using Mylo™ leather .......................22 Figure 10: Human hair in fashion design ..................................................................30 Figure 11: Stanford Design Thinking Process framework ........................................35 Figure 12: Human hair research design with SDTP’s initial 3 ...................................36 Figure 13: Uncanny Valley and human hair products ...............................................53

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Chapter ONE INTRODUCTION

Modern industrial society has developed in a linear fashion, with natural resources being transformed into products that are then consumed and discarded. Much wealth has been created by producing and selling as many products as possible (Weetman, 2017). Today’s fashion industry is a prime example of how clever marketing has persuaded consumers to constantly buy, dispose and renew their wardrobes. Evidence of this is reflected in the increased number of fashion collections available, now standing between nine to twelve per year. In essence, fast fashion marketing has created an artificial consuming need (Chick and Micklethwaite, 2011). In turn, this is leading to more fashion wastage ending up in landfill and causing damage to the global environment (Anatanaviciute and Dobilatie, 2015). The growing desire for instant satisfaction via the consumption of new fashion products raises the issue of sustainability, both within respect to virgin resources and the consequent problems of waste and emission outflows (Krausmann et al., 2015).

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being transformed into products that are then consumed and discarded. Much wealth has been created by producing and selling as many products as possible (Weetman, 2017).

Today’s fashion industry is a prime example of how clever marketing has persuaded consumers to constantly buy, dispose and renew their wardrobes. Evidence of this is reflected in the increased number of fashion collections available, now standing between nine to twelve per year. In essence, fast fashion marketing has created an artificial consuming need (Chick and Micklethwaite, 2011). In turn, this is leading to more fashion wastage ending up in landfill and causing damage to the global environment (Anatanaviciute and Dobilatie, 2015). The growing desire for instant satisfaction via the consumption of new fashion products raises the issue of sustainability, both within respect to virgin resources and the consequent problems of waste and emission outflows (Krausmann et al., 2015).

Of course, such environmental concerns are not solely the problem of the fashion industry and society as a whole is faced with the notion that the linear economic model is no longer viable, as the availability of many non-renewable resources cannot keep up with demand (Lacy and Rutqvist, 2015). One solution put forwards by The Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2017); ECAP (2017) and others, is for society to embrace the notion of circularity.

Essentially, this means using sustainable and reusable materials, recognising waste as a resource that is renewed rather than discarded. With regards to the fashion industry, this should result in less waste entering landfill, with less reliance upon virgin textiles in clothing production.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF hereafter) (2017) have identified potential business opportunities that follows the CE principles. Sustainability conscious designers and biotech innovators that are aiming to achieve more circular material loops in manufacturing and production, have been developing new materials for the textiles industry. These actors are reaping their rewards by tapping into the circular advantage. By cultivating cell cultures of biopolymers and macromolecules such as cellulose or protein found in living organisms (Fong, 2018), biofibres are bring created to help accelerate the industry’s shift to a new circular and sustainable model (Hendriksz, 2018). Such inventions include fibres and yarns extracted from kelp (Algiknit), microsilk inspired by spider’s thread, leather made from growing mycelium on recycled sawdust (Fong, 2018) and new leather made from by-products of pineapple production (Piñatex), as well as fabric made from banana plant stems (McEachran, 2015).

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INTRODUCTION

Modern industrial society has developed in a linear fashion, with natural resources

It is evident that the fashion industry’s interest in fabrics made from unusual source of food-waste and microbial organisms is growing as we see more biofabrics making their way onto the runway. Luxury fashion brands like Stella McCartney and Salvatore Ferragamo have incorporated biofabric elements in their collections. However, it is questionable whether the interest in adopting biofabrics by high-end fashion is derived out of the concern for the environment, or rather that fashion brands recognise biofabrics as ‘cool’ materials of tomorrow and it could be something people want to buy today (Wendlandt, 2017). Nevertheless, bioengineered fibres and fabrics are increasingly recognised as a growing solution to fashion’s heavy reliance on natural resources where it uses food-waste and rapidly replenishing organisms to generate new fibres while embracing the circular material loop principle.

What these biodesigns have achieved is innovative fibres that are closing the ecological loops of resource flow, reimagining waste into a material that can replace the labour and resource intensive cotton production and petroleum- based fibres. Yet, once the biodesigns reach their end-of-life cycle, due to the nature of their biological composition, they are designed to re-enter the biosphere. Such innovations are prime examples of how a circular supply chain is created through the introduction of fully renewable, recyclable or biodegradable materials that can be used in consecutive product lifecycles (Lacy and Rutqvist, 2015). With interest growing in the market for bio and waste-based textiles, it is, therefore, valid to investigate the future of sustainable textiles.

1.1 Aim and objectives This study aims to broaden the current knowledge of sustainable textiles and evaluate the potential of human hair becoming a waste-based fibre for fashion design. This paper takes a look at the following objectives, 1. Define existing and examine the future need for waste-based textiles in fashion and textiles industry.

2. Critically examine consumer acceptance of products made with unconventional materials.

3. Evaluate the use of human hair in the development of alternative waste-based products.

4. Analyse people’s perception of human hair and its use in fashion products.

5. Determine the potential of human hair as a waste-based fibre in terms of a circular economy solution and consumer perception.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

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LITERATURE REVIEW

Chapter TWO

2.1 Problems facing the fashion industry Global clothing production’s utilisation of raw materials is forecast to increase from 98 million tonnes to 300 million tonnes by 2030, as growth in fashion consumption continues to surge (WRAP, 2019). Danish Fashion Institute have observed the fashion industry as “one of the most resource-intensive industries in the world, both in terms of natural resources and human resources”. On the surface, the fashion industry’s global impact has shown no sign of fading. But if we turn away from the runways and billboard advertisements, a different reality appears. From unsustainable overproduction and overconsumption, to poor working practices and an outdated business model, the fashion industry is reaching a tipping point and the planet can no longer sustain this rate of consumption. (LSN Global, 2017). The UK purchases 1,130,000 tonnes of clothing annually. Meanwhile an estimate of 350,000 tonnes of used clothing are thrown away, equivalenting £140 million dumped in the UK landfill every year (Weetman, 2017). A study also found that one garbage truck of textiles is wasted every second (EMF, 2017). Although there has been much talk about fashion brands being eco-friendly and sustainable, there is still no notable progress. It is clear that the industry is far from sustainable.

In an era of democratisation of fashion; fast fashion and the rise of online shopping destinations have accelerated fashion products’ speed to market, permitting a quicker turnaround of new styles and speedy delivery to consumers with a click of a button (Cao et al., 2014). Fast fashion has created a marketplace for an abundance of affordable clothing, which further incentivises consumers to buy more and make disposal painless.

Instantaneously, the rate of which we are consuming clothes quadrupled the amount purchased in 1980 (Claudio, 2007; Siegle, 2011). Yet, consumers are throwing more clothes away than ever before. ThredUp’s 2018 report cited over a third of women wear an item under five times before discarding when the average lifetime of a garment is estimated to last 2.2 years (Palmer, 2019). In addition, a report which investigated the content of the ‘national wardrobe’ disclosed on average, 30% of the content in the wardrobe remains unworn for at least one year. The value of unused clothing in wardrobes has been estimated at around £30 billion (WRAP, 2017). In 2004, Hollins suggested that this increased stockpiling in the ‘national wardrobe’ represented a ticking time bomb of latent waste waiting to enter the solid stream waste, causing a series of hazardous issues. In fact, fashion and textiles waste has become an extremely real issue not only for the industry, but also for the environment.

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The 1992 Rio Earth Summit highlighted sustainable consumption as an issue that needs to be address in terms of waste reduction and resource conversion. In this vein, the and consumption patterns (Dissanayake and Sinha, 2012). However, the economic formulas that fashion companies adhere to encourage the overproduction of clothing, in order to reduce the unit cost per item (Quinn, 2010). Similarly, notable fashion brands such as Burberry and Nike have been accused of burning and shredding billions of unsold garments, all in the name of protecting their brand (BBC, 2018). The Copenhagen Fashion Summit reported that the fashion industry consumes nearly 80 billion cubic metres of fresh water, emits over a million tonnes of CO2 in terms of production and distribution, and is responsible for 92 million tonnes of solid waste dumped every year (Campoine, 2017). The UK alone generates 800,000 tonnes of waste in just the making of clothes (WRAP, 2017). Not to mention, the total amount of waste in the fashion industry is due to increase by 60% between 2015- 2030 (Global Fashion Agenda, 2017). Fashion’s linear business model has become heavily dependent on the prompt consumption and disposal of goods, in order to push economic progress (Weetman, 2017). The overproduction system that drives the fashion industry to progress has therefore created shocking amounts of unsold garments, which in turn are discarded as waste.

But in the western economy that is bounded by waste management policies, the endof-life journey of clothing does not always end up in landfill. In the 1980s, unwanted secondhand clothing began flowing into developing countries in Africa. At the time, imported secondhand clothing from developed countries were cheaper and seen as high quality than domestically produced clothing and therefore dominated the African markets (Wicker, 2016).

Around 70% of the UK’s reused clothing were exported, joining a global second-hand trade in which billions of used garments are bought and sold around the world (Weetman, 2017).

Undeniably, this is an effective method for developed countries to manage their textiles wastes, when importing and exporting nations are in agreement. However, BBC analysis has shown that the formally fast-growing used clothing import and export business has declined over the past few years, both in terms of volume and value (Gittleson, 2018). During a summit of East African heads of state in 2016, some regional leaders proposed a ban on the importation of second-hand clothing and announced they intended to stop importing from the UK and US by 2019. Consequently, the second hand clothing trade between African nations and First World Countries is jeopardised. What is more, clothing is increasingly being incinerated than ever-before as developing countries refuse the importation of cheap clothing that falls apart easily (Wicker, 2016; Gittleson, 2018). The restricted second-hand clothing export to Third World Countries appears to be a waning problem for the fashion industry. The former is asserted to protect local textiles and clothing manufacturing in developing countries, 11

LITERATURE REVIEW

2002 Johannesburg World Summit developed a framework to promote sustainable production

allowing their industries to grow while first world nations are left with excessive second-hand waste. The latter implies inexpensive fast-fashion clothing from developed countries is poor in quality, with low resale value. Overall, the ban will impose significant hardship on the UK and the US’s used clothing industry, leading to their accumulation of more low-quality fashion and textiles waste issues in developed nations (Gittleson, 2018).

Fashion’s dirty secrets, or rather the true costs of the fast fashion industry are starting to become increasingly difficult to ignore. First and foremost, clothing takes decades to decompose. Notably, when clothing ends up in landfill, the chemicals on the clothes such as dye, have been accountable for leaching deadly chemicals and harmful gasses into surrounding soil (Quinn, 2010). Secondly, the current system for producing, distributing and utilising clothing operates in almost a linear way (see Figure 1). As the demand for newness continues to increase, larger amounts of non-renewable resources are extracted to produce clothes that are often underutilised and used for a short period. This linear system puts pressure on virgin resources when resource scarcity is bearing down on the design industry (Palmer, 2019), pollutes and degrade the environment and its ecosystems. Thirdly, man-made fibres like polyester, are the dominant fibre on the market due to its low price and predictable fibrous behaviour. The demand for polyester; a synthetic, non-renewable, petroleum-based fibre, has doubled in the last 15 years and production is rising year-on-year (WRAP, 2019).

But the production of man-made fibres is profoundly controversial. The manufacturing of polyester and other favourable synthetic fabrics is a carbon-intensive process. The process requires more than 70 million barrels of crude oil each year and emits volatile organic compounds like hydrogen chloride, a compound found to cause or aggravate respiratory diseases. Acid gasses are also emitted as the result of the crude oil burning. This gas has been linked to carcinogenic and endocrine disrupting effects, directly effecting the people who come into contact with it. Moreover, this highly flammable material is often treated with flameretardants, which exposes the workers, consumers and the environment with more toxins (Claudio, 2007).

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LITERATURE REVIEW Figure 1: Linear flow of material used in fashion (Source: EMF, 2017: online) Yet, the production of natural fibre, cotton, also has significant environment footprint and occupational hazards as its counterpart. Conventionally grown cotton accounts for over 25% of the fibres used in textiles industry. The unique property of this crop requires vast amounts of irrigation and is vulnerable to pests if not protected by methods. Given this preposition, cotton production accounts for 16% of global insecticide releases. However, the consequence on the use of insecticides in cotton production has cost many farm workers their health. Several organisations have estimated that around 25-77 million agricultural workers are affected as a result of exposed to cotton insecticides. A further 1-3% of farm workers also suffers from acute insecticides poisoning, with at least 1 million people requiring hospital treatment each year. The use of fertilisers in conventional cotton production is also a worrying concern. Fertilisers contains the use of oil and other finite resources. Additionally, the impact of excess nutrients runoff into the soil and nearby watercourses can cause both eutrophication; which is the effect of added natural or artificial nutrients into aquatic systems that leads to frequent algae boom as a result of dissolving concentration of oxygen in the water, as well as the health risk through contamination of irrigation and drinking water. Given the protective measures and over dependency of the crop for textiles, cotton is arguably the most water and pesticide dependent crop (Claudio, 2007). While this crop is natural and renewable to some extent, the direct impact of the cotton production has caused many environmental and societal controversies. Fashion production threatens our planet’s resources and leaves a pollution footprint at every stage of its linear production, generating potential environmental and occupational hazards at each step of its lifecycle.

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2.2 Circularity in FashionThe way forward The concept of the Circular Economy (CE) proposes a sustainable solution to the current wasteful and linear fashion system (Lacy and Rutqvist, 2015; Singh and Ordonez, 2016; EMF, 2017; Weetman, 2017). At large, the model eliminates the very concept of ‘waste’ and recognises everything has a value (Singh and Ordonez, 2016; Weetman, 2017). Once touted as a radical idea, the circular model is a favourable solution to lead the fashion and textiles industry to better outcomes and economic opportunities (EMF, 2017). Figure 2 showing how the values of materials are kept within a circular system, demonstrated how circularity can be applied. Applying this system within the fashion context; textiles goods and fibres are retained at the highest value level and re-enter the economy avoided becoming waste. Fashion goods and materials flow through a closed loop system by the way of repair and maintenance (DIY or special repairing services), re-use of materials and products (second-hand market, sharing and giving or rental services, as material), recycled textiles production, design and upcycling (ECAP, 2019). Each procedure has its own opportunity to generate new revenue streams for the industry, while maximising the value of the materials (Romero-Hernández and Romero, 2018).

Figure 2: The flow of material in a circular economy (Source: Cinzia Galimberti, 2016: online) Innovations such as circular design of textiles and materials that form the fundamental structure of fashion design, have the greatest potential to reshape the industry. Reprocessing textiles such as mechanically recovering the value of textiles waste and cut-offs have existed for many years. For instance, clothing that occurred before and during World War One were recycled within homes as rag or quilts after its use (Strasser, 1999). However, the spirit didn’t

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last long when consumerism was back in style by the mid 1920s. But since the amount of textiles waste is too hard to ignore, reuse and redesigning old materials into new fashion goods attracted popularity at the turn of the 21st century (Niinimäki, 2013). Wearing second hand or second-hand clothing market is powered by the low price of clothing and also by the possibility to reduce the amount of disposed clothing and environmental pollution. Even if the reuse of clothes has already increased, consumers are still discarding higher volumes of textiles waste than before as a result of fast fashion trend (Vehmas et al., 2018).

Natural and recycled fibres also dominated trade shows. Its popularity reformed trend forecasters and journalists’ views on sustainability (Fletcher, 2008; 2014). Alternatives such as organic hemp, flax and recycled cotton (see figure 3) with reduced pesticide and water use started to replace conventional cotton production. A shift from polyester to recycled polyester (see figure 4) offered a renewable outlook and brought benefits on reducing our dependency on petrochemical products.

Figure 3: Natural Fibres from left to right- hemp, flax and cotton (Source: Hydorgenlink, 2019: Online; India Smart, 2019: Online)

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LITERATURE REVIEW

vintage clothing was developed into a veritable trend fashionable (Gordon and Hill, 2015). The

Figure 4: The process of recycling plastic bottles into fibres (Source: Cariki, 2019: Online) Having researched into fibre recycling in 2005, at a time when the proper process of fibre recycling was not yet fully developed, Bartl et al. foreseen the potential to recycle old clothing made from pure synthetic or from pure natural fibres can be easily recycled and converted into valuable raw material for new products. Developments on recycled fibres have since improved. Newer and more advanced developments on fibre recycling can already be found in the market. One of the newest initiatives by WRAP is Fibre to fibre (F2F) recovery, which is one way to create renewable inputs while significantly reduce the use of virgin materials (Weetman, 2017; ECAP, 2019; WRAP, 2019). F2F encourages brands to collect fibres from their own products and recreate new products using the recycled fibres collected.

Companies are now focused on the production of higher-quality recycled fibres for yarn and fabric production, while increasing the scope of fibre types that could be recycled. Besides recycling mono-fibres, polycotton blends too have the greatest F2F recycling potential. As three-quarters of post-consumer textiles contains polycotton blends, the industry and developers have reacted to the climate of the industry and focused on improving the technical expertise of reprocessing this potentially valuable material back into the economy (WRAP, 2019). Examples of effective F2F cotton recycling has been Austrian company Lenzing producing Lyocell fibres™ and Finish company Reloopingfashion, where the natural cellulose fibres are extracted and recycled as new materials (Ecopreneur, 2019). Another company that is leading the F2F recycling is Japanese company Teijin Fibres. Teijin Fibres developed its Eco-Circle close loop chemical recycling process to refine old polyester into recycled new material (Weetman, 2017; WRAP, 2019). Reusing the fibre from discarded garments have not only the potential to save water and energy, but it can reduce the amount textiles waste from entering landfills and incineration (Dahlbo et al., 2017; Barnes, 2018).

Another innovative eco-fashion approach has been recycling post-consumer plastic bottles or bottles made with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to produce polyester fibres for

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the industry. Patagonia, a major retailer in casual wear was the first to use this recycled material for its fleeces since 1993. The company claimed it had saved 86 million bottles from ending up in landfill between 1993 to 2006, by way of its circular initiative. Likewise, the second plastic waste in the sea and recycled water bottles in 2016 (Weetman, 2017). More recently, the company released the Futurecraft.Loop trainer made from a single material that enables continuous recycling and remaking, interpreting the concept of zero-waste (Barnes, 2019).

Adidas also plan to use only recycled polyester in all its shoes and clothing by 2024 (Storbeck, 2018). Fibre to Fibre, an innovative pilot started by the European Clothing Action Plan have successfully shown that the production and sale of clothing with recycled content, is possible from all nine participating companies (ECAP, 2019). Various companies have already engaged with this circular method, providing an alternative way to provide clothing to consumers in this volatile climate. Renewable fibres continue to lead populist ideas about sustainability innovation and many companies have seen basing their collection on choice of such ‘alternative’ materials. One company championing sustainable and alternative material is H&M. H&M’s Conscious Collection continuously offer a recurring range of pieces that showcases the increasing possibilities of sustainable fashion. With a strong focus in development and innovation, H&M was pleased to introduce recycled silver and ECONYL, a 100% regenerated fibre from fish nets and other nylon waste in the 2018 Conscious Exclusive Collection. It was a delightful addition to the existing recycled polyester and organic linen range which H&M already provided (Plus Company Updates, 2018).

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LITERATURE REVIEW

largest sportswear brand, Adidas, first mass-produced running shoe made from recovered

2.3 Recycling Food Waste into Fibres for Fashion Today, 65% of fibres used in textiles manufacturing derive from natural sources. At the same time, huge amounts of natural fibres are wasted each year in the forms of food excess.

While there is no dispute that textiles waste impacts on people and the environment, food waste disposal also causes substantial impacts (Otles et al., 2015). For example, it is estimated that the banana industry alone generates 270 million tons of waste each year, with the stems and peels responsible to produce methane gas when burned and left to rot, partly contributing to global warming (Anzilotti, 2018; Spring Wise, 2018a). New recycling approaches have shown the possibility of creating new fibres out of biomass waste. In 2003, Cornell University cited in a report that ‘it may soon be possible to produce a low cost, highvalue, high-strength fibre from a biodegradable and renewable waste product’ (Sang, 2003: Online) via a technique called electrospinning. Initially, Cornell’s researchers developed this technique of electrospinning nanofibers from cellulose, a renewable polymer that forms the structure of all plants, primarily to improve agricultural waste management (Sang, 2003).

However, few anticipated that the potential of this idea could broaden the textile industry’s fibre-related outlook for the future.

Three-decade veteran of the sustainable fashion industry, Isaac Nichelson’s new startup, Circular Systems comprises three technologies to convert waste into fibres. The first is Algraloop Bio-Refinery and its system mainly targets farmers to help them create additional revenue streams by converting their crop waste into textiles. The second technology is Texaloop. The aim of this technology was to cut down the amount of clothing that ends up in landfill by converting used clothing and other textiles into new threads and fabric. Bringing the first 2 technologies together, Circular Systems generated its third patent technology called Orbital. This is a system that combines food waste fibres and textiles waste fibres to spin together into new ones. The result of the new fibre has been found both durable and moisturewicking. According to Circular Systems, major sportwear brands have already began showing interest in this new fibre (Anzilotti, 2018; Spring Wise, 2018a).

2.3.1 Orange More than 700,00 tonnes of citrus waste are produced in Italy every year. However, correct disposal practices are prohibitively expensive and has prompted many citrus juice companies to close, due to illegal disposal. With little to no end-uses for citrus by-product in

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place within the food industry, Enrica Arena and Andriana Santanocito developed a disruptive technology that converts the cellulosic fibre from the citrus waste into usable fibres that can be woven into fabric. Orange Fibre is the first patent material made from citrus juice by-product silky handle (Gintare, 2018; Orange Fibre, 2019). This process marks the beginning of transforming citrus waste into high-quality fabrics ideal for luxury brands. Salvatore Ferragamo was the first luxury fashion company to collaborate with Orange Fibre on a capsule collection, using orange fabric. This collaboration between innovation and luxury fashion illustrates the growing demand and interest in high-quality fabrics with strong sustainability credentials (Barnes, 2017; Website A)

Figure 5: Orange Fibre x Salvatore Ferragamo Collection (Source: Fashion for better, 2017: Online)

2.3.2 Coconut New fibres are also being made from coconut by-products. Burlington Worldwide developed Cocona, TrapTek LLC’s patent innovative technology that creates fibres and fabric from recycled coconut husks. In a recent study, Cocona has been identified to dry 92% faster when compared to cotton, making it an ideal fabric for sportwear manufacturing. Outdoor clothing brands like Tog24 and North Face have started to adopt Cocona in their clothing and became less reliant on non-renewable synthetic materials. (McEachran, 2015; Bell, 2016; PNJONE, 2017). Australian material technology startup- Nanollose has developed a system that uses waste biomass from the food industry to create plant-free fibres. The company used coconut by-products from the processing industry in Indonesia for its pilot phase and

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LITERATURE REVIEW

and the cellulose yarn can be used to create 100% biodegradable fabric which has a luxurious,

successfully developed a new eco-friendly material. Known as Nullarbor, this material is the first synthetic form of rayon fabric made from biowaste. Nullarbor was created by adding microbes to coconuts which synthesised the biomass into microbial cellulose. The cellulose is then converted into fibres that are completely biodegradable and functional for fashion designs. Although the process is still in development, Nanollose has plans to tap into bigger food sectors to increase the availability of sustainable fabric choices in the market (Houghton, 2018; Spring Wise, 2018b).

Figure 6: Nanollose fibre and finished garment (Source: Nanollose, 2019: Online)

2.3.3 Pineapple The processes of leather and leather tanning releases harmful toxic fumes and effluents, causing those in contact with serious respiratory diseases. Dr Carmen Hijosa researched into a better way to produce leather and discovered pineapple fibres can be an assured alternative to leather. Inspired by traditional Philippine textiles, Ananas Anam Piñatex fabric reconstitutes pineapple leaf fibres- that would otherwise be discarded as waste in the pineapple industry- into a leather alternative. The pineapple fibres in Piñatex makes it a suitable alternative to cow-skin leather for not only texture, but also extremely durable with a waterproof finish (Barnes, 2017; Bell, 2019). At the end use, the fabric can be recycled into geotextiles (Weetman, 2017). Since launching into the fashion market, Piñatex’s attractive properties gained traction on a commercial scale in fashion and has been a popular choice for not only ethically conscious footwear brands, but Puma and Camper have also experimented with this new material in their footwear ranges (Burn, 2015; Barnes, 2017).

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2.3.4 Fish Skin About one tonnes of fish filets leads to some 40 kilograms of skin that goes to waste (Timmins, 2019). Icelandic company, Atlantic Leather has been processing waste by-products of sustainable fisheries in Iceland, Norway and the Faroe Islands, into leather since 1994 (Atlantic Leather, 2019). Atlantic Leather uses the skin of salmon; perch, cod and wolfish from sustainable fisheries that would otherwise be waste to make new leather, and its tanning process uses natural, non-polluting dyes (Timmins, 2019). With promising fabric quality assurance, Atlantic Leather now supplies to top European fashion houses like Prada, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Salvatore Ferragamo alike. All of which sell their luxurious fish skin collections at premium prices (Moskvitch, 2018).

Figure 8: Fish skin leather (Source: Atlantic Leather, 2019: Online)

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LITERATURE REVIEW

Figure 7: Pineapple leaves fibre and PiĂąatex Ananas Anam bag (Source: PiĂąatex, 2019: Online)

2.3.5 Fungus or Mushroom While most vegan and alternative leathers on the market are currently made from petroleum- based materials, Bolt Thread’s founder, Dan Widmaier devised a way to bioengineer synthetic leather out of mushrooms. Known as Mylo™, the company’s newest innovative material uses mycelium, the underground root structure of mushrooms to make a microbial leather that looks and feels like animal leather. The benefits of Mylo™ is that it can be grown in a small space with minimal environmental impact. In addition, the mycelium textiles can be coloured with natural dyes and offer different colour variation of products to consumers. This innovation has made vegan leather option more sustainable than petroleumbased leather alternatives. Sustainable luxury fashion guru and an advocate of leather-free goods, Stella McCartney collaborated with Bolt Thread to produce the first Falabella bag using Mylo™. This was the first handbag in the luxury sector that uses mushrooms as its main source of material (Spring Wise, 2018d; Bolt Threads 2019; Palmer, 2019).

Figure 9: Stella McCartney Falabella handbag using Mylo™ leather (Source: Bolt Threads, 2019: Online)

2.3.5 Summary Copenhagen Fashion Summit’s ‘Circular Fibre Initiative’ (2017) sees that collaboration stimulates the innovation necessary to create a new textiles economy. Although it might seem unnatural for the fashion industry to collaborate with other sectors such as food, the cases above concentrate on recycling food waste to fashion fibres. Science and technology have also played an important role in stimulating the innovation between fashion and food (Peters et al., 2014). Such collaboration has shown a great success in creating regenerative wastebased textiles fit for the circular fashion and textiles industry (EMF, 2017).

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Although the concept of spinning food crop wastes into natural fibres might be seem progressive, it is actually a reversion to the past (Niinimäki, 2013; Peters et al, 2014). Yet textiles industry (Rowe, 1999). The idea of using food waste as a resource for fashion and textiles keeps materials circulating in the economy and prevent material leakage in the economy (Dahlbo et al., 2018). However, there is still a long way to go before such techniques become options for the mainstream mass market. In this current climate, sustainable fashion is still a niche market and the truth about waste-based materials being prohibitively expensive cannot be changed, as such techniques requires complex technological systems. (Davis, 2019). Other evidence also suggests that waste-based materials are expensive, and this is exemplified by luxury fashion houses’ involvement with waste-based innovators, such as the collaboration between Stella McCartney and Bolt Threads (2019), in addition to Salvatore Ferragamo with Orange Fibre (2019). At the same time, waste-based material and its finished products are only available via luxury channels and even so, the quantity of such products are limited to capsule collections only. This suggests that consumers’ accessibility to waste-based products is observably limited in both availability and price point, thus restricting waste-based fashion’s acceptability in the mass market. However, when it comes to quality, waste-based fashion is in complete contrast to fast fashion, as clothes need to be built to last season after season (Davis, 2019). But there are a lot of consumer misconceptions that waste-based materials, for example fish skin leather, must be delicate and easy to tear. When in fact it is just as durable as cow leather. This self-perceived durability and quality of waste-based materials can impair consumers’ confidence when making their purchasing decision on wastebased materials and thus acceptance. Clearly, converting waste into fashion product is a relative new concept. However, in terms of product lifecycle, the demand for new goods usually increase quite rapidly after they are launched (Jackson and Shaw, 2000). As a result, consumers’ acceptance to waste-based material will subsequently increase.

2.4 Consumer attitudes Towards sustainable fashion Current literature on sustainable clothing developments cannot keep up with the speed of new evolving innovations. Vehmas et al. (2018) considered the closed-loop system, where clothing is recycled into new fibres to be quite a new phenomenon. However, many have cited

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LITERATURE REVIEW

today, we see the developments of new food waste fibres as revolutionary discoveries in the

the recycling of fibres is nothing new and was one of the first movement of eco-fashion adopted by innovators of the past (Bartl et al, 2006; Fletcher, 2008; 2014; Weetman, 2017; ECAP, 2019; WRAP, 2019). Newer developments have concentrated on converting waste and biowaste into fibres. Yet, there is little literature on consumers’ views on such concept.

Because of the lack of research on consumer perception of waste-based design in fashion, this research leverages literature and theory about perceptions of remanufactured goods and fashion products with recycled content (sustainable clothing from hereafter) to frame an understanding towards waste-based goods in fashion.

2.4.1 Marketing techniques It is important to note that the majority of research on consumer perceptions and attitudes towards sustainable clothing focuses on how marketing techniques affects consumers’ perception and attitudes towards sustainable product (Fisher et al., 2008; Vehmas et al., 2018), rather than focusing on the clothing itself and how well received it is in terms of product and design. For instance, Fisher et al. (2008) suggested that when consumers are provided with information about environmental effects, they tend to reflect upon their behaviours and are willing to change. But, Vehmas et al. (2018) emphasised when brands are trying to communicate the environmental aspect of their operations, consumers are overwhelmed with “world-saving-overload” messages. Some even suggested that the information given by brands contains too much guilt and drama, when the message could be conveyed in a more neutral manner. In the future, more humorous and refreshing approaches to sustainable marketing means can contrast the bleak nature of environmental issues and enhance consumer’s attitude towards sustainable clothing.

2.4.2 Quality, style and price When it comes to the discussion of sustainable clothing, research suggests that consumers questioned about the perceived quality and style of the sustainable clothing, especially from reclaimed materials (Jiang et al., 2016), strongly affected sustainable product acceptability and consumers’ purchasing decisions (Vehmas et al., 2018). Indeed, the majority of consumers are more interested in their own personal fashion needs than the needs of sustainable fashion, as sustainability is a low priority concern when it comes to consumers’ purchase criteria (Vehmas, et al., 2018). Many consumers expect the quality and comfort of sustainable clothing with recycled content to be the same as clothing made from virgin raw material (Vehmas et al., 2018) and are not necessarily concerned about the origins of the material used or, whether or not it is holds sustainable values. Consumers’ concern about what material their clothing was made from was not significant from the breadth of existing

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study in the field of consumer perception to green products. Increasingly, consumers are demanding to know more about where their clothes were made (Black, 2011). Again, this is related to manufacturing origin rather than material origin. Price has also been a determining

2.4.3 Product involvement Product involvement is defined as a consumers’ enduring perceptions of the importance of the product based on the consumers’ inherent needs, value and interest.

Studies on the relationship between product involvement and consumer purchase behaviour allows an insight into how likely consumers are to accept new sustainable materials in the market. For instance, Morgan and Birtwistle (2009) found that if consumers knew more about sustainable solution in the fashion and textiles design, they can be more involved in demanding and accepting more sustainable product choices, while Xue (2008) found that consumers’ higher involvement in sustainable value and self-concept were predictors of choice at sustainable products. Similarly, low involvement and lack of familiarity in sustainability were suggested to be potential causes for consumer’s low acceptance for refurbished products (van Weelden et al., 2016) and therefore sustainable products with recycled content. Regardless of the effects of consumer’s high and low involvement, previous researches have also shown that many consumers are concerned about environmental issues but there is little evidence that ethical issues affect consumer purchase behaviour (Jorgensen et al., 2006; ComRes, 2010; Niinimäki, 2013) and therefore consumers’ opinions might not be an accurate representation of their acceptance.

2.4.4 Green identity and demographics Recent literature has associated sustainable clothing as green products with ecofriendliness. These are products that are considered to prevent, reduce or correct harmful environmental impacts on society and ecosystems. Whereas green self-identity refers to an individual’s overall perceived identification with the typical green consumer and has all wellrecognised eco-friendly behaviours (Russo et al., 2019). Barbarossa and De Pelsmacker (2016) found that acceptance of green products is driven by perceived green self-identity, that emerged as a crucial construct mediating the relationship between consumer vales and proenvironmental behaviour. Comparably, Russo et al. (2019) findings suggest green self-identity mediates the relationship between attitudes towards bio-based products and willingness-topay.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

factor over sustainability factor in making purchasing decisions.

Demographic characteristics were also found to have an impact in predicting consumer behaviours towards eco-friendly products (Namkung and Jang, 2013; Tseng et al., 2013).

Studies indicated that younger consumers could be more sensitive to green issues than older consumers as they have grown up in a time where environmental issues have been a more central topic (Lee, 2009) and more likely to purchase eco-friendly products (Namkung and Jang, 2013). This suggests that younger consumers are more likely to accept sustainable products made from waste-based materials due to its eco-friendly properties than older consumers. However, other studies have cited the opposite. Russo et al. (2019) emphasised older consumers displayed higher willingness-to-pay for eco- products than those who already purchased eco-products. Acknowledging age and past purchase experience as research variables, it could potentially understand how the former and latter impact acceptance to new sustainable design.

2.4.5 Fashion designers In terms of designing sustainability into fashion, Hur and Cassidy’s (2019) researched into the perception of sustainability in fashion from the views of fashion designers. One challenge faced by designers when implementing sustainability in their design was the lack material choices and therefore not producing as much sustainable clothing as possible.

However, many literature and innovation evidence have illustrated both designers and consumers now have more choices for sourcing ecologically-produced products than everbefore. Derived from the area of innovation that has to do with transforming waste into raw material suitable for replacing raw material (Russo et al., 2019); Stella McCartney and Bolt Thread’s Falabella bag was made from the roots of fungus, fish skin leather made from the by-product of sustainable fisheries, Piñatex’s pineapple leather and Salvatore Ferragamo’s sustainable collection used fibres generated from by-product of the citrus juice production.

Given the array of sustainable textiles possibilities and contradicting literature, there is a need for more up-to-date research to reflect the current industry situation.

2.4.6 Negative attributes Other factors beyond product quality and identity factors may also influence how consumers perceive products with recycled content. Waste-based fibres for fashion designs are made from clean and processed waste. Similarly, remanufactured goods are also made from clean materials. However, there is evidence that consumer might not like higher involvements in these products because of the perception of them being used, or dirty due to

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prior ownership of the reused materials (Abbey et al., 2015). The gap between perceived and objective quality is often ascribed to the information asymmetry between producers and consumers (Russo et al., 2019). This asymmetry factor is likely to be a deciding factor for materials, therefore affecting the overall acceptability of waste-based designs in fashion.

Understanding the influence of negative attributes and repulsion towards waste can serve as an important determinant of attractiveness for promoting waste-based fashion goods.

2.5 The Future Need for Sustainable Fibre Design Going into 2021, global fashion trend forecasting company, WGSN expects to see biomaterials becoming more scalable to offer realistically viable alternatives (Palmer, 2019).

In this context, WGSN suggests that there are more opportunities to explore the potential of alternative materials being useful for the fashion and textiles industry and materials that will support closing the material loop with a regenerative approach to the fashion product cycle.

Indeed, alternative materials have been incorporated in many other industries and it has been a huge success. For example, automobile company, Ford has worked closely with researchers at HJ Heinz. Together, the two-company worked on a project that uses the by-products of Heinz tomato ketchup production to create new bioplastic material that is renewable and biodegradable for Ford’s vehicles (Weetman, 2017). Another surprising example of transforming waste into productive resource has been the idea of de-icing roads with cheese brine. Dairies in Wisconsin, US have been donating their waste brine from cheese production for the city authorities to effectively de-ice local roads. Not only the utilisation of wasted cheese brine is more effective in wider range of weather conditions than salt brine, it also replaces the need and expensive cost of extracting raw salt brine materials (Weetman, 2017).

2.6 Case Study: Human Hair

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LITERATURE REVIEW

consumers to choose between waste-based designs and designs made from all new

Human hair is a rapidly growing natural resource. On average, we shed between 50 to 100 strands of hair a day. In the UK alone, 6.5 million kg of human hair waste is amassed every year and the current placement of human hair is directed into landfills, causing an expulsion of toxic gases into the environment (Grupta, 2014; Tarlo, 2016; Infringe, 2017).

There is a huge opportunity to turn hair salons’ masses of hair waste into something useful for fashion, achieving full circularity within both industries. Finding a commercial application for waste human hair can bring better utilisation of the material, therefore beneficial to both the industry and the environment. Although the common interest in human hair has typically been focused on hair growth; hair types and hair care, human hair waste fibre has become eyecatching to research in the field of material science (Saxena et al., 2013; Kumar et al., 2015; Verma et al, 2016; Mishra, 2017). Similar to fashion, the driving force behind researchers’ new fascination with human hair waste fibre is perpetuated by the pressure of population increase and pressing environmental issues, that led the quest to replace non-renewable materials with natural resources (Saxena et al., 2013).

Human hair fibre’s remarkable advantages over synthetic fibre have also attracted insightful research developments. To illustrate, human hair waste is mostly available everywhere in large quantity. The abundance quantity and rapid renewability makes this fibre commercially available at a very low cost (Science Daily, 2008; Kumar et al., 2015).

Chemically, 80% of human hair is composed of a protein called keratin that gives hair the strength; flexibility, durability and functionality, giving the waste fibre many diverse uses. In light of recent oil spills, US organisation- Matter of Trust has used wasted hair to soak up oil spills (Tarlo, 2016). Human hair’s hydrophilic interaction with oil and water has also given it usefulness in refineries and distilleries, for the purpose of oil filtering. Since the process of refining and distilling requires high pressure and many natural fibres cannot withstand such process, human hair was a suitable fibre. Combining both pressing environmental issues and human hair’s unique properties, Grupta’s (2014) study of human hair as a waste and utilisation concluded that human hair has a large range of uses, ranging from agriculture to medicine to engineering industries. In agriculture, human hair waste has found usefulness as a fertiliser ingredient for plants, instead of chemical fertilisers (Mishra, 2017; Madrigal, 2008; Science Daily, 2008; Zheljazok et al., 2008). Once the human hair waste begins its degradation and mineralisation, it can provide sufficient nutrients such as nitrogen to the plants (Madrigal, 2008). The innovative use of human hair waste fibres in reinforced concrete has also gained importance (Kumar et al., 2015). Jain and Kothari (2012) concluded the addition of human hair improves the tensile and compressive strength of the reinforced concrete, and binding properties. Human hair’s fibre potential and its economic value ability is forecast as the most promising ecological fibre in the near future (Saxena et al., 2013; Verma et al., 2016).

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The unusualness of using human hair as a material and diverting its usefulness to other industries is intriguing. In fashion and textiles, the use human hair is possible, and a few elasticity and good tensile strength makes human hair useful in textiles. In textiles, human hair fibres have been used as stuffing in toys, mattresses and household items such as door mats.

In fashion, methods of making fabric have mixed human hair with yak hair and cotton to make interlinings for coats and jackets (Tarlo, 2016). However, such traditional method of utilisation has only been seen in India and China, and rarely in the West (Grupta, 2014). In recent years, more progressive and ecologically minded designers have expressed different ways of fabricating human hair into product designs. Haute couture designer, Charlie Le Mindu who charges up to £20,000 for his creation creates high fashion clothes out of human hair. Jenni Dutton created a dress made out of human hair while Alix Bizet made a hoodie woven with human hair. Tabitha Moses created hair purses and Lumi Tuomi makes human hair jewellery, assimilated a reflective memoir of the nineteenth century, when the Victorians would turn their loved ones’ tresses into macabre memento mori (Infringe, 2019). London based design duos, Studio Swine creates products that are crafted by placing strands of human hair in a silicon mould filed with biodegradable resin, sustainably harvested from pine trees. The result of this design method creates a sheet of plastic that mimics ember and other exotic hardwood. Using this material, Studio Swine was able to create glasses frames, jewellery boxes and other furnishings (Flaherty, 2014). However, using human hair as a textile fibre is unconventional.

There are also major issues related to human hair waste that hinders its ability to perform at a commercial level, as well as its acceptance across the market.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

have experimented. Grupta (2014) illustrated that human hair’s high thermal insultation,

Figure 10: human hair in fashion design (Source Left to right clockwise: Vouge IT, 2010; Dutton, 2018; Bizet, 2016; Moses, 2018)

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2.6.1 Fundamental properties of human hair Human hair can also be split into different varieties according to five parameters; length, colour, shape, contamination and hair damage. Each parameter has influences over Vasudev, 2018). Human hair grows naturally and spontaneously on our heads, but it is rarely left at its natural state. We spend most of our time manipulating our own hair through cutting and shaving (Tarlo, 2018). Consequently, human hair waste length is varied, depending on one’s expectation of identity and aspiration of beauty. Similarly, our identity; beauty aspiration, culture and race have direct influence on the colour of our hair. As a textiles fibre, dyeing human hair waste fibre like conventional fibres might be difficult as hair waste can come in differing colour from natural to dyed. The lack of uniformity in length and colour can make it difficult for designers to produce standardised designs (Dissanayake and Sinha, 2012) when human hair waste is hardly standardised. In terms of shape, human hair’s cohesiveness, thickness, diameter and pliability presents complications. Human hair’s lack of cohesiveness cannot perform twisting and winding process that is essential for any fibred to be converted into yarn. As a result, human hair simply cannot be hold together and covert into yarn (Pamecha, 2014). The diameter of human hair is measured at 100 micron. Whereas the diameter of merino wool is 17.5 micron and even the coarsest wool is only 40 micron. From this observation, the smaller the micron measurement, the finer and softer the fibre (Vasudev, 2018). This further suggests that human hair’s texture performance is lenient towards harsh and coarse. Therefore, human hair may not be an appropriate fibre to be spun into yarns for woven or knitted garment that is close to the human skin, as previous examples of human hair in textiles have often been hard, felted products like stuffing and door mats (Grupta, 2014).

Human hair’s quality is heavily depended on one’s locality, ethnicity and lifestyle as malnutrition can severely damage human hair’s quality. Similarly grooming activities such as dyeing, weaving and the use of chemical shampoos can contaminate the hair for better or for worse (Tarlo, 2018).

2.6.2 Social and cultural acceptance ‘Once people get their heads round wearing human hair, I think it will become mainstream’ - Charlie Le Mindu (Winterman, 2010: Online).

Haute couture designer, Charlie Le Mindu predicted that by 2020, people will be wearing clothes made out of human hair. However, Le Mindu was aware that people are disturbed by the thought of wearing human hair and highlighted that ‘people just need to get

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how useable human hair fibres can be, depending on its form and purpose (Mishra, 2017;

over the fact that they are wearing something from their body’ (Winterman, 2010: Online). But surprisingly, human hair upcycled into fashionable products like wigs and extensions that are being worn on heads does not portray the same impression of “grossness” and “freakiness” as human hair in clothing. Instead, the same physical property of human hair becomes an aspiration for beauty. Incontrovertibly, high quality human hair is a desired commodity in international trade and has significant commercial value. The well-sought-after commodity is first harvest then processed by businesses into hair extensions and wigs, then sold across the world forming a billion-dollar industry (Izmirli, 2014). In 2018, the international sales of exported human hair total US$75.1 million (Workman, 2018). Clearly our attitude towards human hair fibres are not about its physical properties but about how we carve up our conceptual categories of human hair.

Although human hair as it is on our head is normal, our feelings towards it changes dramatically when it is disconnected from our heads (Tarlo, 2018). Even the thought of a loose hair can make people feel gross and disgusted. Research have shown that many people suffer from a phobia called Trichophobia which leads sufferers to fear loose hair seen on clothes, floor, furniture and so on. Relatedly, Chaetophobia is a rare phobia which causes an irrational, abnormal and persistent fear of loose hair. This phobia stems from a wider fear of germs and diseases as Chaetophobic sufferers believe hair to be dirty and feels that hair might cause them to get sick if they come in contact with it (Brucculieri, 2018). However, not everyone who is disgusted by hair has a phobia. At large, we overlook and ignore human hair’s material functionality because we simply view it as waste (Visser, 2019). Therefore, we develop irrational fears towards loose hair as we are conditioned by our society to image loose hair as an object that we ought to get rid of, because it is gross and disgusting. However, for some, hair is not something to be thrown away. For them, disposing a piece of hair clipping can even feel like an act of violence. For them, personal identity seems to linger on in the hair even if it has parted with its owner. In some cultures, hair has also been used in magic with the idea being that person can be harmed through manipulating something that was once part of them (Tarlo, 2018).

2.6.3 Unequal practices in human hair trade Human hair might have found acceptance in the form of luxurious and fashionable wigs and extensions, but the truth about the human hair trade is harder pill to swallow. Hair harvesting was first introduced in Prussia, England, France, Germany, Italy and Romania in the nineteenth-century. Dealers, or known otherwise as, hair pedlars, would go village to village and young girls used to tend and sell their tresses in exchange to purchase handkerchief or for some money. By the twentieth-century, hair trade business spread to 32

Russia, Ukraine, India and other south Asian regions. Nowadays, human hair is sold on the internet and is more trending in European countries and the US (Mishra, 2017). However, the history of the hair trade is embedded with many cultural and ethical significances with girls sacrificing their hair to feed their families in his essay, ‘The Hair-Pedlar in Devon’ (1850).

Today still, the trade in human hair still relies on a gap in wealth, opportunity or values between those willing to part with their hair and those who end up acquiring. Raw human hairs are imported ‘chiefly from India, Bangladesh and Myanmar’ (Tarlo, 2016: 179) where economic opportunities are few to be made into finished products and exported ‘to the United States […]

Europe, Japan and South Korea’ (Tarlo, 2016: 179). The craze for hair nets made from Chinese human hair trended in the West during the first half of the 20th century. However, this soon led to a hypocritical situation in which Westerners especially Americans mocked the way that Chinese men wore their hair in plaits and insultingly named it ‘pigtails’. Chinese men were even forced to have their ‘pigtail’ removed and their hair would simultaneously be turned into Western hair nets (Tarlo, 2016). Conversely, in various parts of the world where human hair is in demand and has a high commercial value, this has led hair-theft mugging a recurrent problem. The highly profitable market in human hair has incentivised opportunist thieves to target long haired women, with aim of stealing their tresses.

2.7 Literature Review Summary Although waste-based, yet sustainable materials represented here and throughout the literature review have been alternative and unconventional, it has proven to be mutually beneficial to the collaborating users’ social responsibility image and waste management logistic, as well as the planet. As global resource is in crisis and ecology is at risk, there is a desperate need to move towards an era where people are more accepting of the use of more unusual materials like human hair waste, especially when it helps with environment. As controversial as it sounds, human hair as a sustainable material has been very popular amongst designers (Verma et al, 2016; Material Driven, 2017). In this vein, this study is interested in researching whether human hair waste from commercial salons and barbers have the potential to be a sustainable fibre for the fashion and textiles industry from hair dressers’ and consumers’ perspective.

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somewhat racist undertones. To illustrate, William Clarke documented the bitter tales of tearful

Chapter THREE METHODOLOGY

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Several studies have been conducted on consumer perspectives regarding sustainable clothing. However, little is known about the consumers’ perspectives on fashion product made from waste-based fibre (Russo et al., 2019). Hence this research aims to understand consumers’ reaction to waste-based fibres and evaluate whether human hair can be a new waste-based fibre for the fashion and textiles industry. The main emphasis of the CE is at the design stage, with a focus that targets how a product can be designed in order to achieve a circular material loop value. Similarly, the Stanford Designing Thinking Process (SDTP) is a framework for creative problem solving first by understanding users and designs.

Furthermore, this framework helps to tackle complex problems that are ill-defined and unknown. Therefore, for this study in particular, it will follow the Stanford Design Thinking Process methodology due to the dearth of research on consumer acceptance of waste-based fibres, let alone human hair waste-fibres for fashion design. SDTP has 5 stages; empathise, define, ideate, prototype and test, that grounds the fundamental framework for a meaningful design (see figure 11). But given the time and word count available for this study; the design of this research will only follow the first 3 stages of the SDTP (see figure 12) and examine

METHODOLOGY

ideas whether human hair can or cannot be used in the fashion industry.

Figure 11: Stanford Design Thinking Process framework (Source: Stanford Centre on longevity, 2019: Online)

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EMPATHISE • Recruit participants for focus group discussions

DEFINE

IDEATE

• Transcribe focus group discussion and present findings

• Analyse findings and present common themes • Discuss themes and recommend suggestions

Figure 12: Human hair research design with SDTP’s initial 3 stages

In order to create a meaningful design fit for application, new and successful innovations require an understanding from the needs of the potential users (Stanford Design Thinking Process, 2019). The first step of SDTP aim to reframe the problem, in this case evaluating human hair as a waste-based fibre for the fashion industry in a human-centric way first by empathising and understanding the human needs involved. Following the SDTP first step to ‘empathise’ with users, focus groups were employed for this research design because it enabled the researcher to gain direct contact with potential users of product (McDonaghPhilp and Bruseberg, 2001). A focus group is a collection of individuals that have been brought together to discuss a particular topic, issue or concern (Morgan, 2003). Therefore, this method is effective at gathering rich and in-depth qualitative accounts of people’s thinking and experiences that is necessary when understanding of how consumers perceive human hair as a waste-based material (McDonagh-Philp and Bruseberg, 2001; Pascall et al., 2008).

Moreover, focus groups can help to inform the design and implementation of human hair fibre in fashion application to support a CE at large. Identifying consumer acceptance to a new design early at development stage is sensible for saving time and could alert researchers to any resistance to the new product (Pascall et al., 2008). At the same time, understanding consumer experience at conceptual stage can appropriately indicate whether the designs need to be changed. Consequently, information elicited from users at focus groups can inform the designing process and support evidence-based design decision-making (McDonagh-Philp and Bruseberg, 2001).

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3.1 Recruitment and Sampling Focus groups are frequently conducted with purposely selected samples (Morgan, 2013). This sampling technique is the deliberate choice of participants due to the qualities they possess (Etikan et al., 2016). This research was interested in cross-comparing participants’ opinions based on their experience with human hair and whether opinions differ between generations. Based on these criteria, purposeful sampling allows the recruitment to be limited to people involved with hair and age. Participants were recruited by the outreaching to the people who were interested in the focus group, thus gatekeepers, to invite their friends who they knew would be interested to take part. Snowball sampling is a method that identifies cased of interest from people who know people who can provide rich information (Creswell, 2007). This sampling method was an appropriate method because it helped the researcher to gain access to the hair dressing population of which the researcher is not part of. However, the disadvantage of accessing participants in this way was that the researcher had no controlling a minimum and maximum number of participants, as this was dependent on the reliant of gatekeepers to inform potential participants about the research. If participants agreed to participate, the researcher sent a schedule outlining the focus group session date, time and location, as well as a participant information sheet that was ethically approval on Ethos.

In the end, the researcher conducted three focus groups. The researcher attempted to recruit four to eight participants per each group. Participants were organised in each focus group based on the previously given criteria- young adults (aged 18 to 35), middle-aged adults (aged 35- 60) and hair dressers. A total of 18 participants, including 7 men and 11 women, participated in the three focus groups. All of the participants were White (100%). When it came to determine the group composition, the researcher allowed acquaintances to participate together. Although the notion of focus groups must consist strangers is generally the rule of thumb, working with prior acquaintanceships helps with the issues of self-disclosure Working with acquaintances also allow more honest and truthful group dynamics without judgements from strangers (Morgan, 2013). Participants can feel more comfortable and at ease during the discussion, thereby revealing more in-depth information about their perception and experience.

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METHODOLOGY

researcher’s personal contacts on Facebook. This was followed by a snowball sampling of

The first focus group had eight ‘young adults’ participants, five men and three women with a mean age of 22. The second group had five ‘middle-aged’ participants which were all women, with a mean age of 48.6. The final focus group had five ‘hair dressers’ participants, 2 men and 3 women, with a mean age of 25.2. There was a heavy gender imbalance across the groups. This was most likely due to the fact that despite the wider invitation on Facebook, participants brought along friends around their own age to participate. In addition, the nature of this topic may have added to this bias as men in general are less interested in sustainable and environmental habits than women (Mintel, 2018).

3.2 Materials During the focus group sessions, the researcher showed three photographed examples of raw waste-based material and their finished products to prompt participants’ awareness of existing fashion products made with waste (Product 1- 9 in Appendix A). Later, the researcher showed five photographed examples of products made with human hair (Product 10- 14 in Appendix A). This exposure to human hair in designs helped sparked conversation and facilitated future design thinking by understanding which designs were more favourable than others and why.

3.3 Focus group procedures and questions Focus group sessions took place at Costa on Ascot Highstreet between the 19th to the 28th of August 2019. At the start of each focus groups, participants were given participant information sheets (Appendix C), and each signed a consent form (Appendix D) permitting their involvement to the study. Moreover, the researcher explained the study, its purpose, the use of digital voice recorder and how their response will be confidential through the use of pseudonyms. Each session ran approximately an hour in length and was moderated by the same researcher using a prepared script (Appendix B). At the end of each sessions, all participants were given a gift as a token of appreciation.

The objective of the focus group carried out for this research is as a means to guide initial stages of new waste-based fibre development by showing products designed with human hair and assess consumer’s acceptance to human hair as a sustainable material. The researcher created a semi-structured script with questions to help guide the discussion. A total

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of 15 questions were asked and each session followed the same format with identical questions. Question 1 and 2 were designed to get the participants to demonstrate their knowledge about waste-based materials. The definition of waste-based materials was simplified and explained to the participants so that all would have a clear understanding of what it is as this was a key focus of this research. Question 3 focused on participants’ history of purchasing product with waste-based content, while question 4 explored participant’s attitudes and perceptions towards some waste-based materials that already exist in fashion with visual aids. Question 5 and 6 then investigated participant’s purchasing decision when they were given a choice to choose between commercial material or waste-based material, after they were shown what material waste-based material can produce. Question 7, 8, 9 and 10 explored participants’ attitudes to human hair and the idea of having human hair as how human hair is used in different industries and enquired participants acceptance of human hair as a resource of fashion. Question 12 presented participants with products made from human hair and participants were invited to choose which ones they preferred and why based on their design, to aid design thinking in the future. Finally, question 13 to 17 aimed to lure participants’ opinion on human hair in fashion products and collaboration with hair salons.

3.4 Data collection and analysis Three focus group studies were conducted and a total of 18 participants were recruited for this study. Each focus group followed a standard focus group script that was prepared by the researcher (see appendix B). Due to the nature of focus group discussion, some of the discussions addressed questions in different sequences. Nonetheless, all focus groups touched upon the main topics and questions listed in the focus group script. All sessions were audio recorded and transcribed. The transcripts were later read for the purpose of researcher’s analysis convenience and participants were made aware in the participant information sheet as well as at the start of every focus group discussion. Response to each question were examined across 3 groups and sorted to identify if there were differences and unique responses across different demographics. Yin (1989) explained that data analysis One approach of presenting the findings from the discussions would be systematically compare each sections and report on similarities and difference. Conducting analysis in this way, however, would not necessarily reflect the most important themes emerging from the discussion. Therefore, in order to derive the most salient themes raised, Kruger and Casey

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METHODOLOGY

products. Question 11 shared information about the benefits of using human hair as well as

(2000) pointed out that the purpose should drive the research analysis and believed that ‘analysis begins going back to the intention of the study’ (Rabiee, 2004: 657). Therefore, to begin the analysis, the researcher revisited the aim and objectives of the research, the researcher confirmed that the purpose of the focus group was to find out participants’ perception to human hair and human hair products. Therefore, the transcripts were analysed in respond to the overall purpose of the focus group discussion. Once the quotes that responded to the purpose were identified, the researcher thematically coded the quotes together based on their similar contexts and interpreted the qualitative data.

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FINDINGS Empathising and understanding potential consumers’ preconceptions of human har can provide useful information in order to inform future design. This is also an important element within the SDTP framework to define consumer’s problems. In this chapter, the qualitative descriptions raised within the focus group discussions about consumers’ attitudes and acceptance to human hair and its products are presented and examined in detail, following SDTP’s second stage of ‘Define’-ing problems. The themes identified, coded and analysed are an accurate portrayal of the content across all the focus groups. Overall, four themes were identified from the analysis: (a) reactions to human hair and its products, (b) “hairy” design problems, (c) the purpose for human hair, and (d) “too human”.

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FINDINGS

Chapter FOUR

4.1 Reactions to human hair and its products

Across all three focus groups, the researcher found that participants’ feelings about human hair varied, but were mostly negative. As such, two dominant concerns were expressed among the participants, being “unclean” and notions of the “secrets of the hair trade”. The reaction of being “unclean” created the stronger reactions of the two, communicated by the participants’ idea of finding loose hair in unexpected places. While the latter reaction was mainly articulated by participants’ preconception of the human hair trade.

4.1.1 Dirty and disgusting When participants were asked to describe human hair, their responses varied whether the hair was in situ, or whether it was somewhere it was not meant to be. Participants were able to label human hair with very positive attributes such as “beautiful”, “stylish” and “pretty” when describing human hair on a person’s head. However, there was a completely different reaction, with participants becoming more vocal and opinionated, when they began describing human hair that was found off the head. “Rank”, “nitty”, “scatty”, “gross”, “dirty” and “disgusting”, were the most profound adjectives used to describe human hair when it was out of place. These negative responses imply human hair does have ability to make some people feel revolted. Participants repeatedly linked the notions of being dirty and unhygienic together with their descriptions of human hair as being, “messy, unhygienic and dirty” (FG1M1) and “dirty, unhygienic, itchy” (FG2F3). Their use of words suggests that if human hair was dirty then it must be unhygienic and, by implication, not fit for use.

Participants’ ideas of with human hair as being unclean appear to be triggered by experiences of finding loose hair that is not their own, or finding it in places where they do not expect to find hair. As FG1F1 explains, “if it’s human hair, I always think to myself like, where it has come from, have they washed recently […] then I'm thinking like erughh they unhygienic”. FG1F1 also said “its rank, if there’s a hair in my cereal bar that would freak me the f*** out”. Even FG3F1, a participant from the hairdressing group shared the unpleasant thoughts she has when she finds a hair that is not her own. She explained, “I know I work with hair everyday but if its (human hair) where it shouldn’t be its kinda gross, like you don’t know who’s it is, where it’s from, just the thought of it is gross”.

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Another hairdresser from the same group related with FG3F1. She said, “I agree with FG3F1, even though we work in hair, loose hair lying about makes me question whose is it and I need to get rid of it ASAP”. Of course, people’s feelings towards hair are often highly subject, and, indeed, other hairdressers in FG3 had opposing views and explained that their career made them look at human hair in a more positive light. One participant from FG1 was adamant that he had no ‘unhygienic or dirty connotation with hair’ and later justified that ‘it’s just hair […] hair is like nothing’.

4.1.2 “The secrets of the hair trade” Participants repeatedly linked their thoughts about human hair to problems associated with the trade in human hair. One participant (FG1F1) said, “If I had a bag made from human hair, I would be carrying it thinking where is it come from? Has it been taken like; has it been willingly taken?”. FG1F1 later enlightened the group with her knowledge of the human hair trade, expressing her concerns about the forcible coercion she explained, “well you know some kid from Africa has their head shaved off for extensions and stuff”. Participants from the middle-aged adult group also expressed similar concerns. “Hair is a big business” said FG3F5, “you got these women selling their hair especially in India, are forced to sell it. That’s the thing.

The husbands were forcing their wives to cut their hair for money”. FG3F4 backed up to FG3F5’s story by saying, “yeah the hair trade is so unregulated”.

industry, without providing much legitimate evidence. However, some individuals’ familiarity with the human hair trade made an impact on other participants in the group, began thinking about and connecting with human hair in a new way. This example is most clear within FG1 when FG1M3 questioned other participants’ comments on people’s hair being taken unwillingly in the trade. He asked, “is it really widespread that it happens or is it just some small scare stories that it really happened? Is the illegal trade quite big then?”. This also encouraged other people to challenge their conceptions about human hair and culminated in them to expressing that their deep concern actually lay in the sourcing of the human hair. As FG1M2 said, “I think my concern would be the sourcing of it whether the hair is just been cut off someone’s head”, implying that this might not have been an act of free choice and was, therefore, abhorrent.

43

FINDINGS

On the whole, participants talked generally about their preconceived ideas of the hair

4.2 ‘Hairy’ design problems A second theme that developed within the focus groups was the notion of ‘hairy’ design problems. This was the largest theme in total and created lots of sub-themes. Overall, participants were very opinionated about the use of human hair in certain products and even offered suggestions on how to improve the application of human hair in product design, so that the products would become more acceptable. Some participants also found some human hair products disturbing, which caused them to verbally express physical discomfort and disgust. Interestingly, one of the focus groups shed light on the challenges of using human hair waste in fashion design.

4.2.1 “If I didn’t know […] then happy chappy fine” After viewing several product examples, it became clear that there was an inverse reaction between the perceived “hairiness” of a product and its acceptability to the participants as a desirable product design. FG1F3 criticised in reference to Product 10, saying, “I wouldn’t wear that, it’s too hairy”. One of the questions the researcher asked was, “Would you rather have [a puffer jacket/ fur coat] made from human hair or stick to the normal?”. Out of the two choices, participants were more acceptant of puffer jackets stuffed with human hair, over fur coats made from visible human hair. A few participants gave some insight into what their decisions. FG3F1 responded “I mean I could have a puffa made with human hair, it has to be so that I wouldn’t be able to tell though and hair not poking out”. FG1F1 said, “I would use human hair because you can’t actually see it if it’s puffing up the jacket, you can't see the hair so you wouldn’t think twice really”.

Participants’ acceptance of human hair products appeared to come down “to whether you know it or not” (FG1M5), insinuating that acceptance was grounded on whether participants can tell if it was made with human hair or not. FG2F2 explained, “If I didn’t know it [human hair] was in there, then happy chappy fine. If I knew it was in there, I would avoid it”.

FG1M5 said, “if you don’t see hair, if it doesn’t look like hair then its fine”. One participant also explained that because she knew what it was made with, it was difficult for her to accept having human hair products. It seems amongst the participants; acceptance of human hair product is greater and preferred when the appearance of the human hair has been tinkered with. Some participants even offered suggestions to modify human hair products to increase their acceptance. For example, FG3F3 said, “but maybe if it was in a different colour and not so 44

hair then maybe”. FG2F1 said, “I think I wear something with human hair if it wasn’t prickly”.

FG1M2 said, “if it looks nice, durable and cost the same or less then why not”. Overall, the participants expressed the viewpoint that they would rather choose a product that looked the least like human hair, if human hairs were to be used in the product design.

4.2.2 Physical discomfort Participants were shown examples of human hair products and were then asked to explain whether they liked the design or not. Across all groups, participants communicated in an almost unanimous reaction to the designs that were most obviously made with human hair. in reference to Product 14, FG3F1 from FG3 said, “Is that hair all over […] I can’t that would make me sick”. The notion of physical discomfort an extrapolation by participants based solely on the images of quite hairy designs. Later in the same group, FG3F3 agreed she couldn’t accept hairy designs. “No way that’s disgusting”, she said. FG2F2, from another group said, “It looks itchy already, I can't’, I'm itching myself already” and “I'm gagging”. Correspondingly, no participants chose the products that had recognisable human hair (Product 10, 11 and 14) and the common response to seeing human hair in products were “no way that’s disgusting”, “ew that’s a lot of hair though” and “I need to get rid of it”.

4.2.3 “Hairy” challenges for using human hair waste wastes from salons were to be used in the fashion industry, there was a general consensus on the need to break down people’s perceptions and the stigmas surrounding human hair.

However, FG3, the hairdresser group gave the most profound finding to this question. The hairdresser participants shared their experiences of dealing with human hair waste every day and elucidated logistical concern about how human hair can be implemented in fashion design, from a material perspective. FG3F1 raised the question, “Does it need sorting out to specific hair type, colour; because all the hair we collect up for the bins are hair from everyone, all types and colour and length. It will be a long and painstaking process if you need to sort it out”. FG3M1 related to FG3F1 by sharing what he does daily at the salon. He said, “Like what FG3F1 said the quality of the hair will be all different and to be honest 70% of my work is trimming and 30% styling. People who come in to have their hair cut is because their hair is dead or not very nice, so there’s a lot of bad quality hair”. FG3F3 also shared that “you're going to get all sorts of hair; coloured hair, ginger hair, curly straight hair, virgin hair, short, short and long, long hair”. FG3 participants recognised how the material they work with every day can have different implications for fashion design. FG3F1 shed light on how the dyeing

45

FINDINGS

When participants were asked about what challenges they see ahead if human hair

process of human hair waste for fashion products might cause difficulties difficult. She said, “you're going to get different colour hair all mixed together, if you want to dye it all into the same colour it’s going to be really hard because different hair takes colour differently”. Overall, whilst it would depend on what purpose the hair waste was used, the physical vagaries of human hair waste might make it difficult to achieve good product design.

4.3 The purpose of human hair After the researcher explained how and why human hair is being used to create many different products, focus group participants produced a range of their own thoughts. Some participants found the concept of using human hair in product attractive if it had a sustainable function. However, others did not see the point of using human hair at all. Participants from FG1 and FG3, the groups that had young adults and hair dressers, liked the idea of using human hair. FG1M3 said, “I would use human hair if it’s a waste product […] I would pick the one that is the best for the environment”. FG1F2 from the same group also expressed, “I like the movement doing better for the world, so I am for it”. Some participants even said they would use human hair material over polluting materials like faux fur. For instance, FG3M2 said, “I heard fake fur is really bad for the environment, human hair there’s so much of it so probs will be better to use that”. FG3M1 agreed with FG3M2, he said, “I do think using human hair is probably is much better than making fake fur”. Similarly, a participant (FG1M3) from another group also compared the use of human hair is better than using faux fur. Only one participant from the middle-aged group (FG3F1) thought it was a good idea to use human hair as a sustainable material because she thought the hair industry is an industry that hasn’t been invested in terms of sustainability. This example showed that participants seem interested in human hair’s sustainability function and therefore were open to the concept of using human hair as a waste-based material. However, not everyone agreed with this response.

Some, participants from FG2 and a few from other groups questioned the necessity of using human hair at all to create products. These thoughts were much related to personal preference. FG2F4 repeatedly said, “I don’t know why you need that [human hair], it really doesn’t need that” and “but again, I don’t see the point if it that’s just me”. Presenting a similar line of argument, other participants also questioned the need for human hair in products.

FG1F1 asked, “what is the purpose of the hair coming out?”. FG1M2 questioned, “what the hair here for?”. While others said that products could be remade without the need of human

46

hair. FG3F2 said, “it’s gorgeous but is there a need to have that made with human hair? I'm sure there’s similar things out there that can look like that”. In response to FG3F2, FG3F3 added, “yeah I'm not sure that you need hair for this”. The middle-aged participants were seemingly not really embracing the sustainability arguments raised earlier in the group discussion.

4.4

‘Too human’an aversion to using human by-products When discussing how human hair might be used as a waste-based material for fashion

design, the majority of the focus group participants agreed that they would like to see human hair waste being utilised. However, one participant was keen to point out that she felt unnerved by the thought of wearing a part of someone else’s body, which in turn provoked other participants to think twice about thought on human hair products. She suggested, “maybe its cus we are human, and if we know that is coming from us […] then maybe makes it gross.

Like imagine you are wearing your friend’s hair as a bag like wouldn’t that just freak you out […] It’s like oh I’m wearing Peter today, like it would be weird.”

bit of a gross idea that something is grown on someone else’s body and I'm using it as a clothing it would freak me out”. Hairdressers from FG3 also questioned the very “human” nature of hair being used in fashion products. For example, FG3F1 questioned the marketing aspect of human hair products. She quizzed, “I dunno if people will buy it, like would you buy or wear something made from your skin or other people’s skin?”. Later in the discussion, the notion of human hair being a part of the human body reoccurred when the researcher asked, “What are your thoughts if hair salons were trading or giving your hair away to be used for other purposes?”. One participant (FG1F2) compared the act of giving her hair away for other utilisation with organ donation, because her hair has her DNA and therefore, she would like to give consent for her hair to be used. On the other hand, some participants argue that the purpose of going to the hair dressers on the first place was to get rid of their hair. FG1F1 doubted FG1F2’s attitude and asked her, “Are you going to the hairdressers with the intention to cut your hair off and get rid of the hair, if you were happy to get rid of it then why do you care where it goes?”. Participants from other groups also shared the same view as FG1F1.

FG2F4 said, “I go to the hairdresser and then I leave the hairdressers I never think twice about my hair” and FG2F1 also said, “once its cut its cut”. However, FG1F2’s comment about DNA

47

FINDINGS

After FG1F1’s comment, FG1F3 responded by adding, related to her and said, “It’s a

triggered two participants to further elaborate on the notion of hair salons being able to use their hair for different purposes. FG1M5 was concerned that criminals could use the readily available human hair waste to frame a crime. He explained, “when she [FG1F2] brought the whole DNA thing into it and that made me realise that potentially like you could end up in some mixed up in situations where criminals use your DNA potentially”. While FG1F3 explained her concern of someone using her hair in a malicious way, she recalled a personal story. She said, “The whole DNA thing, because I didn’t think about that. I remember this weird boy… in school and he pulled a piece of my hair off my blazer once and said I'm going to take this home and clone you and that just flashed back, and I think it’s weird now.”

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Chapter FIVE DISCUSSION valuable insight for this research. With this in mind, the following chapter will critically evaluate the potential of human hair collected from salons as a waste-based material for fashion, utilising the themes identified by the focus group discussions and literature readings for guidance.

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DISCUSSION

Collaboration with the focus groups produced a

In this study, the way focus group discussions played an important part of a strategy to educate, define and ideate possible ways to use human hair as a new waste-based fibre for fashion design. Supported by visual examples, this focus group design allowed the researcher to explain how useful human hair waste can be in achieving circular fashion designs. They learned that hair is not simply, waste but is in fact a multifunctional by-product in its own right. Consequently, many participants of this study ended up being attracted to human hair as a waste-based material because of its sustainability credentials. This finding is in line with Pascall et al (2008), who noted that consumers; education about the purpose and environmental benefits of a product is an important component for their acceptance of comprehensive design development.

However, the assumption that consumers who are provided with information about the environmental benefits would choose to purchase green products (Pascall et al., 2008; Russo et al., 2019), was only weakly supported by the results. This study has found that participants’ acceptance of human hair as a waste-based material in products was not solely based on whether it has a sustainable value. Rather, participants held great expectations about quality, style and price and felt that human hair products would have to equal that of a new fashion product made with virgin materials (Grasso et al., 2000; Chi, 2005; Vehmas et al., 2018). As one participant mentioned, “it’s about aesthetic, durability and cost over anything else. If it’s made out of something sustainable it’s a bonus”. Accordingly, when it comes to creating human hair waste fashion designs, a key consideration would have to be creating circular designs where sustainability does not jeopardise quality and style. Moreover, the price for waste-based products would have to be reasonable, thus ensuring the price is enticing enough to lure consumers to choose human hair designs over conventional designs (Purt, 2014).

When participants expressed their personal preferences as to whether they would purchase human hair products, it was perhaps no surprise that opinion varied. Some participants had no issue with the thought of buying human hair products and simply stated that hair is just hair. Others, however, had strongly negative reactions to the sight of human hair in products, to the point where the more thought of it caused them physical discomfort. It became clear that when considering the idea of incorporating human hair into fashion products, many participants would in fact prefer not to be told ag all that these products contained human hair and would most certainly not want them to resemble human hair. For example, one participant said, “If you don’t see hair, if it doesn’t look like hair then its fine”.

Such findings resonated with the psychology of how individuals view human hair. Indeed, participants’ varying attitudes to human hair, both on and off the head offered a powerful predictor of their acceptance of it as a reusable, waste-based material. When participants 50

referred to hair on the head, their discussion evoked ideas of beauty and style. In contrast, when participants expressed their opinions of human hair that is off the head, their perception of hair changed to being something that was viewed as dirty and unclean.

In spite of the researcher having previously informed all participants of the many, sanatory, ways that human hair can be used in different industries such as food and beauty, these irrational negative attribute perceptions persisted (Saxena et al., 2013; Grupta, 2014; Kumar et al., 2015; Verma et al., 2016; Mishra, 2017). This finding here echoes Mary Douglas’s ‘matter out of place’ theory, whereby the idea of dirt is a complete social construct (Campkin, 2013). In the classic book, Purity and Danger (1966), Douglas points to the social construction of dirt. She writes: “there is no such thing as absolute dirt; it exists in the eye of the beholder”. Simply put, Douglas suggested that dirt is any matter of displaced. Therefore, when participants imagine human hair off the head, it is simply out-of-place. As a result, participants have viewed the matter of loose human hair as dirty. This negative perception also provoked participants to feel disgusted towards human hair. Some but not all, voiced their physical discomfort and frequently used the words ‘disgusting’, ‘gagging’, and ‘makes me feel sick’ when confronted with hairy human hair products. In medical terms, disgust is a psychological component that helps people to stay away from objects that are likely to get them sick (Curtis, 2011).

Although it was clear that no participants suffered from any phobias of hair such as; Trichophobia or Chaetophobia, some participants’ shared reaction of disgust towards human hair may lie in a more common anxiety. That is, a fear of human hair that might have to do with a broader fear of germs and contamination, since human hair is usually construed as being dirty (Brucculieri, 2018). Therefore, participants’ reaction to products with noticeable human hair can be interpreted as participants’ psychological response to stay away from objects that could be dirty and subsequently make them feel ill. From a design perspective, in dirt. However, this could be difficult concept to execute. As Douglas argues that to eliminate the concept of dirt, we would have to make the world to conform to an idea, in this case, the idea that human hair is clean and can be useful in fashion designs. However, socially constructed ideas are a very subjective matter and there is currently no accounting for how human beings can develop irrational fears, especially the fear of human hair (Brucculieri, 2018).

Another concern raised in the focus group was the notion that hair by its very nature was ‘too human’. Human hair’s sheer resemblance to the human body made some 51

DISCUSSION

order to for human hair products to gain acceptance, designers must eliminate the concept of

participants feel uncomfortable. Those who felt such way placed great emphasis on the fact that having an object made with human hair, especially when human hair was visible, was just ‘too human’, too familiar. For example, one participant said, “imagine you are wearing your friend’s hair as a bag […] it’s like oh I'm wearing Peter today”. On the other hand, when human hair products looked the least like human hair, this emotional response disappeared. As one participant mentioned, “I would pick them up if they were in a store and you really can’t tell the difference”. Robotics professor, Masahiro Mori tried to explain this phenomenon with his theory of the Uncanny Valley- ‘a hypothesised relation between the degree of an object’s resemblance to a human being and the emotional response to such an object’. Mori’s theory suggests that as objects starts to look more human-like, there is a point at which people start to feel it looks wrong and this elicits feelings of eeriness. And it is at this point, that they have negative feelings towards the object. Borrowing Mori’s model of the uncanny valley, Figure 13 shows a graph comparing the effects of studied participants’ emotions to how ‘hairy’ a product is. Consequently, this study has shown that the more ‘hairy’ an object is, that is the apparent hairiness or the visibility of human hair in a product, participants’ emotion towards that product would appear to fall down into the uncanny valley and the product is consequently avoided.

Before coming to any conclusion of these research findings, the work of Hanson et al.

(2005) should be considered, as it has shown that the uncanny valley phenomenon may be generational. As the original theory was stemmed from the field of robotics and animation, it was proposed that as younger generation becomes more familiar to CGI and robots, they may be less likely to be affected by this hypothesis (Hornigold, 2018). However, in the context of this study, research participants from across all groups, regardless of their age, were found to express similar feelings of uncanniness towards a few human hair products. Therefore, such emotion cannot be generalised to representing only the older generation. Nevertheless, the uncanny valley theory does play an important role in understanding and predicting why consumers may feel such a way towards humanoid designs, especially in investigating the acceptance of human hair, a human by-product, as a waste-based fibre. In order for consumers to accept human hair as a waste-based fibre for fashion design, there is most certainly a need to design products that will not fall into the uncanny valley and end up being rejected.

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Familiarity

Human Hair on the Head

Product 14 Hair Marble Table

+

Product 12 Comb Set Product 13 Jewellery Boxes

Human likeness

50%

_ Product 10 Hair Top

100%

Product 11 Hair Mug

Figure 13: a graph comparing the effects of studied participants’ emotions to how ‘hairy’ a product is.

When considering participants’ reactions to the use of human hair in fashion products, another identified theme which may present a problem with consumer acceptability, is that of the practices of the hair trade itself. Participants independently indicated how the issues of the unequal practices in human hair trade might colour their view of products made from such hair. They have a valid point. Indeed, many news media outlets and anthropologists such as Tarlo (2016) have written extensively about the hair industry has long exploited poor women opportunity, allowing hair brokers to prey on desperate women in the developing world, especially in conflict zones and war-torn countries where women are most vulnerable and disenfranchised, to cut their hair off for a few pounds (Lebsack, 2019: Online). Participants in this study were already aware that the sourcing of human hair is potentially unethical and felt that it was necessary to point this out to the researcher. This concern has deep implication, as the focus group discussion revealed that the unregulated hair trade may impact negatively on consumers’ decisions as to whether to buy products made with human hair in the future.

53

DISCUSSION

for their hair possessions. Today, the success of this trade still relies on a gap of wealth and

On a more positive note, participants were in favour of greater collaboration between the fashion industry and hair salons in order to find a design solution that would utilise the abundant human hair waste. However, participants from the hairdresser focus group were quick to identify some of the impracticalities of using salon hair waste for fashion design. As discovered and analysed in ‘Findings’, FG3 participants revealed that the hair collected in salons is very much varied in terms of quality, length, colour and type. Respectively, Mishra (2017) and Vasudev (2018) have written extensively on how the physical vagaries of human hair may have influences over how usable human hair can be. Thus, hairdresser participants reflected that depending on what designers have in mind for the product design, salon hair waste could be impractical and lack quality due to the unpredictable nature of salon customers’ hair type. Therefore, hairdressers suggested that designs made with salon hair could be unattractive for consumers. Such findings are in line with previous literature on the designing from waste. In their analysis of resource recovery from post-consumer waste, Singh and Ordonez (2015) have concluded that without control or accurate prediction of the composition of waste, it can be very challenging for designers to develop standardised products from something that is not standard. These results offer crucial evidence for future designer to understand the limitations of designing with human hair waste.

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Chapter six 55

CONCLUSION

conclusion

Research provides the evidence that we are exploiting our natural resources faster than they can regenerate (Moore and Rees, 2013). To meet future demand for fashion in a world where finite resources and a growing population are a real concern, design that uses rapidly replenishing and recycled agricultural waste can help to readjust the resource supply and demand imbalance (Saxena et al., 2013). Although Ecopreneur (2019) has criticised the fashion industry for only beginning to take steps in its sustainable journey, it is apparent that the fashion industry is increasingly committed to the circular model of production. Fashion businesses seeking alternatives to synthetic fabrics have found solutions in converting food waste into natural biofibre that can be blended into fashion product (peters et al., 2014; Anzilotti, 2018). Using low impact materials to create sustainably produced, recycled resources that follow the European Commission’s defined principles of environmental design (Niinimäki, 2013), materials and textiles innovation have proven to be a true catalyst for bringing better solutions to minimise the impact of the industry (Russo et al., 2019). Thanks to forward-thinking fashion brands fast-tracking circular concepts into niche market ready fashion goods, great initiatives can already be found in the market place today such as the previously mentioned mushroom leather (Rowe, 1999; Spring wise, 2018d, Bolt Threads, 2019; Palmer, 2019) and orange fibre (Barnes, 2017; Gintare, 2018; Orange Fibre 2019). The interaction between the fashion and food industries is beginning to completely remodel the reliance on virgin fibres for the production to accepting recycled waste fibres (Fletcher, 2008; Black, 2011).

Disruptive innovations lend hope that the future of fashion can be sustainable and economic prosperous when engaging with waste.

In this respect, human hair waste has attracted much interest in the field of sustainable material research (Grupta, 2014; Verma et al., 2016). Using past literature and three new focus group studies, this paper has discussed the gaps, flaws and possibilities of converting human hair into a new type of waste-based fibre for fashion design. From a circular design perspective, the concept of converting human hair waste into a fashion fibre conforms to the principles describing the CE. In this concept, the value of human hair is kept within a circular system. Instead of becoming a waste material, the hair is retained at the highest value and reenters the economy as something useful (EMF, 2017; ECAP, 2019). This would suggest that human hair has great potential to serve the fashion industry as a waste-based fibre. However, from a product development perspective, the work of Mishra (2017) and Vasudev (2018), as well as the focus group outcomes, has indicated how the physical vagaries of human hair may influence how useful the hair can actually be. As hair salons handle different customers everyday with different hair colour, length, type and quality; the uncontrollable and unpredictable human hair waste stream will present a challenge for designers. Since human hair waste cannot be standardised, it makes it more difficult to use it to make standardised 56

fashion designs (Singh and Ordonez, 2015). This has illustrated that human hair is not a fully competent waste fibre for fashion design. On the other hand, if the physical characteristics of human hair does not become a prevailing concern for designers, then based on the existing examples of human hair products shown in this study, it confirms that it is possible to design fashion products using human hair waste.

Abbey et al. (2015) illustrated that negative attributes appear to play a significant role in shaping consumers’ perception to product attractiveness. In order to fully determine whether human hair as a waste-based fibre was acceptable in the eyes of the consumer, the use of focus groups was used to extract such information. This study has found that, the contrast between our attitudes to hair on and off the head highlights the ambivalence many people feel towards human hair as a waste-based fibre. Some participants found human hair just hair, while others found human hair dirty and disgusting. Indeed, changing consumer perception and attitudes towards human hair has the ability to make human hair more acceptable as a waste-based fibre. However, these beliefs are socially constructed.

Psychologists have even suggested that human hair disgust sensitivity and irrational fear can vary from one individual to another (Brucculieri, 2018). Therefore, the findings from this study suggest that it could be difficult to change consumers’ perception of human hair products since people view human hair differently, depending on their own social and cultural beliefs. This is a problem that should not be underestimated. in this light, it was disturbing to fins that some participants were actively repulsed by some of the human hair products and had concerns that these products were ‘too human’.

Some even felt that the idea of using human hair in fashion design was equivalent to organ donation, in the sense that it would result in wearing a body part as part of a fashion design.

To attempt to understand why participants reacted in this way to human hair products, the researcher borrowed a psychological theory from the field of robotics and animation, to help better understand why participants had feelings of things being ‘too human’ with regards to some products, but not the others. Indeed, the result of this finding supports the idea of the uncanny valley hypothesis. It has also suggested that as long as a product design did not look too ‘hairy’, then human hair as a waste-based fibre might be easily accepted. But as soon as a product begin to look more hair like, then the more negative participants felt towards the product. Using this theory can help future designers understand how consumers may accept or reject certain products made from human hair and thus make the appropriate

57

CONCLUSION

product design amendments.

Although this study has led to accumulate some very interesting findings, the results were disappointing in reaching an overall agreement on the acceptability of human hair as a waste-based fibre for fashion application at the present time. This study has highlighted participants’ preferences and dislikes in human hair product design. Unsurprisingly, participants have mentioned that they were more likely to accept a product, if they did not know the design involved human hair. Whilst many participants associated human hair with the notion of beauty, they also saw it as dirty and disgusting. Also, there were overriding concerns that human hair products were simply too human-like and thus off-putting.

Nevertheless, considerable insight has been gained with regards to participants’ suggestions to improve human hair products to allow for better acceptance in the future. With this in min, this study has articulated participants design suggestions and ‘ideated’ three design principles for human hair design acceptance.

6.1 Design principle 1 Designers should not have a preconceived idea that products made from sustainable or waste-based materials will be preferred over new materials. The evidence from this study showed that personal preferences to products is a greater purchasing motivator than having sustainable credentials. Consumers’ acceptance to a product in general is primarily based quality, aesthetic and price, and it is rarely from what material it is made. This implies that conventional product quality, style and price must be applied to products made from human hair waste.

6.2 Design principle 2 As different people have different perspectives on human hair, designers should perhaps go as far as to fool the public that human hair designs are just new sustainable designs and that they do not need to know that these products are actually made from human hair.

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6.3 Design principle 3 This study has shown that it is possible for human hair products to not need to resemble real human hair features such as Product 12 & 13 (Appendix A). Future designs should stay away from looking too ‘hairy’ or ‘too human’ or else they would end up being trapped in the uncanny valley and rejected by consumers.

As might have been expected, the evaluations of human hair as a waste-based fibre from literature reviews and participants’ acceptance were often contradictory. The study was unsuccessful in strongly proving whether human hair can be accepted as a waste-based fibre for fashion design, as participants had dividing and controversial views on human hair and its products. However, this study has suggested three human hair design principles and predicts that if the principles are executed, there is a greater chance for human hair to be accepted as a waste-based fibre for fashion design.

6.4 Limitation Since this study was only carried out in the UK, the results might be different in different parts of Europe and especially worldwide. The qualitative research method of this study used a small sample size. But findings provide guidance for researcher sand designers about the practical improvements of designing with human hair. Therefore, the design principles of this study should be added to increase the potential of human hair used in fashion designs. Clearly, this study has some limitations. Nevertheless, the researcher believes the findings could be the basis for designing a human hair waste-based product in Stage 4 of the SDTP framework-

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CONCLUSION

‘Prototype’.

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Product 2: Imms, S. (2018) Mylo: mycelium based vegan leather alternative. Stylus. [Online image] [Accessed on 16 September. 19] https://www.stylus.com/crgqfg Product 3: Bolt Threads. (2019) Technology: Mylo. Bolt Threads. [Online image] [Accessed on 25 Jul.19] https://boltthreads.com/technology/mylo/ Product 4: Whitaker, P. and Gracia, P. (2017) Brazilian doctors use fish skin to treat burn victims. Reuters. [online image] [Accessed on 16 September. 19] https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-brazil-burns/brazilian-doctors-use-fish-skin-to-treatburn-victims-idUKKBN18L1XK Product 5: Atlantic Leather. (2019) The story behind Atlantic leather. Atlantic Leather.

[Online image] [Accessed on 2 September. 19] http://www.atlanticleather.is/thestory Product 6: Timmins, B. (2019) Meet the fish leather pioneers. BBC. [Online image] [Accessed on 2 September. 19] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47806892 Product 7: Muller, M. (2017) How orange peels are saving the world. Garden Collage.

[Online image] [Accessed on 2 September. 19] https://gardencollage.com/change/sustainability/orange-peels-saving-world/ Product 8: Terrane, F. (2018) Orange fibre, gli scarti delle arance sulle passerelle di Ferragamo. Orogastronouico. [Online image] [Accessed on 2 September. 19] http://www.orogastronomico.it/news-ed-eventi/orange-fiber-vestiti-con-gli-scarti-delle-arancesulle-passerelle-di-ferragamo/ Product 9: Salvatore Ferragamo. (2019) Orange fibre green fashion inspiration. Salvatore Ferragamo. [Online image] [Accessed on 2 September. 19] https://www.ferragamo.com/shop/ca/en/sf/collections/orange-fiber--10446 Product 10: Tarlo, S. (2018) So , what is wrong with wearing clothes made from human hair, again?, Sunday Times. [Online image] [Accessed on 3 April. 19] https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/lifestyle/2018-09-12-so-whats-wrong-with-wearingclothes-made-from-human-hair-again/ Product 11: Tucker, E. (2017) Krisztina Czika makes mugs using human hair and leg wax.

Dezeen. [Online image] [Accessed on 16 September. 19] https://www.dezeen.com/2017/03/15/krisztina-czika-makes-cups-using-human-hair-leg-waxdesign-products-homeware/?li_source=base&li_medium=carousel_block_1 Product 12: Studio Swine. (2019) Hair highway. Studio Swine. [ Online image] [Accessed on 16 September. 19] https://www.studioswine.com/work/hair-highway/ Product 13: Studio Swine. (2019) Hair highway. Studio Swine. [Online image] [Accessed on 16 September. 19] https://www.studioswine.com/work/hair-highway/ Product 14: Hendry, F. and Rigters, M. (2019) The colour of hair. Infringe. [Online image] [Accessed on 16 September. 19] https://www.infringe.com/the-colour-of-hair/

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Appendixices

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Appendix A: Visual Prompts PRODUCT 1

PRODUCT 2

PRODUCT 3

PRODCUT 4

PRODUCT 5

PRODUCT 6

PRODUCT 7

PRODUCT 8

PRODUCT 9

PRODUCT 10

PRODUCT 11

PRODUCT 12

PRODUCT 13

PRODUCT 14

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Appendix B: Focus group script Focus Group Introduction Welcome and thank you for giving your time for this group discussion. The session will last about an hour. This discussion is part of a dissertation research about new materials for fashion. In the first part I hope you will let me know about your experiences with eco-friendly materials in fashion, then we will look into some examples of waste-based fibres that already exist and would like you to let me know your opinion about it.

In the second part, we will explore a new type of waste-based fibre that is currently being investigated for this study. I would like to find out about what you think of this material and explore issues related to this new material development.

I want to encourage you to be open and honest with your contributions and feel free to disagree, but please respect the fact that other people are entitled to hold different views to you by only speaking one at a time. Also, I will aim to enable everyone to contribute equally to the discussions.

There is no right or wrong answer in this discussion, I am just interested in your opinion.

What you say is to be considered confidential within this group. I am recording this discussion purely so that I have an accurate record of what was said and by whom. The recording will be destroyed once I have a transcript of the discussion. Finally, no individuals here will be identifiable from any report that I produce.

LET’S START WITH AN ICE-BREAKER: participants go-round and introduce yourself, say something about what you are wearing today and what material is it made out of? (virgin material) PART ONE 2) First of all, this research is about waste-based materials. Has anyone here heard of the term ‘waste-based materials’? If yes, can you tell me what you know?

3) In today’s fashion climate, do you think waste-based materials are used in fashion at all?

If so, can you give any examples?

In simple terms, Waste-based Fibres is an innovation that uses waste products from other industries to produce a fibre suitable to use for fashion purposes. So, it’s kind of like recycling and ensuring that materials are getting as much use out of them as possible.

4) Raise your hand if you have ever bought any fashion products that contained recycled content? Prompt: recycled cotton, hand me downs, second hand, repurposed clothing?

And what was your motivation behind these purchases? Prompt: care about the environment, money, style, looks better?

5) Now I am going to show you a some of images of raw materials and I want you to tell me whether or not you would wear.

- mycelium, this is the root structure of the mushroom or fungus that we normally discard as waste - discarded orange peel waste - fish skin

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6) We are now going to play a little game; it’s called would you rather. I am going to show you some products and you are going to tell me which material you would rather have it made out of. Please explain your decision as much as possible.

- Would you rather have leather car seat interior made from synthetic leather or fungus waste? Why? If I now show you what material fungus can make, will this change your mind about choosing waste as material? Why and why not?

- Would you rather have a silk scarf made from synthetic silk from polyester or orange peel waste? Why? If I now show you what material orange peels can make, will this change your mind about choosing waste? Why and why not?

- Would you rather have faux leather jackets made from synthetic leather or pineapple waste? Why? If I now show you what material pineapple leaves can make, will this change your mind about choosing waste as material? Why and why not?

- Would you rather have leather handbag and accessories made from synthetic leather or fish skin? Why? If I now show you what material fish skin can make, will this change your mind about choosing waste as material? Why and why not?

- Would you rather have a pair of tracksuit or trainers made from virgin plastic/cotton or ocean plastic? Why? If I show you what ocean plastic can make, will this change your mind about choosing waste as material? Why and why not?

7) All of the images of product I have just shown you are all products made from the wasted materials I have just shown you. Now you have seen what the waste materials can make and in fact the waste materials are actually more sustainable/ biodegradable than synthetic materials, has it changed your mind about wearing or have products made out of waste?

Can you explain your though process?

PART TWO 8) Now we are going to move onto the next section, where I want to explore a new type of material that is being researched for this study. This part is all about getting consumers’ perception and attitude towards a potential fibre for the fashion industry.

Can you use 3 words to describe your feelings towards human hair?

9) What are your thoughts when you find or see or feel hair in your stuff or around you?

10) Do you think you can ever wear or have things made out of human hair? Why and why not?

11) What would be your instant reaction if you had to wear or have something made out of human hair?

12) Human hair is considered as waste in many nations. In fact, human hair as a resource can be very useful. There is currently an abundance of human hair and there always will be in the future. So, in this sense, human hair is completely renewable. Also, human hair’s unique properties have be found useful in different industries.

In agriculture, human hairs are used in some fertilisers to help people grow food.

In food, human hairs are used as a leavening agent for pizza doughs and donuts, artificial meat flavouring and in nutritional supplements.

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Human hair's strong tensile strength makes it a good material for making ropes. Human hair ropes have been used to hold the bells in Japanese temples as well as being valuable in horse riding.

Wigs and extensions are the most ancient and currently the largest human hair-based industry.

After hearing how human hairs are used in different industries, do you think human hair waste can be useful in fashion?

13) Now I am going to show you some products made with human hair and I want you to tell me which products you prefer the most and the least, and why based on what they look like.

14) I am going to bring back the ‘would you rather’ game and this time going to be all about human hair in fashion products. This time you are going to tell me if you rather use the product with its original material or choose human hair to replace the original material.

- Would you rather have your puffer jacket stuffed with duck/ goose feathers or human hair? (bear in mind that human hair is a very good insulator) or neither?

- Would you rather have your fur coat made from faux fur (more polluting than making real fur) or fur coat made out of human hair?

- would you rather have an accessory case like phone case, jewellery boxes and clutches made from plastic or biodegradable resin blended with human hair for designs?

If you have not chosen human hair as a material, can you tell me why.

15) What are your thoughts if fashion industry started to collaborate and collecting hair waste from hair salons and barbers, and recycling them into fashionable products?

16) What are your thoughts if your hair was being traded between the salon and the fashion industry?

17) Lastly, what challenges or queries (if any) do you see if human hair being used in the fashion industry?

18) Do you have any other thoughts or comments that you would like to share with us about waste-based fibres or human hair fibres? Have I missed anything?

Conclusion Thank you for your time and your helpful contribution. This research is being taken to inform the work of my dissertation research. Before you leave I want to give you your incentive for taking part today.

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Appendix C: Participant information Sheet

Study Title Waste-Based Fibre in the Fashion Industry: Gaps and Possibilities.

Invitation paragraph I would like to invite you to take part in a focus group for a postgraduate research study. You should only participate if you want to, choosing not to take part will not disadvantage you in anyway. Before you decide whether you want to take part, it is important for you to understand why the research is being done and what your participation will involve. Please take time to read the following information carefully and discuss it with others if you wish. Alternatively, ask us if there is anything that is not clear or if you would like more information (contact details provided at the end of this document).

What is the purpose of the study?

New fibres and fabrics are being made from discarded waste and it is helping to reduce the environmental impact of the world’s second-most polluting industry- fashion. The researcher is interested in understanding what consumers know about fibres made from waste and the designs produced with waste-based fibres, as a means to guide initial stages of developing a new type of waste-based fibre for the fashion industry. This project is part of a postgraduation research dissertation at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU hereafter).

Why have I been invited?

You have been selected because you have expressed interest in participating in this research activity, who has agreed to be approached regarding participating in the study.

Do I have to take part?

Your participation is entirely voluntary. Any decision regarding your participation will be confidential between you and the researcher. You are also free to withdraw from the study at any time without any repercussions to yourself.

What will happen to me if I take part?

If you agree to take part, your involvement would be as a participant in a focus group discussion with other people. The focus group will take around an hour and a half (to include registration and group discussion). The focus group will be held at MMU’s campus and at a convenient time for the people involved. During the focus group, you will also be asked to discuss various topics surrounding sustainable fibres.

Researcher Nicole Wong will lead the discussion in each focus group and will guide you through the various topics she would like to explore. There are no right or wrong answers in a discussion of this kind, the researcher is simply interested in your opinions. Furthermore, each focus group study will be video-recorded and transcribed. The research analysis will involve merging all of the transcripts from each focus group that the researcher run and looking for the common factors in what people have said. Once the researcher has done this, she intends to produce a report of the findings as part of her postgraduate dissertation project. However, you will not be identified in the recordings- the researcher will give you a number at the start of the focus group and refer to you by number throughout. If any screenshots of the video-

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recordings are used in the research analysis, all participants’ faces will be digitally cropped or edited, and you will not be identified. At the end of the focus group session, you will be asked to fill in a short questionnaire about yourself that will contribute as part of the research analysis.

Expenses and payments?

By taking part in this study, you will not receive any expenses or monetary reimbursement.

But you will receive gift at the end of the study as a token of appreciation.

What will I have to do?

You should take enough time as you feel you need to consider whether to take part. If you are interested in participating in the focus group, there is a contact email/ number for the study researcher to reply to below. The researcher will then forward you a consent form for you to sign to show you agreed to take part along with details of when and where it is suggested the focus group will take place. If you do not wish to take part, then you are not required to do anything, and we will not contact you again.

What are the possible disadvantages and risks of taking part?

There is a very small chance you may become upset if you voluntarily disclose an experience that was particularly stressful or unhappy. You are free at any stage to withdraw from the focus group or take time out if you wish. The focus group is designed to be a supportive environment and only research study participants will be present at the focus group.

What are the possible benefits of taking part?

We cannot promise the study will help you but the information we get from the study will help to increase the understanding of waste-based fibres from a consumer perspective and inform the future of waste-based fibres. And we also hope you will find the experience of taking part in the focus group interesting.

What if there is a problem?

If you have a concern about any aspect of this study, you should ask to speak to the researcher who will do their best to answer your questions. If you remain unhappy and wish to complain formally, or this study has harmed you in any way, you can contact Manchester Metropolitan University using the details below for further advise and information: Dr Joanna Blanco-Velo, Manchester Metropolitan University, All Saints Building, All Saints, Manchester, M15 6BH. Phone number: +44 (0)161 247 2621, Email: j.blanco-velo@mmu.ac.uk Will my taking part in the study be kept confidential?

Your personal detail will remain confidential. The finding of this study will be available to MMU academic staff for up to 3 years All information you may give will be treated in the strictest confidence and will be treated in accordance to the UK General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018. The researcher will take notes during the discussion and the focus groups will be recorded and transcribed. However, you will not be identified in the recordings. Any information you give during the focus group will be fully anonymised: • The researcher will give you a number at the start of the focus group and refer to you by number/ code name throughout.

• We will not tell anyone that you have taken part in the focus group, although there is a possibility that another member of the group might recognise you.

• We will not name you in any of the write ups.

• All participants in the focus group will be asked to respect the confidentiality of their fellow participants and all participants will refer to one another by numbers/ code names.

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In the research write up, the researcher will use quotes from the focus group to help illustrate the points that are being made. Some of these quotes may come from you. We will not use any quotes that might reveal who you are.

A master list identifying participants to the research codes data and any electronic data information you may give in the focus group will be held confidentially and stored securely on a password protected computer and H: Drive accessed only by the researcher. Any hard paper/taped data will be stored in a locked cabinet, within locked office, accessed only by researcher at the university. Only the researcher and the researcher’s supervisor will have access to view identifiable data.

Further information and contact details: If you have any further questions, then please feel free to contact the researcher: Nicole Wong (Email: 15103948@stu.mmu.ac.uk, Phone: +44 (0) 77 9406 5121)

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Appendix D: Consent form

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Appendix E: Focus Group 1 transcript Due to the length of the document, only 1 focus group transcript will be submitted as part of this study.

SPEAKER TRANSCRIPT Moderator: Welcome and thank you for giving your time for this group discussion. The session will last about an hour. This discussion is part of a dissertation research about new materials for fashion. The discussion will be split into 2 parts. In the first part of the session I hope you can let me know about your experiences with some materials in fashion, then we will look into some examples of materials that already exist and would like you to let me know what your thoughts and opinion on it. For the second part, we will explore a new type of material that is currently being investigated for this study. The purpose for this is for me to find out about what you think of this new material and explore issues related to this new material development within fashion.

I want to encourage you to be open and honest with your contributions and feel free to disagree, but please respect the fact that other people are entitled to hold different views to you by only speaking one at a time. Also, I will aim to enable everyone to contribute equally to the discussions. There is no right or wrong answer in this discussion, I am just interested in your opinion.

What you say is to be considered confidential within this group. I am recording this discussion purely so that I have an accurate record of what was said and by whom.

The recording will be destroyed once I have a transcript of the discussion. Finally, no individuals here will be identifiable from any report that I produce.

So, shall we begin?

Let’s start with an ice-breaker, going around the table from my left can you introduce yourself with you codename and tell me a piece of clothing that you are wearing today and what material is it made out of.

FG1F1: FG1M1: FG1M2: FG1M3: FG1F2: FG1F3: FG1M4:: FG1M5: Moderator:

FG1M4:: All: Moderator:

Um FG1F1 and I am wearing a blazer and I think is ... out of cotton FG1M1 I and am wearing a Comme des Garcons t-shirt is cotton FG1M2 I am wearing a hoodie that is a mix of cotton and polyester FG1M3 I am wearing a polo, but I am not too sure about what material is made of, I don’t really know about my material I’m afraid FG1F2 I am wearing a pink denim jacket FG1F3 and I am wearing a cotton t-shirt FG1M4: and I am wearing shoes made out of cord, rubber and [short pause] swede FG1M5 I am wearing a tommy Hilfiger t-shirt made out of cotton Thank you for all of your contribution. First of all, this research is all about wastebased materials. Has anyone here ever heard or know the term ‘waste-based’ materials’? If you have can you inform the group what you think ‘waste-based material is.

No *shaking heads indicating they don’t know* Ok, so in simple term, waste-based material is an innovation that uses waste products from other industries to produce a new material that is suitable to use. So

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its kind of like recycling and ensuring that materials are getting as much use out of them as possible before going into landfills.

FG1M4:: FG1M5: Moderator: FG1F3:

FG1 M4:: FG1F2: FG1M3: FG1M3: FG1M2: FG1M5: FG1M4:: FG1M3:

Raise your hand if you have ever bought anything that had recycle content for example recycled cotton t-shirt or repurposed clothing and tell me the motivation behind buying this product.

Probably *8 out of 8 participants raised their hand* Maybe Do you remember what you bought?

I do, I bought a swimming costume made from recycled fish nets. I’m trying to not buy anything new and I feel like I haven’t since last year. Apart from the swimsuit but I made sure it was sustainable as possible and that’s why I bought stuff made from recycled plastic sustainable material I see

I bought some t-shirts from the sustainable range in Zara *Laughed* My nan got me a t-shirt which is recycled poo, elephant poo from Thailand Thrift shop like second hand like counts? Would that count as well?

Bought a Next t-shirt and it was decomposable I have a football top that is recycled from like waste plastic from the ocean, united kit Thrift shops and stuff like that. Its cheaper than buying retail price Yes similar to that is cheaper then like after doing more research, also the environmental factor FG1F1: Yeah, I’ll say thrift shops too FG1F2: Now I’m thinking about it I bought a t-shirt from French connection, and it had a slogan on it because it was made out of plastic and it was helping the ocean. It was a boring white tshirt with a slogan on it. It was saving the ocean and it said FCUK plastic Moderator: Now I am going to show you some images of raw material, based on they look like and what it is, I want you to tell me whether you like it or not, and why.

So the first image is fungus.

FG1F1: No Would you wear it?

Moderator: FG1M3: Trigger my asthma that FG1M5: No FG1F1: No because I feel like looking at that photo is hard to image how it came become an actual piece of clothing, so I have to say no FG1M2: When you talk about fungus how does that become clothing, I can’t get my head around it. I’m curious. Fungus is meant to be an aphrodisiac FG1M5: What is an aphrodisiac? *group laughing* FG1M5: I have no idea what that means *laughing* FG1M4:: It improves your sex drive FG1M5: Oh swear?!

FG1M3: Yeh I’d back it, its good. Im sure you wouldn’t be able to tell so as long as there’s not like down side of wearing it

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FG1F2: Yeh well I mean looking at it like that I wouldn’t but its actually used in lotads already its used in everything as glue and stuff like that FG1M3: Is it?

FG1F2: Yeh its probably in all of our shoes FG1M3: Ah swear, didn’t know that FG1F2: But obviously its use its made into yeah FG1F3: Em I didn’t know it was already used in a lot stuff but I would consider it FG1M4:: Yeh im open to it more fuss about what the final deisng of the product look that than what its made out of FG1M3: Yeh FG1M4:: So I don’t care what its made out of as long as it looks cool FG1M5 Yeah I’ll agree with that as long as it look good and it doesn’t smell funny or anything like that then I’m down Moderator: The next is dead fish, would you wear or have things made out of dead fish, for example the skin FG1M3: Yeh id say the same logic apply really it doesn’t freak me out any more FG1F2: I wouldn’t like to if obviously the fish is farmed and took out of the ocean for that then I wouldn’t want to Moderator: What if this was a by-product from sustainable fisheries?

FG1M1: Using the waste, if you were to use it as like if it’s meant to go into the bin and you use it for something else… usable FG1M2: So its like the fish use for food and the bits chucked away is used for clothes yeh same as the fungus like FG1F3: I would have to say no, because I don’t eat fish I disagree I'm vegan and I wouldn’t wear it if cruelty is involved FG1M3: But if its getting chucked anyway FG1F3: But yeah you say that like about leather but normally leather by-product aren’t used for meat, it’s not by-product FG1M3: But what if these were 100% by-product FG1F3: I still wouldn’t FG1M4: Yeh I’ll wear it for sure FG1M5: Yeh I’ll wear it probably the same reason as last time really Moderator The next is would you wear or have products made from discarded orange peel waste?

FG1F2: Yeh 100% *overlaps of inaudible speech but everyone was agreeing* FG1M4: It would smell peng FG1M5: It smells nice *everyone yeahing and laughing* MODERAT So now we are going to play little game now that we have established some of the OR: raw materials. Would you rather have your leather car seats made out of fungus or synthetic leather made out of polyester, that is already perhaps in a lot of cars that you have already. So would you rather stick to the normal or would you choose to have fungus?

FG1M3: So that *pointing at the synthetic leather picture* is not a by-product?

Moderator: No, this is virgin raw polyester leather FG1M3: Right, right

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FG1F2: If it looks like this *points at synthetic leather* and it does the same job, then I'm all for the better option FG1M1: Yeh is there a price different between the 2?

Moderator: For the purpose of this research, we will take out all price consideration and just focus on the look and the type of material in discussion.

FG1M4: Then I’ll probably say that, the original raw one FG1F1: Would that one *points at Mylo leather* I think my consideration would be can you guarantee that it would do the exact same thing if someone was spending thousands and thousands of pounds on a new car and tries this out and it doesn’t last a long period of time, it would have to be guaranteed that it would work FG1F3: I defo would be open the idea of fungus because I am aware of how bad polyester is for the environment so I would choose the fungus FG1M2: I’d seconded what FG1F1 said as long as there’s a guarantee FG1M3: If it’s the same amount of money and it looked the same, I would pick that but I'm not gunna lie I wouldn’t go out of my way to find that, being realistic. Then if I am pushed for money then I would just stick to the same Moderator: Now I'm going to show you what the fungus can make. This is what fungus can make (shows picture of Mylo leather), a leathery type of fabric. Now that you have seen the potential of what fungus can make, has it changed your mind?

FG1M4: Oh sick!

FG1F3: Woah FG1M3: It looks like crocodile skin it’s kinda waves, I think that looks quite cool actually FG1M4: It looks sick! It looks good.

FG1F3: You’ll look like such a pimp driving with that in your car FG1M3: Actually yeah I think that looks cooler than normal FG1F1: I said earlier no to fungus, trying the fungus out but because I couldn’t imagine what it will look like but now seeing what it could look like I would try it FG1F2: I think because if people see it as fungus not what it has the potential to be FG1M4: That was a nice surprise, wasn’t expecting that Moderator: Let’s move onto the next one *putting down birikin bag and fish skin and leather down* FG1F2: That’s a nice bag haha If you have to choose your leather accessories, handbags, purse, card holders would you choose synthetic leather or leather made out of fish skin.

FG1F2: Synthetic FG1F3: Synthetic FG1M1: If it was by-product it could make a nice wallet FG1M3: Ive got a synthetic leather wallet now and its crap FG1F2: Why would you want the fish skin over the synthetic sorry, fish skin over synethric leather though FG1M1: Personally I quite like exotic leather, like, that will look quite nice ive never sseen a fish skin one so I would quite like one FG1M3: It would be quite cool FG1M1: Yeah I curious of what I would look like FG1F2: Ok well what if that looks exactly like this and they are both shown in front of you and you had no idea which one is which and they are identical FG1M5: You would choose the fish skin FG1F2: Would you still choose the fish skin FG1F3: The synthetic would definitely last longer

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FG1M1: FG1M3: FG1F3: FG1M3: FG1F3: FG1F2: FG1M4: FG1M2: FG1M1: FG1M3: Moderator:

FG1M4: FG1M3: FG1M4: FG1M1: FG1F2: FG1F3: FG1M5: FG1M4: FG1M5: FG1F1:

FG1M3: Moderator FG1F2: FG1F3: FG1M1: FG1M3: FG1F3: FG1M1:

The synthetic is never like the original, like crocodile and ostrich What would last longer?

I think synthetic because that’s biodegradable because its flesh So you think it would wear away I think so It would probably be lased synthetic stuff anyway What I would have said probably buy smaller accessories like card holder or wallets out of fish skin and bigger things like duffle bags out of synthetic I like the idea of the fish skin I still think the use of that would still encourage or keep the demand for fish farming, quite at a high amount even though its still using the all of the animal.

If the fish was dead and washed to shore, you can make a little business and use the skin to make little key chains Would it be more expensive because I just get my wallets from TKMaxx for like 16£ and they break after a while, will this be quite like designer stuff?

Fish skin has the potential to make a leather-y type of material like this. The skin can also take natural dye very well so there’s chemical and water contamination when producing fish skin leather than synthetic leather. Now you have seen the potential product has it changed your mind? *show pictures of fish skin leather* That looks hard, cold That (fish skin leather) looks more textured than the synthetic I think the fish skin is more textured it looks more cool Yeah it does When you think of the environment and how much waste goes into the environment when making synthetic leather there could be more problems later on when the synthetic enters the environment again as waste You are so right there’s the whole debate about synthetic, I (as a teacher) had this debate at school and the kids all think that faux fur is the best option but actually the way faux fur pollutes is actually worse than real fur Polyester is basically oil Well that a bit of a dilemma init really A bit of a sticky one Ill probably base it on durability to be honest whatever is the most durable out of the 2, because they you use it more on everyday basis If the fish version became more popular, would this not also create issues where people want to make more money by going out and actually just fishing for skin? So they can kill them and use it for their skin if they are expensive to begin with, what would stop people kill fish for products But there must be so much fish skin waste surely demand for this stuff will never catch up with the amount of waste If you had the choice, would you rather have your silk pyjamas or silk scarf made from synthetic silk made so polyester or silk made out of orange peels?

Orange peel Orange NO WAY! Is it just as comfy?

A hundred percent I can get orange peel boxers

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FG1M5: That would be comfy that Moderator: Now that you have seen what potential waste can be like, do you think you can have something made from waste?

FG1M5: It depends how it looks FG1M2: Having the waste is not a deciding factor, its about aesthetic, durability and cost over anything else. If its made out of something sustainable it’s a bonus FG1M3: I never look at what material FG1M4: No but you do have to take into account of how it feels FG1M3: But more like I don think like it had this much cotton or this much material FG1M2: If it can do the same job then yes but its not something that I seek out to buy FG1F3: The only thing I look for is whether it was made with animals or not FG1F2: If I see something and I like the look of it and it was made out of something sustainable or money go to a good cause then. Like that t-shirt from French connection, I was like the money was going to save the ocean I'm going to buy it Moderator: Thank you for all of your contributions, we will now move into the second part of this discussion. I want to talk to you about a new material that is being researched for this study, this part is all getting your perceptions and attitudes towards this material. The idea is seeing how human hair can be used as a material for the fashion industry.

FG1F1: FG1M1: FG1M2: FG1M3: FG1F2: FG1F3: FG1M4: FG1M5: Moderator: FG1M1: FG1F1: FG1M1: FG1M2: FG1M3: FG1M5: FG1M4: FG1F3: FG1M4: FG1M3: FG1F2: FG1M3: FG1M5:

Going around the table again, starting from my left, can you tell me 3 words that describes your feelings towards human hair in general?

Annoying, pretty and expressive Funky, gets everywhere and …

Messy, unhygienic and dirty Tedious, nice and brown Temperamental, disgusting and confident boosting Stressful, important and long Style, health and can’t think Expensive cus hairs cuts and stuff all the time, stylish and yeh can’t think of anything anymore.

We are going to go around again, tell me what you think when you see or feel loose hair around, in your food, next to you, or you feel it? What is your instant thought?

If its curly and ahhh *looking not very comfortable with the idea* *shouts* REPLUSE, is definitely one If it doesn’t look like yours then it would put you off A little put off but not that big of a deal, cus its hair Yeah who cares! I really couldn’t care less if there’s hair like if its someone elses hair in my plate of food I’ll just pick it off Yeh and carry on It is nitty though Its rank Its disgusting Nah but it’s just hair like It’s a good way to get 20% off your food [bill] But it’s just hair, hair is like nothing Dead skin particles isn’t it?

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FG1F3: If there’s a hair in my cereal bar that would freak me the f**k out FG1M5: Yeh packaged food if that had it erughh FG1F2: In a public place its disheartening, but if I'm at home I know I malt anyway so I'm not bothered FG1M5: Everyone at home is hygienic anyway well you would presume so if it’s anyone’s hair you would be fine with it FG1F3: I think I'm more grossed out by human hair than animal hair. I guess cus I have a lot of animals and animal hairs are everywhere FG1M5: So are you saying animal hair is cleaner FG1F3: Its probably not but it freaks me out human hair FG1M5: Well if you have dogs then you are used to having like dog hairs everywhere FG1F1: If its human hair I always think to myself like where it has come from, have they washed recently, because if it’s in my food then I'm thinking like erughh they unhygienic, if they ok?

Moderator Lets recap to all those waste-based materials we looked at earlier, so all of those waste would have been clean and processed before making them into new products. If the same logic applied to human hair, do you think you can ever wear or have things made out of human hair? Why and why not?

FG1F2: I feel like my initial thought was no, but then it would be hypocritical if I will have human hair extensions in the future. It’s just they might not have been from the girl next door but they are probably from a girl in Russia or something, so whats the difference? But the thought, I don’t know, I find it weird and human hair is meant to be stronger than most thread isnt it?

FG1M3: I 100% would, I don’t have any unhygienic or dirty connotation with hair so that’s completely fine with me FG1F1: If I had a bag made out of human hair, would I be carrying it thinking where is it come from? Has it been taken like has it been willingly taken *participants laugh* FG1F1: Well you know some kid from Africa has their head shaved off for extensions and stuff FG1M4: Yeh that is true FG1M3: Really?

FG1F1: It would make me think where has it come from and it would stress me out and it has been grown on someone’s head and it was taken unwillingly and I'm using it as a bag to carry my phone around then I would think twice FG1F3: It would majorly freak me out, it’s a bit of a gross idea that something is grown on someone else’s body, and I'm using it as clothing it would freak me out. And I would like to see what it would look like. Also, will always been worried about the ethical matter of it because there’s always a black market for everything and you wouldn’t want that bit clothing with hair coming from a dodgy source FG1F2: So that, that’s quite you to have that opinion because you obviously you're vegan so you have that opinion on leather whereas I’ve just said that’s gross human hair but I don’t feel the same way about leather, but I do subconsciously but I don’t look at a leather handbag and be like erughh that’s disgusting that’s a cow skin I just look at it as that looks quite nice I might take it home with me. But I guess it’s the same thing isn’t it growing.

FG1F1: Maybe its cus we are human, and if we know that is coming from us from another human being but you couldn’t come in contact in your life then maybe makes it gross. Like imagine you are wearing your friend’s hair as a bag like wouldn’t that just freak you out.

FG1M3: No, I really don’t FG1M2: It’s like the fungus FG1M5: If you don’t see hair, if it doesn’t look like hair then its fine FG1F1: If you have hair on the top, it’s like oh I'm wearing Peter today. Like it would be weird

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FG1M3: FG1F1: FG1M2: FG1M3: Moderator: FG1F2: Moderator:

*group laughing* No I think it would be quite fun Next time I have a haircut, I’ll give you some I think my concern would be the sourcing of it whether the hair is just been cut of someone’s head Is it really that widespread that it happens or is it just some small scare stories that it really happened? Is it the legal trade quite big?

Hair grows quicker in tropical climate regions What would be your instant reaction if you had to wear or have something made from human hair?

It would be rank, it would be let’s be honest, you said (pointing at FG1F1) have a top made out of human hair like erughh that’s so weird I really don’t have that connotation with it though Yeh I don’t think I would care that much If it’s a handbag or something like that it would be incredible, I think a handbag would be ok but ED’s reaction to it (looking indecisive). But if its in front of me it might be amazing If someone rocked up in t-shirt made with human hair and It looked like any other t-shirt that would be sick, it wouldn’t occur to me that’s disgusting I would just think fair Its like my t-shirt made from elephant poo like I don’t really think about it I just wear it; I don’t think about it like this is crap I rather wear human hair than real leather If I can’t see it I would wear it I guess *5 out of 8 participants nodded their heads* I just wouldn’t be able to get the fact about where it come from out of my head because its from a person and whether they depend on it But you also don’t know where your leather came from Yeh see that’s the same issue I find that it’s a bit, using a [leather] bag and a [leather] top I would be thinking, but I can get over that whereas hair from human, it would just run through my head too much that it’s a person But why do we need to use human hair surely human hair will be thread with other fibres and synthetic fibres to make it durable so I can’t see how would the illegal trade that can come with it make it sustainable Human hair is considered as waste in many nations but in fact human hair as a resource is very useful. There is currently an abundance of human hair and there always will be in the future. So, in this sense, hair is completely renewable. Human hair’s other unique properties have also been found useful in different industries.

In food for example, human hairs are used as a leavening agent for pizza and donuts, as well as artificial meat flavouring and in nutritional supplements.

Really?!

We are eating human hair when we eat pizza?

It’s probably broken down and grinded It’s probably not the worst thing you eat In agriculture, human hair is used in some fertilisers to help people grow food. So, your lettuce leave could have come from a farm that uses fertilisers that contained human hair Yeh I’ve heard about that Human hair’s strong tensile strength makes it a really good material for rope making and it has found its use in horse riding. And of course, wigs and extensions are the most ancient and the largest human hair-based industry. After

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FG1F2: FG1M3: FG1F3: Moderator:

FG1M2: FG1F1: FG1M4: FG1F2: FG1M3: FG1F1: FG1M3: FG1M3: FG1F1: FG1F2: FG1M4:: FG1M3: FG1F1: FG1F2: FG1F1: FG1M3: Moderator: FG1F2: FG1M3: FG1F1: FG1M4: FG1M2: FG1F3: FG1M4: FG1M3: FG1M1: Moderator: FG1F3: FG1F2: FG1F1: FG1M4:

hearing how human hair’s utilisation in different industries, do you think human hair waste has a chance to be used in fashion?

If you think of it as the raw material rather than human hair than is currently on our heads, and think about the properties that it has then 100% if you allow yourself to separate the two Again I really don’t have any negative connotations, but it all comes down to what it looks like Yeh I would prefer to wear it than eat it Now I am going to show you some products that is actually made with human hair content. Tell me which ones you prefer the least and the most based on what the product looks like with the hair in it. *putting down images of human hair product onto the table* They are all made with human hair?

Oh rahhted I'm looking at it now and it looks pretty scatty Is this a table? *gasp* I'm out of here Is that a mug, arghh I don’t know about that mug. Surely you don’t need the hair coming out of the mug like that I wouldn’t drink something out of a mug that has someone’s hair coming out of it That that that is a no I think the coolest is the combs I really like those *points at the jewellery box* See there is just something about this that just doesn’t freak me out and I would whack that on my head straight away That’s a jumper That’s a jumper That’s a bag OH no no no, hahaa I though they were hair extensions I thought that was a bag That’s just not very like nice if it was fake I just wouldn’t wear it Let’s go through these images one by one. Let’s start with this one what do you think of this hair top?

Yes no its ugly It’s just ugly anyway it’s not because of the fact it’s made out of human hair it’s just ugly No No I wouldn’t back that Not because of the hair, it’s just aesthetic No its because of the hair No it’s the hair It looks like you are wearing a yeti’s beard Looks like someone hasn’t shaved for a couple of months and grown This mug?

No NO NO No, STRAIGHT in the bin

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FG1M3: FG1F1: FG1F3: FG1M2: FG1F3: FG1F1: FG1F2: FG1M4: Moderator: FG1M3: FG1F1: Moderator: FG1F1: Moderator: FG1M4: FG1M2: FG1M5: FG1M4: FG1M5: Moderator: FG1M5: FG1M4: FG1M3: FG1M4: FG1F3: FG1M2: FG1F1: FG1F2: Moderator: FG1M3:

Nah that hair coming out you can’t have that What is the purpose of the hair coming out?

Id like to see it in a museum as art but that’s it What the hair here for?

The design What if you are drinking and some of the hair from the mug got stuck in your mouth Erughh It’s the best bit *everyone laughs* These combs set Yeh definitely really cool really like those Yeh they’re cool *8 out of 8 nodded and agreed* Jewellery boxes and phone cases Yeah *8 out of 8 agreed* Glasses frames The look hard Yeah They look like tortoise shell or whatever they it’s called But that’s a colour though But they [human hair] can do that Table with human hair marbling It just reminds you of hair in your food *6 out of 8 participants agreed with DC yeahing* I wouldn’t cop it I wouldn’t buy you You know what actually I could actually I would buy it I would possibly buy that I wouldn’t spend money on it but if I saw it at someone else’s I would think it was cool I wouldn’t eat food of it but I wouldn’t eat food off it, it’s not for food You don’t really want to look at hair when you are eating It’s the same about the fungus though, when its completely turned into something else, like the jewellery boxes you can’t tell its human hair I'm all for it! But when it looks like human hair I don’t need it in my life The last one, the pouf slash bean bag that’s is stuffed with human hair its seethrough Does it feel like hairy

FG1F1: That is a lot of hair though FG1F3: TOO much hair FG1M3: *contemplating* that one would be a bit I don’t know load of hair FG1M5: You would think how many people’s hair is in it FG1F3: If it wasn’t see-through and can’t see all the hair inside it then maybe FG1F2: See the concept is cool but I just don’t know don’t need it in my living room

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FG1M5: I think it comes to whether you know it or not FG1F2: I appreciate it, but I don’t need or want it FG1M4: I agree with you FG1F1: Do you also not think that some people have taken years to grow out that hair for you to just sit on FG1M4: Hair grows back though Moderator: We are going to bring back the would you rather game. I am going to say an item and this time you are going to choose between original material or human hair material and tell me why and what is your thought process behind making your decision.

If you were to buy a new puffer jacket, would you rather stick to the filling material that you always buy, e.g. duck and goose down fillers, synthetic fillers or human hair fillers? Bear in mind that human hair is a very good insulator and traps heat very well.

FG1M4: I’d probably choose human hair because when you got a puffer jacket on the duck feathers sticks out FG1M3: Yeah that’s right FG1F2: That’s what I was going to ask if the human hair stick out is it going to look like human hair?

FG1M1: *reacting to FG1F2’s question with disgust* FG1M5: If its inside the puffer jacket how is it going to come out?

FG1M2: Yeh its got a lining over it FG1F1: I would use human hair because you can't actually see it if it’s puffing up the jacket you can't see the hair so you wouldn’t think twice really.

FG1M1: I would still go for the goose feather that just my preference because they can survive in the wild and I don’t think my hair would survive in the wild in the cold, the feathers are going to mean more warmth FG1F1: Your jacket is going to have more hair than what’s on your head right now FG1M1: You can shove another 5 ducks in the jacket to keep warm FG1M3: I would use human hair if it’s a waste product, but if there 3 of the same jackets I would pick the one that is the best for the environment, same price and everything.

FG1M4: Surely wouldn’t it be cheaper because it’s just waste it’s not take it off anyone, like hair from haircuts you know, on the floor FG1M5: I think they do recycle that now FG1F1: RECYCLE? *sounds and looked shocked* FG1M5: Like sent off to be used as hair extensions FG1F3: If that could be used and it didn’t matter of the length, then that would be amazing Moderator: If you were to buy a fur coat or something with fur on it, would you rather stick to the fur that you always buy or choose human hair fur this time? Think about how soft human hair can be and how silky they are on hair extensions.

FG1F2: ah good point actually FG1M3: Human hair, the same reason as before FG1M1: How many people have actually gone and make this jacket? How many people have gone and died naturally to make this jacket?

FG1F3: No one dies for it, they cut it off FG1M1: That would freak me out, why would they actually wear it

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FG1M3: I’d back it because faux fur is bad in a lot of ways so yeah FG1F3: I’d used a human hair lined jacket cus you can’t tell really FG1M4: Yeah same FG1F2: Out of the 2 yeah id wear human hair Moderator: Even if you can see the hair?

FG1F3: It would freak me out and I probably choose neither if I'm honest but if I had to choose one it would be puffer jacket FG1M3: Yeh I don’t really like fur jacket in the first place anyway FG1M2: It’s not something I would wear normally but I wouldn’t mind Moderator: Would you like to see fashion brands to collaborate with hair salons to do something about the hair waste?

FG1M5: I’d like to see fashion collab with hair cus I think its defo better than throwing it away FG1F2: I like the movement doing better for the world, so I am for it FG1F3: I'm open to it but its gunna have to look much cooler than a normal cotton t-shirt. There needs to be a woah FG1M2: If it looks nice, durable and cost the same or less then why not FG1F2: I don’t want to be like ew its human hair, I want it to be like woah its human hair FG1M3: I'm not going to purposely buy it cus its human hair or not, its just about what it looks like for me FG1F2: Aesthetics Moderator: Ok now what are your thoughts if hair salons were trading or giving your hair away to be used for other purposes? After you have been for a haircut.

FG1M3: I couldn’t care less FG1M2: Should I consent?

FG1F2: Well its my DNA so I would like to consent FG1M3: Its good its like you should donate your organs too FG1M2: A little bit of me would be like yeah give it away but its my hair my DNA I would like to know where it is going but I'm not too too fussed FG1M5: FG1F2 she brought the whole DNA thing into it and that made me realise that potentially like you could end up in some mixed up in a situation where criminals use your DNA potentially FG1M3: But that’s like you left your finger prints on atm, they can just copy that FG1M5: I think its easier to use someone’s hair FG1M2: Hair is tangible, if it got gathered up transport it to somewhere else FG1M3: We are saying this its not like we haven’t just handed out our whole life to Facebook online details, finger prints are everywhere, I feel like we are so far gone in that, human hair is not as important FG1M2: I agree with that that’s why I said I'm not too fuss.

FG1F2: I'm consenting I'm not paying a hundred pounds hair cut then for them to sell my hair they have chopped off, my DNA *protective tone* FG1F1: Aren’t you going to the hairdressers to with the intension to cut your hair off and get rid of the hair, if you were happy to get rid of it then why do you care where it goes?

FG1F2: Because I think it goes in a bin and into the landfill and never see it again, not its gone to America and someone is sitting on it FG1M3: You don’t want the hair dressers to wholly benefit FG1F2 If I know where its going then fine whatever but if don’t know where its going its weird FG1M3: So you want a compensation? I see that you don’t want the hair dressers to profit from selling your hair away

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FG1F2: I just don’t want my DNA to end up in Africa or China Moderator: Even if hair dressers were giving it out for free?

FG1F2: I still want to know.

FG1M2: I’d like to know Moderator What challenges do you see if human hair was to be used in fashion?

FG1F3: The whole DNA thing, because I didn’t think about that. I remember this weird boy called= Ollie Martin= in school and he pulled a piece of hair off my blazer once and said I'm going to take this home and clone you and that just flash back and I think its weird now.

FG1M3: For me I think its just about replacing the aesthetic is it going to be all the clothes I like currently in terms of aesthetic look like quite cool or is it just limited to look hairy products FG1M2: I think the same getting it and break down the stigma of [human] hair, getting the aesthetic to a point where people who think its sick regardless of what its made out of, price as well FG1F2: Its just changing the stigma of every single generation will be so difficult even trying to persuade my mother now about certain environmental things or no it doesn’t go into landfill it ends up here is a battle FG1M3: Older people just don’t care, like my parents FG1F2: Its just difficult FG1M2: Also it has to be convenient for it to work, if it’s not then people are not going to go out of their way to get it FG1F2: I'm not going to go out of my way to London to go to a tiny boutique somewhere just because that one place is selling stuff that is good for the environment FG1M4: Exactly accessibility Moderator: Lets round up the discussion, anyone have any other thoughts or comments that they would like to share about waste-based materials and human hair? Have I missed anything?

FG1F3: I have a thought really with the whole world dying situation, we shouldn’t really be buying anything new unless it’s a necessity. Say if I really needed a hair brush and my hair brush broke, and the hair brush was made from human hair that would be something that I would more likely buy than fashion.

Moderator: Well thank you for your time and contribution to this discussion, it was very insightful to hear different people’s thoughts and opinions. This research is being taken to inform the work of my dissertation research. Before you leave, I want to give you a gift for taking part today. Thank you again.

Duration: 00:57:09

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