Citizen Creathon and Value Labelling

TCBL HANDBOOKS

CITIZEN CRÉATHON AND VALUE LABELLING

Co-funded by Horizon 2020

TCBL 646133 – HANDBOOK RELEASED AS ANNEX X TO D4.4 30 June 2019

THE CHALLENGE As has been verified in the course of the TCBL project, there are substantive indications that consumers are shifting towards a more sustainable Textile and Clothing sector.

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They are expressing their voices against the negative consequences of a fast-fashion system and are paying greater attention to the conditions of workers all around the globe, even more so when they learn how unhealthy dyes or finishings can be for people1.

They can now find alternative ways to get clothes, from purchasing less to buyingreselling or renting. The second-hand market is estimated to be € 1 billion (France, 2018) and growing, thanks to double the number of buyer-sellers (31% compared to 15% in 2010)2.

They tend to prefer brands that have a sustainability credo, sometimes act for it and get angry when sustainability commitments are reduced to propaganda or greenwashing.

They start appreciating the value of textiles or garments, beyond their price, from the environmental, social and economic angles.

However, the real movement towards sustainability is slow, as the whole value chain has a long-established inertia. When it comes to brands, there is still a lot to achieve from the more established groups. For younger brands that are conscious of the customers’ ecological concerns, the challenge is even harder. They are convinced that the only way to develop in the long run is to be sustainable at a fair price, yet they are facing fierce competition from existing brands that limit their entry on the market, imposing their costly labels or low prices.

In this context, a double-pronged initiative – mixing a bottom-up citizen engagement exercise with a more top-down value labelling analysis – was launched to see how TCBL could help younger brands live up to their promises on brands and prices: • •

To test how to co-design sustainable actions for SMEs with citizens.

To test how to transform the price issue into a value trigger.

The results of this initiative, named Citizen Créathon and Value Labelling, are here summarized to provide other members of the TCBL network with consumer-based scenarios that they can further test with their own communities of citizens and SMEs.

Source IFM. The top 2 risks associated with a far-away country were children’s work and usage of health-endangering chemicals. Research conducted in 2018 with a panel of brands.

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Source IFM research, 2018.

Citizen Créathon and Value Labelling TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs

THE APPROACH This initiative was launched following discussions in TCBL concerning consumers’ levers and barriers to sustainability and was articulated in two distinct pilot projects.

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The Citizen Créathon had the specific objective to answer the question of “How to better engage citizens in the co-design of sense-full brands?”. It was conducted in partnership with Makesense, holding a 10-year experience in engaging citizens to change the world, and with the Famae Foundation, that from 2019 on supports water related actions and targets Textile and Clothing (T&C) because of the high levels of consumption and pollution of water. Citizens have helped a lot in giving tips derived from their water usage’ habits and the relevance of experiential communication with them – through e.g. artistic street events, online regular communication or a feedback collection tool – has been emphasized as a condition for gaining impact.

Value Labelling explored how Price could be better associated with Value, aiming to answer the question “How to make the contribution to sustainability clear and real, behind the price?”. Fifteen T&C companies were benchmarked, which helped TCBL to a) confirm that value is strategic for a company aiming at sustainability, b) demonstrate that value comes up with an evidence-based transparent system of communication, c) identify five scenarios to help or nudge consumers into acting more sustainably.

The two projects had similarities in their approach.

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They were based on varied cases, including from companies who were not yet TCBL Associates.

The selection was made with the support of academics and TCBL Advisors, mainly related to IFM. The sources for the analysis of the cases merged online research and interviews.

For each case, a number of paths and scenarios to greater sustainability were identified.

The whole approach included regular debriefs with the French TCBL community, to provide and receive on-going insights and ideas.

The main specificities laid in the following aspects: •

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The Citizen Créathon was based on the hackathon method, a well-known and documented approach in the technology sector3 but relatively new to Textile and Clothing. A number of Fashion Hackathon organizers were therefore interviewed, to get a better feeling on best practises in the T&C sector.

Value Labelling as a concept is still experimental. Price is such a sensitive issue for most companies that any change in its consideration raises the more general question of how much profit is made and for whom. In this project, the various cases selected had a wide geographical scope, to ensure a broad representation of opinions.

In the remainder of this Handbook, we provide short summary reports of the two projects for inspiration and benchlearning purposes.

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bemyapp estimated a number of hackathons held in 2017 close to 3450 worldwide from nil in 2010.

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THE CITIZEN CRÉATHON

This pilot project was organised with the following sequence of actions.

REVIEW AND SELECTION OF EXISTING CASES With the help of IFM and TCBL Labs, we searched the existing Fashion Hackathons, with or without the participation of TCBL SMEs. Surprisingly, we did not find very many examples around, except for some technology fields (see the Table on the next page). None of them included final consumers, however, not even those concerned with sustainability related issues.

PILOT OBJECTIVE The FAMAE Foundation4 and Makesense5 provided IFM with an opportunity to work on a type of hackathon that would include citizen-consumers. Makesense has a ten-year experience in citizens’ engagement to change the world. The FAMAE Foundation started in 2019 to explore global water related challenges of the future. By adhering to this initiative, they aligned to their mission to search for pragmatic solutions to reduce the use of clean water, make better use of it, decrease the pollution of water in production processes and increase recycling of polluted water.

METHODOLOGY Makesense has developed a toolbox of moderating techniques, to make hackathons, workshops, events etc. standardised and personalised – in line with their clients’ objectives. The Citizen Créathon started with a call for projects launched at the end of December 2018, which brought in 30 SMEs, all with a vision of sustainability and an interest in a fair T&C industry.

15 SMEs were selected (including 5 TCBL Associates) on the basis of their main proposition.

Makesense also enlisted 100 citizens interested in participation and 20 mentor-coaches, 6 of whom were TCBL Advisors.

The Citizen Créathon was conducted on February 1st and 2nd 2019 in Paris, at the Makesense premises. The event unfolded according to the following phases: inspiration talks; 1st pitch; reformulation of problem; creative sessions with citizens and coaches; feedback from mentors; 2nd revised pitch, including the final solution.

DEBRIEF AND CONCLUSIONS A debrief was conducted on the Citizen Créathon results with Makesense and the TCBL Associates and Advisors involved. This was enlarged to a comparison with other existing cases.

The conclusions were that the management of water resources is of utmost importance for e.g. cotton, tanning, denim (due to its widespread use and high environmental impact), and when real progress is achieved on this issue, •

It should be communicated to end consumers in a modern and experiential way, e.g. taking inspiration from social network success stories such as the ice-bucket challenge or the shoe pyramids;

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https://famae.earth/en/

5

https://makesense.org/en/

Citizen Créathon and Value Labelling TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs •

It should be linked with other aspects of a SME’s environmental progress, to convey a holistic message that is easier to understand for consumers.

This analysis helped understand that future Citizen Créathons would benefit from: •

A very clear, concrete output to be produced: a product, a service, an app etc.

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The best possible alchemy between citizens and professionals. This positive mix should occur and be checked at the beginning and all along the process, which must be as agile as possible (allowing test and learn quick phases).

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Moderating techniques being as visual and playful as possible.

Comparative analysis of Hackathons in the T&C sector.

Former Hackathons

Citizen Créathon

Organizer

IFM Entrepreneurs

IFM Entrepreneurs IFM Management St Martins

La Fabrique

Makesense TCBL

Key Objective

Practise

Solve

Solve and implement

Solve and implement

Brief

Hypothetical cases

Real cases

Real cases

Real cases

Number of cases per session

1-2

3-4

6-7

12 - 15

Team profiles

Fashion students

Fashion with Tech students

Fashion with Tech students

Citizens, Professionals

Modalities

1 case / team

1 case / several teams

1 case / several teams

1 case / team

Mentoring

Teachers

Teachers, Experts, Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs

Experts, Entrepreneurs

Duration

1 -2 days

1 - 2,5 days

1 day

1,5 day

Examples of results

How to optimize logistics for unused material

How to prototype a connected bag

How to develop an app for a retail fair

How to engage citizens in finding relevant water solutions

As can be seen from the above Table, there are many similarities between the Citizen Créathon and other fashion hackathons in preceding experiences. The main difference in this case was the direct involvement of citizens, which had a very strong impact on the types of solutions identified.

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VALUE LABELLING

This pilot project was organised with the following sequence of actions.

OBJECTIVE The Value Labelling project aimed to explore how Price could be better associated with Value.

The initial hypothesis was that a Scoring Tag (such as those commonly found on home appliances for their energy efficiency) would be enough to enhance the visibility of a garment’s sustainability value. However, in the course of the pilot, it was understood that a number of different perspectives would contribute to enhancing the consumer’s perception of this value.

METHODOLOGY •

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15 T&C companies were benchmarked against sustainability criteria with the help of IFM related academics and advisors. Among the used benchmarks, 7 were the TCBL principles.6 A mixed approach was adopted, of desk research using the resources of IFM documentation centre and face-to-face or phone interviews.

Each benchmark was synthetized in a 4-themed grid: Company proposition, Customers’ needs and wants, Key actions, Summary of Value (vs Price).

Intermediate debriefs were conducted with the French TCBL community, to get further insights and ideas.

CONCLUSIONS This pilot project helped TCBL to validate that: • •

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Value demonstration is strategic for any company aiming at sustainability.

Value becomes visible with an evidence-based transparent system of communication.

What is important is to give the proof of what is claimed; it’s much better to claim less and be able of proving it.

Value creation is a never ending process. Being a very ambitious goal, it has to be constantly developed, step by step.

Five scenarios were found as entry points to Value creation and demonstration, four of which are applicable to single brands and one only to multi-brands.

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Re-work production. Money should first be invested in a more sustainable production capacity, including more ecological materials, better paid workers and more efficient logistics.

Design for sustainability. This helps produce essential clothes that last, taking into account all the details that make garments wear out quickly and the quality of material or perceived look.

Produce locally. Creating a local ecosystem of brands and producers is a sensible way to become sustainable. It can also help re-start or re-build local factories.

Explain with a tag. As in the food and home equipment sectors, the idea could be to launch a Scoring Tag similar to those on home appliances but in this case summarising the garment’s water and carbon footprints.

https://tcbl.eu/tcbl-ecosystem/values

Citizen Créathon and Value Labelling TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs •

For multi-brands, only: Adopt tools that allow to compare performance across companies.

Comparison of the five value scenarios.

Mono-brand

Scenario of sustainable value

Rework production costs sustainably

Design carefully

Multi-brands

Produce locally - ethically

Explain environmental footprint

Compare suggest

Examples

Asket, Everlane, Maison Standards

Everlane, Loom, Asket, Maison Standards

1083, Veja, Loom

Les Tissages de Charlieu, Asket

Clothparency, SloWeAre

Main focus

Production cost = material + labor + logistics

Durable design for essentials

Local ecosystem, from raw material to final production

Selection of criteria: 3 / 4 groups, Weighted analysis

Product or brand approach

Customer main information

Direct price = Production cost x 2,2 / 3,2 Traditional retail price = Production cost x 5 / 7

Functional analysis of product, step by step

% of production made in the local ecosystem : 90% or more

Summary indicator : Letter (A to E) or % for traceability

Groups of indicators Clothparency: 8 SloWeAre: 6

Easy to understand

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+

Easy to believe

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“For me” emotional impact

Medium

Medium - High

High

Low - Medium

Medium - High

Tag

Brand name

Brand name

Brand Name NB Borne 1083 is a play on words with Milestone

Les Tissages de Charlieu scoring tag

Not relevant

Innovation

Everlane Choose what you pay: Low (production costs) to High ( invest for ecology)

No sales No unnecessary tags

Always room for progress: the next challenge, the next limit

Asket. Thorough description of each product

App to get direct information For Clothparency: alternative product

Type of innovation

Nudge (System 1 Brain)

No frills

Co-development

Information (System 2 Brain)

Connected users

Within the above scenarios, two very impactful examples were found to be •

The local-ethical message, which is emotionally relevant (this is ‘for me’) and provided it is substantiated with proofs (of ‘real care’ for people and the environment).

Citizen CrÊathon and Value Labelling TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs •

The Choose What You Pay by Everlane, a significant nudge idea that gives to buyers the power to pay a premium price, for the clothes that are more important to them.

What is striking about the above Table is the evidence of significant differences among the five scenarios across the range of criteria and strategic impacts. Clearly, sustainability Value in the garment industry is a far more complex issue than energy efficiency in a home appliance, which it is possible to rate from A to D. Companies will need to carefully evaluate their strategies and then be sure that the communication adopted transmits a clear and coherent message.

NEXT STEPS Both the Citizen Créathon and the Value Labelling projects have confirmed the importance of working on consumers’ hurdles and barriers. The Citizen Créathon demonstrates how the citizens’ voice is a helpful means to develop bottom-up solutions and to prioritize brand sustainability actions in the Textile and Clothing sector. Every key stakeholder in T&C should make us think about sustainable actions not only in terms of technical solutions, but also Community feeling and Experience.

Transforming Price into a signal of Value is a key milestone for all companies wishing to be launched or relaunched on the sustainability axis. The Value Labelling project demonstrates that Value must be substantiated with proof, despite being a very emotional judgement. As this was an early stage initiative, further exploration should aim to • • • • •

Confirm – explore the above scenarios further.

Develop any missing ones.

Advocate for evidence-based transparency of information.

Further investigate the nudge potential in triggering changes.

Link information with emotions, so that consumers feel more concerned.

Partnering with Labs, SMEs and other partners outside TCBL also proved useful to get wider diversity and lead to positive confrontation. This confirmed what will be an important trajectory for the post-TCBL project Foundation.

Citizen Créathon and Value Labelling TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs

DOCUMENT INFORMATION REVISION HISTORY This document is Annex X to TCBL Deliverable 4.4, “TCBL Business Systems – Scaling Up and Out”.

Authors: Thanos Contargyris (MIRTEC), Jesse Marsh (Prato), Michele Osella and Elisa Pautasso (LINKS), Richard Axe (TCoE) and Frédérique Thureau (IFM).

This Annex is authored by Frédérique Thureau and Danièle Clutier (IFM).

REVISION Version 1 Version 2 Version 3

DATE

AUTHOR

16.07.2019 29.07.2019 10.08.2019

Frédérique Thureau Frédérique Thureau Frédérique Thureau

ORGANISATION

DESCRIPTION

IFM IFM IFM

First draft for comments Final draft for review Final version incorporating reviewers’ comments

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This deliverable contains original unpublished work except where clearly indicated otherwise.

Acknowledgement of previously published material and of the work of others has been made through appropriate citation, quotation or both.

COPYRIGHT This work is licensed by the TCBL Consortium under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, 2015-2016. For details, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ The TCBL Consortium, consisting of: Municipality of Prato (PRATO) Italy; German Institutes for Textile and Fiber Research - Center for Management Research (DITF) Germany; LINKS Foundation (LINKS) Italy; Skillaware (SKILL) Italy; Oxford Brookes University (OBU) UK; imec (IMEC) Belgium; Tavistock Institute (TAVI) UK; Materials Industrial Research & Technology Center S.A. (MIRTEC) Greece; Waag Society (WAAG) Netherlands; Huddersfield & District Textile Training Company Ltd (TCOE) UK; eZavod (eZAVOD) Slovenia; Consorzio Arca (ARCA) Italy; Unioncamere del Veneto (UCV) Italy; Hellenic Clothing Industry Association (HCIA) Greece; Sanjotec - Centro Empresarial e Tecnológico (SANJO) Portugal; Reginnova NE (Reginnova) Romania, Centexbel (CTB) Belgium, Institut Français de la Mode (IFM) France, IAAC (FabTextiles) Spain, Cleviria (Cleviria) Italy, and Sqetch (Sqetch) Netherlands.

DISCLAIMER All information included in this document is subject to change without notice. The Members of the TCBL Consortium make no warranty of any kind with regard to this document, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The Members of the TCBL Consortium shall not be held liable for errors contained herein or direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The TCBL project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Programme for research, technology development, and innovation under Grant Agreement n. 646133.