INTRODUCTION

The relationship between everybody’s wardrobe and themselves can be a complicated one, leading us to always asking ourselves if we have enough styling options, what if our clothes don’t match, do we need to buy more?

This can lead to increasing the amount of purchased garments, which sets the fast fashion machine in motion, as when it comes to fast fashion, the shopping behavior can be as important as the production. The influence that the fast fashion market has on the way we consume the products has far-reaching consequences that we may not be aware of.

Therefore, this problem needs to be approached with a systemic and interdisciplinary approach, addressing the issue of fast fashion from multiple angles in order to contribute to dealing with these interconnected and complex issues. 

This thesis will aim to touch on the topic of how increasing product durability, including emotional durability, can contribute to targeting the problem that fast fashion poses to our society and environment. My main motivation to conduct research in this field is to explore these issues from a design perspective, while also learning about my own fashion consumption.

RESEARCH QUESTION: How can increasing product durability serve as a way of Tackling the fast fashion movement?

RESEARCH APPROACH

In a broad perspective, the research starts with a concern, something that the researcher struggles to know more about and gain more knowledge. For this project, we can position the research in the intersection of durability, sustainability and modularity.

THESIS STRUCTURE

LITERATURE REVIEW

POLITICAL & FINANCIAL REASONS BEHIND FAST FASHION

the increasingly complex nature of global fashion supply chains combined with growing global inequalities has helped create an environment where exploitation can thrive. Stringer et al. (2022)

The business model behind fast fashion allows for high profits because of cutting costs on production methods and sacrificing ethical working conditions. (Fletcher, 2016)

To maintain low prices and high profits, fashion brands have to maintain low production costs. According to the European Parliamentary Research Service (2020) the main supplier of clothing for the European Union used to be China, but with China’s economic development, wages started to rise leading to rise of overall production costs. Therefore, production started to shift towards lower income countries, mostly located in south and south-east Asia: India, Bangladesh and Myanmar. EPRS (2020) claims that ‘the relationship between fashion companies from more developed countries and their developing country suppliers is an imbalanced one.

According to an Oxfam report (2019) with workers of factories that supply major brands in Australia, nine out of 10 workers in Bangladesh are unable to afford sufficient food for themselves and their families, forcing them to skip meals regularly, eat inadequately, or incur debts. Additionally, 72% of workers in Bangladesh factories cannot afford medical treatment when they become ill or injured. The report also discovered that 76% of workers in Bangladesh factories lack running water in their homes. Finally, the report highlighted that one in three workers interviewed in Bangladesh are separated from their children, with nearly 80% of those cases being attributed to insufficient income.

QUANTITY OF THE MARKET, QUALITY OF THE GARMENT

The increase of fashion sales and production is linked to the decrease in garment quality. The sales of clothing have significantly increased recently due to various trends that are expected to continue. Businesses have made an effort to decrease expenses and simplify their supply chains, resulting in a drop in the cost of clothing in comparison to other consumer products. With shorter production times, clothing manufacturers can now release new lines more often. Compared to 2000, the average number of clothing collections per year has more than doubled for all European apparel companies, from two to approximately five in 2011 (Remy, Speelman, Swartz, 2016).

 In a survey conducted in the United Kingdom, 62% of consumers noticed that their clothes had become lighter in weight over the previous three years and a similar proportion that clothing lifetimes had become shorter. (Cooper and Claxton, 2022)

SHOPPING BEHAVIOR

Sometimes it’s about how you treat the item you bought, the brand itself might not be that ethical but the way you keep and use it for a long time you force it to be. So in this case shopping behavior can even change the identity of a brand. (Based on craft of use, Fletcher, 2016)

The presence of fast fashion has influenced the way people shop and led to increased consumption of fashion. Because clothing is worse quality, it degrades faster and customers tend to buy it more often (Fletcher, 2016)

When it comes to sustainable fashion choices, consumer knowledge and awareness of sustainable apparel influence their purchasing decisions but there are limitations to their decisions as the sustainable fashion market is complex (Patwary et al., 2023)

Slow fashion movements emerged as a counteraction to the fast shopping behaviors, encouraging to buy less clothing, make thought-through decisions and maintain clothing in good shape for a long time. Even though brands are the ones who control the means of production, after the garment is sold, it is the user who has an influence on how long they will keep an item and how well they will take care of it (Fletcher, 2016).

The value hill framework suggests a classification system that is organized around the various stages in a product’s life cycle, such as before, during, and after. (Achterberg, E, Hinfelaar, J & Bocken, N, 2016)

The European Fashion Report (YouGov, 2021) on the following graph, presents the research on the barriers that stop customers from buying ethical and eco-friendly clothes:

EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT

People do not throw away things for which they feel emotional attachment. (Karana, Hekkert and Kandachar, 2014)

Emotional attachment can be defined as the emotional connection developed towards objects that goes beyond functional or aesthetic qualities. It is based on identity, narrative and time (Chapman, 2015).

Emotional attachment is valuable, as it can increase the longevity and durability of products. It helps create positive emotional experiences and connections. When the users are emotionally attached to objects, they are more likely to keep them and this can lead to reducing consumption of new products, and therefore - waste. 

To sum up, emotional attachment is an aspect of the relationship between people and objects and understanding it can help to create products that are more sustainable, meaningful, and emotionally resonant (Chapman, 2015). Extending and improving the durability of an item through the physical and desirability life factors can be used to counteract fast fashion.

COST OF FAST FASHION

FAST FASHION IS NOT FREE. SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE IS PAYING. Lucy Siegle quoted by UCC (2021)

METHODS & TOOLS

BRAND DNA

To identify different fashion brand slogans and cluster them using brand DNA, a thorough analysis of each brand’s core values, personality, and identity was conducted.

SURVEY

A survey with 107 participants, mostly living in Dessau and Berlin was conducted from 30th of March 2023 to 22nd of April 2023. The age range of participants is from 20 to 40 with an average of 28.2 years old. The survey scheme is mentioned below:

SURVEY ANALYSIS

The survey results were later analyzed and are depicted on two types of charts: the questions with the possibility to choose multiple options are visualized with a bar chart (based on the number of participants) and the other ones are shown as pie charts (percentage). Further analysis is presented below:

CATEGORISING THEMES

OPPORTUNITIES

RESEARCH THROUGH DESIGN

IDEATION

After considering all different feedbacks, aspects and problem definition extracted from the research and the survey, a need for a platform (brand) that brings together sustainability, modularity and daily style through high quality wearable objects (clothing and accessories) is detected.

Modularity in the majority of fashion brands on the market is focused on function rather than the aesthetics, especially for a daily usage and providing more styling options. That can be seen in outdoor and camping outfits or accessories like trousers and jackets with bulky removable sleeves and hems.

On the other hand, the idea here is to focus on providing durable garments which will stay in the wardrobe for a longer time and therefore increase their life-cycle. Some elements (e.g. modular pockets) can be used across items like t-shirts, hoodies, cardigans and even tote bags to create a significant variety of options.

DESIGN QUESTION: How can the application of modular fashion serve as a medium to limit overproduction?

IDEATION OUTLINE

The modular clothing can satisfy those needs without buying whole new clothes. It provides the option to just purchase interchangeable elements of the garment (e.g. pocket) that users can match across the look and has a potential to activate circularity in everyone’s closet.

Furthermore, the choice to make most of the collections unisex will help to overcome the overproduction caused by high numbers of gender-specific collections, producing almost the same items with different labels.

This system will be supported by transparent, ethical production methods and sustainable materials as well as features to ensure accurate size and color choice to minimize returns and decrease environmental impact.

Finally to increase the emotional attachment and maximise the personalization of the item, the user can choose an illustration/graphic that will be embroidered on-demand on the interchangeable part, either the order was placed in person or online. On-demand production will cut off over-production and excess inventory and is a good approach for small or even medium scale brands.

A visual comparison of several possible life cycles for apparels and a new, proposed life cycle of a modular wearable object:

MOOD-BOARD

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

JOINT/RAIL MECHANISM

To provide a functional, interchangeable pocket mechanism various male-female joints were designed. The main challenges alongside this process was the limitation of 3d printing as a reasonable prototyping tool and various forces that a pocket should handle when interacting with human body. A series of 3d printed male/female joint systems are shown here:

3D PRINTING ON FABRIC

After testing several types of joint mechanisms, the challenging adhesion test of 3d printing directly on fabric with TPU filament (Ultimaker TPU 95A) was conducted. Even though the outcome of the experiment turned out promising, the adhesion of the printed piece on fabric is not enough to make sure it will not detach afterwards, especially with some more brutal actions like washing. On the next step, the 0.5 cm offset around the rail with a thin layer was used to stitch it to the fabric to improve the attachment and durability. This also provides the possibility to produce the rail separately even with conventional methods for large scale production, with more material options and less limitation in terms of modelling compared to 3d printing.

FABRIC SELECTION

As a part of research, a meeting with an organic fabric producer/shop in Berlin was set to gain more knowledge about fibre proportion in bio-based materials and know more about alternatives for normal cotton on the market. Some of these options are mentioned below:

• Hemp:  expensive, breathable, less common on the market, uses less water

• Lyocell: man-made cellulose fibre, breathable, biodegradable, considered as polyester replacement

• Certified organic cotton: uses less water, more ethical, fair working conditions

COLOR AND FABRIC PALETTE

TECHNICAL DRAWINGS

AI GENERATED RENDERS

To explore the new-existing technologies and gain a new insight on the design concept, the new Microsoft artificial intelligence tool was used to have some visual content. One of the sample descriptions was: “A heavy-weight crew neck cotton t-shirt with a loose fitting look, the t-shirt should be off-white and the pocket terracotta. The pocket can be modular and be taken off.”

DESIGN CONTRIBUTION

MODULAR DAILY WEAR

For the proposed contribution, the design applies the rail mechanism on pockets, turning them into interchangeable customization options. This turns it into a wearable modular item that allows for arranging various styles with the minimized use of garments and materials produced. The pockets were chosen because, as less technical and functional elements, they have more potential to be applied to the proposed rail system.

However, this system can be applied on the other fashion profiles (mentioned in the design development) and make a family of products for a brand.

Variety of colors and looks with less material: Different color options of the apparel and pockets, in this case, 40 combinations out of 5 t-shirts and 8 pockets

USER TEST

FURTHER RESEARCH

There are several actions that can be done by having access to more material options and well-equipped workshop/facilitates to improve the research contribution. This can be feasible by having more time and financial support to develop the concept into more aspects of production and design:

• INCREASING RECYCLING POSSIBILITIES: When it comes to recycling, complex blends always make the recycling process longer and more expensive

• IDEAL FABRIC SELECTION: Possible replacements of polyester with keeping its features, finding a good blend of natural fibers with proper proportions

• IDEAL JOINT MECHANISM: Switching to conventional production methods such as injection molding provides more options of materials compared to filaments
• PRODUCT EMOTIONAL MEASUREMENT: This measurement will provide a more qualitative analysis of user's emotional reactions.

SUMMARY

When users develop empathy with products, a brand intimacy begins to form. J. Chapman

This thesis addresses the issue of fast fashion through increasing emotional product durability.

In the process of the research, first references such as reports from institutes and organizations monitoring sustainability, as well as posts from related news agencies, books and journal articles were reviewed.

To jump into the research field, the first step was the investigation of the reasons behind fast fashion, or in other words - behind the scenes. While multiple organizations and activists try to raise awareness about the negative consequences of fast fashion, this industry continues to grow, raising the question: why is it still so popular and continues to operate with only slightest changes?

It is important to mention that although the existing remedies powered by the demand of sustainability are valuable and admirable, they are mostly reflected through the use of recycled materials, or through prolonging the life cycle of garments by activating second-hand options. However, they are not an optimized solution to cut the fast fashion behavior.

Cut waste by increasing the durability of relationships between people and things. J. Chapman

The project was accessed via the research-through-design approach and prototyped using both physical and digital methods.

Following the discussion, a proposed contribution for this issue is providing a more diverse and various style / color / pattern options with fewer items.

The outcome tries to use modularity this time not as a functional feature, but as an option for daily looks, for example applying interchangeable pockets that allow the users to create various looks with minimal amount of garments in their wardrobe.

BEHIND THE SCENES