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STRATEGIC DESIGN OPPORTUNITIES TO INCREASE SUSTAINABLE FASHION AWARENESS AND BEHAVIOUR

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2021

Marie Das ,
Laure Herweyers ,
Ingrid Moons  and
Els Du Bois
Marie Das
Affiliation:
University of Antwerp
Laure Herweyers*
Affiliation:
University of Antwerp
Ingrid Moons
Affiliation:
University of Antwerp
Els Du Bois
Affiliation:
University of Antwerp
*
Herweyers, Laure, University of Antwerp, Product Development, Belgium, [email protected]

Abstract

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Fast fashion, with its focus on cheap clothing and everchanging trends, has an enormous negative environmental and social impact. Despite rising consumer awareness and slow fashion as an emerging trend, many consumers often still rely on fast fashion. This research aims to create insights into why customers keep returning to fast fashion and what is holding them back from buying sustainable fashion. This is done through a quantitative survey (n=521) and qualitative semi-structured interviews (n=9). Based on the findings, opportunities are defined for designers on how, where, and when to intervene, and on which target group to focus. The main obstacles that counter slow fashion are (i) a lack of understandable and clear information, (ii) the price or available budget, and (iii) the importance of social influence. Strategic design interventions should focus on educating eco-conscious and social-conscious customers based on their personal definition of sustainable fashion. By providing in-store information during time of purchase, designers can create new shopping experiences, educate customers using a positive note and build customer relations with the retailer. Further research should extend these insights with retailers' perspectives.

Keywords

Sustainable fashionConsumer awarenessHuman behaviour in designCircular economySustainability
Type
Article
Information
Proceedings of the Design Society , Volume 1: ICED21 , August 2021 , pp. 2711 - 2720
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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