DESIGNING FOR THE CIRCULAR CONSUMER
Master Thesis in Innovation & Design - 2021
RE-THINKING PRODUCTÂ DESIGN PROCESSES
The "Designing for Circular Consumers Tool"
revolutionizes the design processes of
clothing companies to focus on consumers
and their integration in the Circular Economy
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The current prevailing take-make-waste economy has caused the global climate crisis, operating outside the Planetary Boundaries of our planet (Rockström et al., 2009), disrupting nature's balance and affecting all life on earth (WWF and Global Footprint Network, 2019). Both the European Commission and the European Environmental Agency (EEA) sees the transition to a circular economy (CE) within the product category textiles, apparel and fabrics as a priority to address the climate impact of the textile and clothing industry (Manshoven et al., 2019). Even though there is much research done on how design and products can help companies transition to a CE, there is still an unexplored dimension of the role that consumers play in this transition.
PROJECT SETTING
Project type: Master thesis (30 credits)
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Time frame: 33 weeks
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Stakeholders: Mälardalen University & Houdini Sportswear
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Project team: 2 master students & Houdini CEO + employees
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My role: Project leader & responsible for consumer role perspective
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Methodology: Research through Design + Interactive research conducted through self-defined design thinking process
AIM OF THE STUDY
The master thesis aims to explore consumer behaviour in different consumption phases as well as the role of consumers in the circular textiles economy and investigate how sustainable clothing companies can design to engage consumers in a circular behaviour and role. By doing so, the thesis contributes to a better understanding of the dimension of the consumer in the circular textiles economy and to identify ways to fulfil the CE principle - keep products and materials in use.
WHAT ROLE DOES THE CONSUMER PLAY IN THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY?
PROJECT EXECUTION
The research project was conducted through six main project phases based on the Design Thinking methodology. Each of the phases focused on different needs in diverse stages of the thesis work and made use of a variety of different Design Thinking methods that were applied in a highly iterative process.
DISCOVER
In the Discover phase, the research and design challenge as well as the CE in the research field of Innovation & Design was explored. Moreover, the context of the clothing industry and its stakeholders was investigated in order to further understand the challenge and
gather inspiration for the following phases of the research process. This was done through three main activities: a literature scan, a Houdini investigation as well as a workshop together with the collaboration partner Houdini.
DEFINE
The key research activities in the second project phase were a second, more in-depth workshop with Houdini, along with a user workshop and the observation of Houdini's collection launch for their fall/winter 2021 collection. These data collection activities were followed by a thorough analysis session that combined the findings from all previous research activities.
IDEATE
The results and insights of the project process were used as foundation for the ideation activities: user insights, values and needs; Houdini's goals and perspective and literature findings. During Ideation, four key activities were performed. Firstly, the digital conference ‘The Nordic Circular Summit’, a two-day event hosted by Nordic Circular Hotspot and Nordic Innovation was attended for inspiration from both practice and the academia. Additionally, the design challenge was further developed to then conduct two ideation workshops with Houdini employees and users.
EVALUATE 1
The key activities of the first Evaluate phase included the reflection on previously collected data as well as the conduction of an extensive literature review on the two sub-research questions to both gain more knowledge, but also evaluate what has been learned before. After this reflection and collection process, the acquired data was analysed and used to answer the two sub-questions of this research project.
EXPERIMENT
Project phase 5 aimed its attention at the development of a prototype for a tool that supports clothing companies in designing experiences that engage consumers in a circular behaviour and role. In order to explore solution possibilities, a Prototyping workshop was held with Houdini, followed by several iteration sessions.
EVALUATE 2
In the second Evaluate phase, the tool that was developed and iterated in the previous phase was evaluated with Houdini in a Testing workshop. After this, it was further iterated and finalized based on the received feedback. Furthermore, another reflection process involving all learnings of the research project was executed before the main research question was answered.
This 9 months master thesis project was very extensive and involved a great number of research and design activities. I am very happy to give more detailed insights about this process in an interview.
- But now let's have a look at the results.
WHAT IS A CIRCULAR CONSUMER AND WHAT DO THEY DO?
THE RESULTS
This thesis brought light into the darkness around the consumer role and connected behaviours in the Circular Textiles Economy. Clear definitions of what Circular Consumers as well as the desired Circular Behaviours in the Circular Clothing Consumption Process are were created. Such definitions offer sustainable companies a way to understand what role their customers play in their circulatory system and how they can create crucial internal and external change through including and addressing them in Innovation & Design practices within their company. This brings us one step closer to closing the loops and working towards a sustainable change within the clothing industry.
THE CIRCULAR CLOTHING CONSUMPTION PROCESS
The consumer repeatedly and simultaneously goes through four phases with specific key activities in the Circular Clothing Consumption Process.
THE ROLE OF THE CIRCULAR CONSUMER
People adopting and engaging in the role of the Circular Consumers take on a variety of crucial roles in certain contexts and phases of the garment lifecycle with the goal of contributing to the success of the CE.
A NOVEL WAY TO INVOLVE CONSUMERS IN THE CIRCULAR BUSINESS MODEL
THE DESIGN FOR CIRCULAR CONSUMERS TOOL
The key outcome of this thesis is a game changer for sustainable clothing companies that aim to improve their circularity score. On the basis of all the research, a Design for Circular Consumers Tool was created. This tool facilitates the design of experiences that engage consumers in the circular textiles system and subsequently support clothing companies in their transition to circular business models as a way to address the climate impact of the textiles industry. The tool with its integrated questions is a direct way for clothing companies to check whether they design for "Circular Consumers" or not as well as to identify which areas need improvement. Simultaneously this new tool broadens companies perspective, away from a focus on clothing products per se, to a wider consideration and application range within diverse departments.