Sustainable fashion: Design practice and new design tool
Author
Van Rossom, Mathilde Violette A
Term
4. Term
Education
Publication year
2021
Pages
96
Abstract
This thesis examines how European fashion designers put sustainability into practice and whether eco-design tools—resources that help designers consider environmental impacts—can support more sustainable design decisions. The study combines a review of design literature with exploratory interviews about designers’ everyday work. The findings are interpreted using practice theory (Shove et al., 2012), focusing on three elements of practice in fashion design: materials, skills, and meanings. In practice, sustainability most often shows up in choices of materials. Designers build sustainability-related skills through trial and error, media, meetings with others, and examples from other companies. They also report tensions between creative freedom and sustainability requirements, intensified by time pressure and a lack of transparent information. Eco-design tools could ease these challenges, but they are seldom used in day-to-day work. In response, the thesis proposes a qualitative, general-purpose design tool: a digital platform that improves access to information and leverages the collaborative and inspiration-driven ways in which fashion designers already work.
Denne afhandling undersøger, hvordan europæiske modedesignere omsætter bæredygtighed i praksis, og om økodesign-værktøjer—ressourcer, der hjælper designere med at tage miljøhensyn—kan støtte mere bæredygtige designbeslutninger. Studiet kombinerer et litteraturreview med eksplorative interviews om designeres hverdagspraksis. Resultaterne fortolkes med praksisteori (Shove m.fl., 2012) med fokus på tre elementer i modedesign: materialer, kompetencer og betydninger. I praksis træder bæredygtighed især frem gennem valg af materialer. Designere opbygger bæredygtighedskompetencer via eksperimenter, medier, møder med andre og eksempler fra andre virksomheder. De peger også på spændinger mellem kreativ frihed og bæredygtighedskrav, forstærket af tidspres og manglende gennemsigtighed i information. Økodesign-værktøjer kan afhjælpe disse udfordringer, men bruges sjældent i det daglige. På den baggrund foreslår afhandlingen et kvalitativt, generelt designværktøj: en digital platform, der gør information lettere tilgængelig og bygger på den samarbejde- og inspirationsdrevne praksis, som kendetegner modedesignere.
[This apstract has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]
Keywords