Oral Defense - Tessa Martin & Emilia Tracy

The Environmental Artists Coalition

Tessa Martin + Emilia Tracy

Our Outcomes

Create

Learn

Explore

Understand Impact

Persistence

The Problem

UN Sustainability Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns Targets we are working towards: 12.5 Substantially reduce waste generation, 12.8 Promote universal understanding of sustainable lifestyles Our problem statement: We aim to reduce clothing waste produced by the d.tech community by hosting events where students can learn skills from their peers that allow them to create upcycling projects.

Explore

Outcome One

Our Research

niches

world-wide

United States

Bay Area

Research impacting research

Bangor Daily News Turkish Online Journal of Qualitative Inquiry

Boston University Harvard Business Review

ABC7 News KQED Bay Area

Clothing Consumption by the Numbers

According to TheRoundUp.org

~60%

1%

92 m

Tons of clothing waste produced each year

Of all textile material is plastic

Of textile waste is recycled into new clothing worldwide

Clothing containing plastic or blends of materials are unable to be remade into new clothing using current textile recycling technology

There are only a handful of facilities in the world that have the capabilities to recycle old clothing waste into new textiles

Most of this production is driven by the United States and China

Why do people participate in unsustainable habits?

We found that...

• The average person only wears about 20% of the clothing in their closet (California Closets)
• Americans tend to buy about 66 new pieces of clothing per year (AAFA)
• This problem has many causes, from short-lived trends to visible flaws on a piece of clothing. Small things like stains or holes can deter one from using a piece of clothing completely, even if it is in good condition otherwise.

Currrent Solutions

Donation

Shopping Sustainably

• Too many clothes are donated
• Clothing waste exported
• Excessive amounts of clothing waste
• Impacts lower socioeconomic areas & people

Boston University School of Public Health

• False promises
• No changes in carbon emmisions
• Greenwashing through marketing

Harvard Business Review

And why they don't work

Recycling

• Harsh production process
• Fabrics unable to turn into new products

• Supposed to be recycled, but are thrown away

Bangor Daily News

End User Profile Collection

Connections

Sustainability guilt

Knowledgable users

Scheduling

Friendships

“My feelings are guilt because I really like clothes . . . But morally that is not that great because of labor practices, environmental effects, etc.”

- d.tech community member

“To me, in fashion, it is really important to buy things that last. I see a lot of fast fashion from those around me, so I want things that last and that are repairable.”

"Sustainable fashion consumption is important because wasting stuff is terrible.”

"I am also guilty of giving away clothes and then getting more."

"I need to focus more on not buying as much as I do."

Problem Statement at this stage

We will be working on the problem of sustainable clothing consumption. Clothing waste is a huge problem in our society as the economy and consumerism continue to promote fast fashion. Unsustainable clothing habits end in extreme pollution of lower socioeconomic countries and pollution of our atmosphere. Most new textile material is mixed material and this cannot be recycled into new textile using current technology.

How Might We-s at this stage

How might we provide users with ways to unwind while helping them contribute to their own sustainability through hands-on projects with visual results? How might we help people help the current state of clothing consumption affairs to lessen their guilt about being a consumer while promoting sustainability and user intervention? How might we help people create and maintain healthy relationships while promoting and learning about sustainable fashion consumption habits by connecting users through a common goal?

Create

Outcome Two

Initial Brainstorming & Prototyping

Braided Rugs

+80 Ideas

• Swedish traditional rugs
• Discarded scraps
• Physical prototype

• Possible kits or workshops
• "People will want to spend their free time braiding"

• How Might We Questions
• Explore data and stories
• Diverse set of ideators

The Button Tin

Screen Printing

• App for crafters
• Mass purchasing and discarding
• Wizard of Oz interactive testing
• "Users will go out of their way to use this app"

• Several green designs

• Old or damaged, but still salvageable

• Reduce overconsumption
• Expert advice

Sustainable Craft Workshops

After going back to do more research, we came up with our current prototype:

• Building off of the previous prototypes
• Several interactive workshops
• Challenging assumptions
• Recieved feedback and continued to iterate

Learn

Outcome Three

Cyanotype FLEX

Our Testing

Form

Once we settled on an idea during our CREATE phase, we went through extensive testing to create more and more impactful versions of our project

Interest Meeting

Plarn 1

Visible Mending

Plarn 2

Understand impact

Outcome Four

Core Values & Moral Lenses

1. Sustainability

3. Accesibilty

• Target area
• Reduce & repurpose waste
• Constant throughout innovation

• Free
• No Experience needed
• No materials or tools needed
• Everyone is welcome

2.Community

In order to increase the sustainability of consumption patterns, designers should try to evoke the enjoyment through creating products that are both useful and enjoyable.

• Foundational value
• Revisiting user needs
• Community & creativity

- Laitala, Kirsi & Boks, Casper & Klepp, Ingun. (2015). Making Clothing Last: A Design Approach for Reducing the Environmental Impacts. International Journal of Design. 9. 93-107.

Intended vs Unintended Impact

National & Global

Local

• Intended:
• Spread sustainable habits
• More significant change
• Unintended:
• Exasperated negative impacts

• Intended:
• Better sustainable clothing habits
• Knowledge & skills
• Reduce clothing waste
• Unintended:
• Strong sense of community
• Leftover scraps

Perseverance

Outcome Four

Setbacks

Rug kits

The many setbacks we faced and how we persevered and learned from our experiences

Diversity

Interest

Resistance to change

Knowledge

Screen Printing

Attendance

Buttons

Our Growth

How we have evolved as designers

Our Journey through Innovation Diploma

Understanding Impact

learning

Creating

Exploring

Core values, intended and unintended consequences

Testing and testing analysis

Prototypes & challenging assumptions

Research, interviews, etc

Thank you

The Environmental Artists Coalition

Tessa Martin + Emilia Tracy

Iteration Four

Plarn Workshop 2

- New attendees- Crochet vs. Sustainability - Learning skills

We assume that we have found a niche, as we had people attend both plarn FLEXs who were interested in crochet and sustainability

Setback One

Resistance to change

We started our project with a very strong idea of what we wanted to pursue. Once we unmarried the idea of braided rugs, we came up with tons of new ideas

Research, interviews, etc

Exploring

- Solutions vs. problem definition - Varied research - Detecting patterns in end user interviews

Iterative changes

In the future... - More plarn ideas for crocheters - More sustainable crochet projects - Collaborate more closely with crochet club

Setback Four

Rug Kits

- Beginner friendly (or not, rather) - Contributing to or solving the problem?

Setback Seven

Knowledge

- Expanding our knowledge - Incorporating our community

Iteration Advancment Technique

Interest Meeting

- Students with varied creative interests - Crochet

Prototypes

Creating

- Ideation- Interactive prototypes - Challenging assumptions - Final prototype

Setback Five

Diversity

- Diverse groups vs. Niches - We love our friends but...

Iteration Two

Plarn Workshop 1

- Varied skill levels- Continued use - New assumption created

Students will be interested in learning new creative skills from other students

Setback Eight

Attendance

- Marketing - Interest niches = lower attendance

Iteration three- testing assumptions

Visible Mending

- Dissapointment- Poor marketing- Niche?

Plarn crochet is a unique niche in d.tech. Students are interested in crochet which drives them to participate in sustainable renewal techniques

Setback Six

Interest

- Forms vs In- person - Communication techniques

Setback Three

Button App

- One of our final three ideas- Contributing to or solving the problem? - Alignment with user profiles

Iteration advancement technique

Google Form

- Dissapointment - Communication techniques

Iteration one

Cyanotype FLEX

- Dissapointment - Diversity vs. Niches - Feedback

Setback Two

Screenprinting

- Sustainability- Awareness vs. Impact

Testing and testing analysis

Learning

- Many iterations - Communication skills - Identifying niches

Core values, intended and unintended consequences

Understanding Impact

- Core values & moral lenses - Intended vs unintended impacts - Local vs national & global