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Make Fashion Circular

 

How might we use circular design principles to innovate the way we produce,
use and access everyday clothing? BackStitch can help.

Royal Society of Arts (RSA) Student Design Awards is a competitive challenge for emerging
designers to tackle real-world social, economic, and environmental issues. In a group of seven, I was part of an amazing team that decided to tackle one of these mammoth briefs.

The fashion industry has a big problem. The current ‘take, make, waste’ system means that
the clothing and textiles industry is responsible for significant air, water, and soil pollution,
and for vast amounts of waste.

To reduce some of these impacts we came up with BackStitch.

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The Mission:

 

Focus on designing out waste from the start. Think systemically when designing your solution.
This means looking at both the garments and the system which sits around them.

By ‘the system’ we mean thinking about the wider value chain, like production, retail,
raw materials; exploring possible business models that would enable your proposal
(such as rental, ownership or service models); and considering the long-term life
of the materials used.

Services:

  • Research Social & Environmental Impact

  • UX/UI Designer for system prototype

  • Brand Strategy

UX Method:

  • Contextual Inquiry

  • Surveys

  • Storyboards

  • Personas

  • Collaborative Design

  • Design Sprints

The Outcome:

 

Backstitch is a closed loop solution to the textile problem. We are the bridge between
manufacturers who produce scrap resources and the textile sourcing companies
who purchase recycled textiles. Our B2B system will pick up, sort, break down fibres
and re-spin it while creating minimal environmental impact.

We will shake up the industry with high performance fibre that feels like the cotton
you’re wearing but is more sustainable.

Process

Through primary research we found textile and apparel manufacturers generate
extensive amounts of waste from unused material, taking up space in landfills
and emitting CO2 from burning. 

 

These fabrics, although usable and desirable by other companies, are put to waste
as the manufacturers do not have the time, money, or general resources to
redistribute/recycle them.

Watch our bi-weekly videos to track how our project grew from a little idea to
a scalable prototype in four months.

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Backstitch

Backstitch
GBDA 401 Team Kale Video 1

GBDA 401 Team Kale Video 1

01:09
Play Video
GBDA 401- Sprint 2 Video Presentation by Team Kale

GBDA 401- Sprint 2 Video Presentation by Team Kale

01:31
Play Video
Kale Sprint 3

Kale Sprint 3

01:31
Play Video
Team Kale Sprint 4

Team Kale Sprint 4

01:31
Play Video
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