Sustainable Solutions for Wearable Technologies: Mapping the Product Development Life Cycle

Abstract

Wearable technologies involve the integration of technology into clothing or accessories to bring new functionalities for people on the move. Many examples of wearables are emerging, from simple fitness tracking watches to electronics deeply embedded into garments for multi-touch sensing and control for personal music players. Without careful development, wearables can have a negative impact on the environment due to increased production of electronic components, increased e-waste from abandoned devices, and increased energy usage. We examine environmental sustainability issues through a review of recent research and cases across three broad areas including the fashion industry, information and communications technology (ICT), and wearable technologies. In the analysis, we examine stages in the product life cycle and identify the unique issues for each sector, including the extraction of materials, production process, distribution of products, use, and disposal of products that have reached the end of their life. The findings are gathered as implications for design so that researchers, educators, designers, developers, and product managers will gain an overview of the issues related to environmental sustainability. Related examples of products and prototypes are provided to enable informed choices during the design and development of wearables that are more environmentally sustainable.

A Critical Appraisal of Review Studies in Circular Economy: a Tertiary Study

“…They aim to identify all research related to a specific topic, answering broader questions related to trends in research [22]. Only one study has clearly affirmed to have adopted a narrative review style, which is a kind of review that summarizes the findings of various studies with the purpose of reconceptualizing them into a new or more expansive understanding of a subject [71].…”

Self-healing materials: A pathway to immortal products or a risk to circular economy systems?

“…However, as indicated by the participant who refurbishes consumer electronics, due to methods used in assembly of the screens separating the different layers for repair often results in further damage and value loss. Similarly, within the context of wearable technologies often components containing rare earth metals are designed for seamless, permanent integration, resulting in e-waste issues (Gurova et al, 2020). Thus, self-healing polymers, adhesives or hydrogels that could be easily cut and re-bonded could help alleviate this issue.…”

Assessing the embodied carbon footprint of IoT edge devices with a bottom-up life-cycle approach

“…More specific analyses are carried out in [ Van der Velden et al, 2015, Gurova et al, 2020 which point out the difficulty to quantify the environmental impacts of IoT in emerging applications such as smart textiles [Schischke et al, 2020]. In [ Van der Velden et al, 2015], the authors attempt to quantify the impacts of the electronic parts through the eco-cost indicator [Vogtländer et al, 2001].…”