The effect of consumer attitudes on design for product longevity: The case of the fashion industry

Abstract

Product longevity is a key aspect of sustainability and encouraging consumers to prolong the lifetime of products therefore has a part to play in minimising environmental sustainability impacts. The production, distribution and disposal phases of the clothing life cycle all create environmental impacts, but extending garments' active life via design, maintenance and re-use of clothing is the most effective method of reducing the negative effects of the clothing industry on the environment. The study took an exploratory approach using mixed qualitative research methods to investigate consumer perspectives on clothing longevity and explore everyday processes and practices of clothing use, e.g. purchase, wear, care, maintenance, repair, re-use and disposal. The research findings showed that numerous factors affect consumers' perspectives of clothing longevity during the purchase, usage and disposal stages of the clothing lifecycle. The conclusion addresses how these factors can influence product design practice in the fashion industry.

Practising fashion and wardrobe studies: A geographical reframing?

“…In total, 15 in-depth cases were conducted with five participants from each of three target demographic cohorts across varying life stages (see Figure 1). Groups were selected for their generational spread and as distinct fashion market segments in line with two other large-scale European projects on a connected theme (Laitala et al, 2015;McLaren et al, 2016).…”

“…In this study, clothing diaries, adapted with permission from McLaren et al (2016) and documented for one month, provided specific data related to clothing use and laundry care practices, and exposed participants' everyday care competencies and skills. These diaries were further utilised as a prompt during the wardrobe interview to provoke in-depth narratives (de Vet, 2013).…”

“…From a fashion perspective, Fletcher (2016) appreciates the value of exploring everyday clothing use in-depth recognising the multifarious experiences, activities, and material connections users have in their lived worlds. Some cross-disciplinary research likewise reinforces that householder affinity, both experientially and socially, with clothing throughout the use phase, together with individual competency in clothing care, maintenance, and repair, is critical to ensuring prolonged use (Armstrong et al, 2016;McLaren et al, 2016). In recent geographical research explicitly focusing on the material qualities of garments, Stanes denotes the active use phase as "clothes-in-process" (2019, p. 224), acknowledging the multiple material, temporal, spatial, and behavioural moments that occur while wearing items daily and across their lifespan.…”

“…The approach is increasingly employed in discussions and research about sustainable consumption (Welch & Warde, 2015). Various studies demonstrating the application of SPT have emerged as connected to domestic household management (Hoolohan et al, 2018); clothing consumption (Gill et al, 2016;Hitchings et al, 2015); laundry (Pink et al, 2015); and clothing repair and longevity (McLaren et al, 2016). Geographers too are expanding their variety of innovative methods and methodological hybrids to advance SPT research.…”

Electronic textile reparability

“…These apply to E-textile garments, with the additional risk of damage to the electronics, that must be designed to either withstand the processes of clothing care and maintenance, such as laundering, drying and ironing (Hardy et al, 2020), or must always be removed beforehand. Care labels that include instructions for the electronics could inform consumers in order to help prevent damage, but research has shown that these labels are rarely followed after the first wash and often poorly understood, ignored or removed (Mclaren et al, 2016).…”