Web Product, Service Design
Circular
Fashion Box
Overview
A customizable subscription service that leverages the convenience of online shopping and the affordability of secondhand shopping, all within a circular model.
Timeline
2020.11-2021.1
Tool
Adobe XD, Photoshop, Illustrator, Miro
Role
UI&UX Design, Service Design
Introduction
The Circular Fashion Box is a collaborative project within my master's program. Our shared goal is to encourage long-term thinking and action within the community. In response to the fashion industry's overproduction and overconsumption, we have designed a customizable service on secondhand clothing, leveraging the convenience of online shopping, the affordability of secondhand, and the recurrence of fashion trends within a circular model.
Problem Define
The desire to accumulate material wealth is so entrenched in our modern society that distinguishing ourselves from our consumption is nearly impossible. However, our overconsumption and production are harming us and the planet, causing massive material waste, toxic emissions, and human exploitation—all of which pose a real existential threat. Our project aims to inspire a more sustainable future.
About Fast Fashion
Fast fashion is a term for a highly profitable business model based on replicating catwalk trends and high-fashion designs and mass-producing them at low cost.
Negative Effects of Fast Fashion
Design Strategy
Circular Economy
Unlike a linear economy, which simply takes a natural resource and turns it into a product, a circular economy aims to keep products, materials, equipment, and infrastructure in use for longer, thus improving the productivity of these resources. Inspired by it, we hope to focus on the part of the fashion industry that can be recycled and reused—secondhand clothing.
Opportunities Lies in Fashion Market
Long-term Thinking
We want to promote long-term thinking in addition to the circular economy. The circular economy mainly focuses on recycling and reusing clothes, which may require higher technical support and investment. With long-term thinking, ordinary people can contribute to reuse because it includes care and mending.
Differences between Circular Flow & Long-term Loop
Research
Our research process was comprehensive and insightful. We delved into historical concepts and the evolution of human clothing, conducted user interviews, and analyzed the data thematically. We also organized a workshop to observe the impact of the environment on shopping behavior and conducted a market analysis of secondhand clothing products. These efforts have informed our design goals and inspired our innovative solution.
Research Timeline
Workshop & Engagement Tool
This workshop aims to observe shopping behavior and understand how people think about their clothes. An "Envirometer" was added to explore whether participants make different choices after knowing the environmental impact of their chosen clothes.
Engagement Tool Design
Thematic Analysis
How Might We ...?
It is impossible to change the complex megalith of the fashion industry - change is slow. By observing and engaging directly with consumers of all ages and backgrounds, we understood that people want to make good choices. Still, convenience, price, and visual identity outweigh collective conscience. However, consumers will likely make better choices if those factors are met while providing sustainable and ethical offerings.
Solution
Our solution is a unique customizable subscription service that harnesses the convenience of online shopping, the affordability of secondhand, and the cyclical nature of fashion trends. This innovative approach challenges the notion of disposability in the long term while keeping materials recirculating within a circular model.
How does it work?
Our service comprises an online secondhand shopping website and an offline physical box. On the website, users can donate clothes they don't need and use the credits obtained from the donation to order a fashion box at a lower price. After subscribing, the user will receive a box of secondhand clothes. To reduce their risk, they can return unfit clothes after trying them on.
System Map
To ensure the quality of secondhand items on the website, all donations, including user and brand, will enter the quality management system. Professionals filter, tag, launder, and alter the clothes to ensure they can be worn again. Those that do not meet these standards will be recycled.
The system map clarifies in one frame how the various components and roles are connected and highlights the value exchange of the service delivery model.
Sitemap
Storyboard
To concretize our idea, we used a storyboard to show the service of Subscription Secondhand Fashion Box and its user experience.
The Story of Nish
Prototype
After completing the solution, we prototype the shopping website and physical box for future presentation and testing.
Website
We want to build trust in this online platform and share information about environmental protection. The page structure is simple to clearly guide our users. Entrances for donations and subscriptions are on the homepage, and users can quickly locate themselves. It is worth noticing that users can choose their favorite style based on their favorite shows on Netflix, so they can quickly find the style they want. Check our low-fidelity prototype here!
Information Architecture
Physical Fashion Box
The Fashion Box prototype is made of paper. Inspired by environmental packaging, the box's material is cardboard, which is biodegradable, recyclable, and reusable; the ink of the printed words is soy-based, which is more sustainable. We aim to increase customers' interaction with the fashion box by including a mystery item and encouraging words.
Fashion Box Prototype & Its Values
User Test
This service is designed to influence long-term thinking in consumer behaviors by shaping the current consumer mindset to be better influencers and stewards of change for future generations. So, it is necessary for us to get feedback from real users. We invite some people to try the experience, including the website and box, and make some alterations based on their opinions.
User Test Feedback
Takeaway
Being a shopaholic myself, working on Circular Fashion Box was incredibly reflective and rewarding. I learned more about fast fashion and its problems and gained a deep understanding of the circular economy and long-term thinking. Our design is intended to change people, as well as ourselves.
Moreover, I got to cooperate with teammates from different countries and time zones, which was challenging but exciting. We had some disagreements and struggles but overcame them and made everyone proud. The final presentation video shows our whole journey.
