PhD Title:
User involvement in design: implications for the sustainability of clothing
Supervisors:
Prof.
Hein Daanen | VU | Faculty of Behavioral and Movement Sciences
Prof.
Javier Gimeno MartÃnez | VU | Faculty of Arts, Design Cultures
Prof.
Pieter Jan Stappers | TU Delft | Industrial Design
Period:
2015-2019
Summary:
This
multidisciplinary PhD project explores the possibility of diminishing the
volumes of clothing produced and consumed through personalization and
production on demand. This possibility is examined critically through three
different perspectives: a fashion history and theory approach, an empirical
(quantitative and qualitative) approach and a research-through-design approach.
During
the fashion history and theory phase
of this research, user involvement in design and production of personalized
clothing on-demand are put in historical and theoretical context. The article “On paradigm shifts and industrial revolutions: tracing
prevalent dressmaking practices and apparel production systems in the Netherlands
and northwest Europe (1850-2016)” (Maldini,
2017) traces the rise of ready-made
garments in the Netherlands and northwest Europe, and the associated decline in
custom- and home-made garments in the region. Although available statistical
data is insufficient to accurately map these phenomena, secondary sources
suggest that both processes were not simultaneous and therefore there was not a
straightforward substitution of custom- and home-made clothing by ready-mades.
While availability and trade of mass-produced ready-mades was escalating since
the early 19th C, it was not until mid 20th C that
custom- and home-made clothing declined among the middle class. In this study,
such a gap is explained by a steady increase in the amount of clothes acquired
per person: an expanding culture of consumption during the period under
consideration may have enabled these different systems to flourish all
together.
A parallelism of the
findings above with current developments in mass customization and the discourse
of the fourth industrial revolution suggests that we should not regard emergent industrial
formats as substitutionary of established ones, but as complementary. We may
then reevaluate to what extent does the rise of the flexible factory enable a
“revolution”, a shift from a problematic present to a contrasting and desirable
future. This historical overview indicates that, on the contrary, emerging
product-service-systems manufacturing personalized garments on-demand must be
considered in relation to – and in coexistence with- traditional
industrial models.
Another article titled “The perfect
dress and its making: a comparative study of the sartorial habits of Amsterdam
women (1950s-2010s)” (Maldini & Manz, 2016)
examines how the role of clothing has changed during the last 60 years. The
ethnographic study indicates that during the 1950s a main concern of young
Amsterdam women was that of conforming to explicit fashion trends. However, while
the values and ideas behind their sartorial practices were generic, the
material resources to realize them (the garments themselves) were unique.
Self-made and personally-made clothes were widespread and each garment was
distinctive in material terms. During the last 60 years, we argue, developments
have been somewhat paradoxical. While
individuality and originality are major concerns for today’s women, most of the
clothing industry works on the basis of repetition.
In
the article “From
Things of Imitation to Devices of Differentiation: Uncovering a
Paradoxical History of Clothing (1950–2015)” (Maldini & Manz, 2017) the ethnographic
research above is used as a case study to argue for a renovated theoretical framework in fashion studies. The article proposes
that perspectives emphasizing the social role and the technological nature of
dress should be considered complementary, and that their joint application can
contribute to new understandings of fashion history. A theoretical framework
integrating theories of identity (mainly based on the writings of Georg Simmel
and Gabriel Tarde) and philosophy of technology (in this case the device
paradigm of Albert Borgmann) allows us to uncover a paradoxical history of
fashion in which clothing shifts roles, transforming from “things of imitation”
into “devices of differentiation”.
In
the second phase of this project the
relationship between clothing personalization and clothing volumes is studied
using an empirical approach. This phase starts with a systematic literature
review of sustainable fashion strategies aimed at reducing clothing volumes.
The article “Reducing clothing production volumes by
design: a critical review of sustainable fashion strategies” (Maldini &
Balkenende, 2017) discusses how the challenge of diminishing
clothing production volumes has been approached within the field of sustainable
fashion. We identify six common strategies in literature and discuss the
approach of user involvement in the process of design and/or manufacture of
garments in detail. A critical analysis of the state of the art in the field
points out that these strategies have been constructed, studied and promoted
without empirical validation. The article concludes with a recommendation to
move forward from conceptual to empirical studies. Analyses of existing
initiatives and their results in terms of consumer buying behavior and obsolete
inventory are recommended as first steps towards validation.
A
forthcoming article continues this line of enquiry by empirically testing four
hypotheses linking personalization and reduced clothing volumes. In the
literature, these are usually presented as comparative advantages of
personalization in relation to mass production, namely: a) higher use frequency
of products, b) longer life-span of products, c) reduction in clothing demand
based on higher product satisfaction (smaller number of garments with higher use value), and d) reduction in the
number of unsold products (pre-consumer waste). These are tested on the basis
of wardrobe studies (covering points a to c above) and company interviews
(point d above).
For
the third phase of this PhD research, the
study continues based on a research-through-design approach.
The
findings of the first and second phase of the research indicate that the
relationship between personalization and reduced clothing demand is not
straight forward when we consider it historically and empirically. Analyses of
the implications of personalization tend to focus on “the garment” as an
isolated unit of research/design/use, leading to hypotheses of decreasing
demand through user involvement in design. However, garments in use are items
of a broader system: the wardrobe. Personal wardrobes are usually complex
systems, flexible in size and structure. The metabolism of wardrobes is
diverse, garments get in and out for different reasons and their origin and
destination is varied. On the other hand, analyses of the potential of
personalization to reduce clothing demand tend to assume that a personal
wardrobe is a static ensemble, which includes a fixed number of items in each
garment type and where every item discarded is substituted by a new purchase.
Although
clothing consumption and use are issues attracting a lot of attention from
users, companies, and researchers alike, wardrobes receive only marginal
attention. Therefore, the research question of this third phase is: How a
systemic perception of the wardrobe may affect everyday sartorial practices? This
question is explored using the creative process and resulting research
artifacts (prototypes) to generate knowledge. The study involves two
activities: a) a creative session with experts in order to co-design the
research artifact, and b) a discussion of the research artifact with participants
of the former wardrobe studies. Given that Internet of things, product-service
systems, ubiquitous computing and data-driven life are particularly relevant
today; a connected wardrobe system seems a relevant research artifact to
explore the research question above. This phase is currently in development.
References
Maldini, I. (2017). On paradigm shifts and
industrial revolutions: tracing prevalent dressmaking practices and apparel
production systems in the Netherlands and northwest Europe (1850-2016). In Breaking
the fashion rules. Annual conference of the International Foundation of Fashion
Technology Institutes (IFFTI). Amsterdam.
Maldini, I., & Balkenende, R. (2017).
Reducing clothing production volumes by design: a critical review of
sustainable fashion strategies. In PLATE. Product Lifetimes and the
Environment. Delft.
Maldini, I., & Manz, R. (2016). The
Perfect Dress and its Making: a Comparative Study of the Sartorial Habits of
Amsterdam Women (1950s-2010s). In W. Wong, Y. Kikuchi, & S. T. Lin (Eds.), Making
Trans/National Contemporary Design History. 10th Conference of the ICDHS. (pp.
157–161). Taipei. https://doi.org/10.5151/despro-icdhs2016-029
Maldini, I., & Manz, R. L. (2017). From
“Things of Imitation” to “Devices of Differentiation”: Uncovering a Paradoxical
History of Clothing (1950–2015). Fashion Theory, 7419(April),
1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/1362704X.2017.1316577
