10 ways product design can help to facilitate sustainable fashion consumption.
How might we improve digital product design to facilitate responsible consumption?
(The details about how I conducted this research are on this post)
The fashion industry is the second-largest polluter globally, just after the oil industry. (Sustain your style) We manufacture over 100 million clothing items every year, and there are already clothes existing on our planet to dress the next six generations. In the UK, an item is worn an average of ten times. 350,000 items are sent to landfills every year. ("Generation Rewear" by Vanish)
After completing two user research courses with the Interaction Design Foundation, I decided to start this project to explore online user experience in fashion and sustainability.
Using the semi-structured user interviews method, I interviewed ten women in the UK aged between 26 and 45 to answer the question: How do people make conscious decisions to shop fashion responsibly?
That means
What sustainability issues do people care about?
How do they shop based on those beliefs? Do they put their principles into action when shopping?
What problems do they find when trying to shop responsibly?
So what?
We can design solutions that enable people to find responsible products so that they can make a statement with their purchases and thus create a healthier shopping loop.
From my interviews, I found key themes and insights into how can product design help facilitate more responsible consumption.
Improving the user experience of a digital product by itself will not make a company reduce its footprint on the environment or improve the conditions of textile workers. Bigger, fast fashion retailers invest more in user experience and make their products easy to use. Even when people would be willing to pay a higher price for better quality and responsibly produced items, they tend to favour convenience and ease of use and buy from big retailers. The lack of trust in digital transactions also makes people want to buy from bigger companies, perceiving them as more trustworthy.
There are also conflicting perceptions of sustainability. My interviews showed that people view sustainable options as expensive and aspirational, not accessible for the greater majority. There's also no clear relationship between the cost and benefit of buying sustainably. Companies' impact on the world is challenging to track, so consumers can't measure the impact of their choices.
So, how can product design help?
Some factors can improve the user experience online and help the user feel more confident and make better decisions. These include helpful product information, good customer support, secure checkout processes, legitimate reviews, and precise product comparisons.
Brand experience and perceptions of sustainability work on the emotional side. To improve on this, we need to think about how can we bring sustainability into the mainstream and make it the default choice instead of an aspirational factor for a niche audience.
We can also design new solutions to create good habits and support the users in making more sustainable choices. Not everything about fashion and sustainability has to be related to a commercial transaction. New technologies such as blockchain bring new possibilities, and fashion brands are already taking advantage of that. New products are helping people get more access to clothes recycling, organising their wardrobes and tracking their environmental footprint.
I summarise the main themes that surfaced in my interviews and where I think product design can help to facilitate responsible consumption:
- Make sustainability the default option
- Improve the user experience on mobile
- Improve the security of digital transactions
- Improve user control over spending - support user goals
- Improve the findability of sustainable options
- Use technology to provide more reliable information
- Improve the quality of product information online
- Improve UX and CX of second-hand marketplaces
- Create new solutions for new user needs
- Co-create with customers
Note: I changed the names of the women I interviewed to respect their privacy. Also, I don't have any affiliation with the brands mentioned in this post nor receive any incentive from them.
1. Make sustainability the default option
"I struggle with what’s the proper aspect of sustainability to focus on. Supporting sustainable cotton farming and farmers is important. But if we’re supporting the farmers and still everything is piling up in the landfills, is that really working?" (Wilhelmina)
My research showed these main factors why people say it's hard to buy sustainably:
They don't know what sustainable fashion is. Is it about recycling, production processes, carbon footprint, or buying second-hand clothes?
Options marketed as sustainable are more expensive, so they hesitate about spending more money on clothes than they're used to doing with fast fashion.
They're not used to buying and selling second-hand items, and it's even more challenging to do it online.
Finding information about a product and comparing options takes time and dedication.
They are not sure about the quality of recycled items.
Designers can't influence the production of a specific item or the marketing around it. Still, we can look for solutions that help people navigate online and stay more informed about the subject of sustainability. For example, websites such as The Ethical Consumer and Good On You provide helpful information but are not massively used. Consumers' and brands' awareness of sustainability is changing rapidly. Still, as long as "sustainable" is not the default option, we need to start thinking about the subject from the get-go when building a product.
2. Improve the user experience on mobile
"I browse on my phone, and I buy on my computer. Don't ask me why, I don't know. I think I feel like doing it on my desktop computer is more formal, like I'm not going to make a mistake as easily." (Reagan)
People I interviewed struggled with completing tasks on their phones as they felt the smaller screen would make them make mistakes. As a result, most of them move to a desktop computer to complete a purchase.
They also found it hard to compare products, research on a small screen, or input information.
This problem is not exclusive to fashion or e-commerce, but in general, supporting users in achieving their tasks efficiently and reducing frustration will help people make better choices.
Research shows that reading comprehension is impaired when users are presented with content on a mobile-size screen versus a larger computer screen due to a higher working memory load. (Norman Nielsen Group).
For designers, improving the user experience in mobile could take the form of designing tasks so that the user has many resources at hand as they need, for example, by implementing flat navigation and in-context controls. Also, we can focus on creating continuously integrated experiences with the desktop so that the user can have a seamless experience with our site.
3. Improve the security of digital transactions
“I bought a gym kit, and it never arrived. It was a shop in London. They were closed. They disappeared. I never got the kit and lost the money. So, I learned my lesson. No, if I do a Google search and I find nothing, and if it’s a random shop I know nothing about, I check them first, before I buy.” (Barbara)
People have a lack of trust in online transactions. Buying online is different from getting items in-store, where you purchase and leave the store with the thing. Online, you have to trust the business is legitimate and that they will send you the item and protect your bank information.
Two out of ten of my interviewees didn't receive an item after purchase and didn't get their money back. The main frustration they experienced was that they thought they were supporting smaller businesses by buying from less known sites, maybe with less sophisticated checkout processes and order tracking features.
Most of my interviewees use PayPal and credit cards to cover themselves in the event of a dispute. They also research companies in Trustpilot or Google.
- Designers can improve the purchase process in digital products by focusing on the user journey and tasks analysis in detail. Some key points are:
- Allow users to know the status of their purchase at every step with progression systems and notifications.
- Design a checkout process that mirrors the purchase process in person by conducting task analysis.
- Allow the user time to double-check their choices and revert their actions.
- Always have ways for the user to get help or contact customer service.
- Make returns easy.
Designers can't work on the backend to guarantee data security. Banks are doing their part to upgrade payment security constantly too. Still, a good "terms and conditions" pattern design is essential to keep the users aware of their rights. Also, It's important not to take more information from the user than it's strictly necessary.
4. Improve user control over spending - support user goals
"I try to contain myself if you will, because it's very easy to go overboard when you buy online. I've been trying to keep it in check, especially during quarantine. You start buying, it's easy to click, and you realise you spent a lot of money on things you don't need." (Sara)
"User-friendliness brought a world in which making things are easier to use without a second thought. That is eventually making products more irresistible, even outright addicting." (Nir Eyal)
For a user who shops online slightly often, wants to buy fewer items and aims to spend money on sustainable fashion, one-click buying and fast thoughtless processes may not encourage the best behaviour.
Many users have anxiety about overspending and losing control of their finances. Many blame the "ease of use" of systems as a factor for not being able to control themselves or to buy less responsibly.
Of course, businesses need to sell to be profitable and thrive, but if we're talking about sustainable consumption, buying better and reducing consumerism and fast fashion is crucial. The user experience online should support this concept.
Designers must avoid using dark patterns to trick users into taking actions they don't want. Also, pay attention to the 10 Nielsen's usability heuristics. These include giving the user control and the ability to revert their actions, for example, in a checkout process. Add as many steps as necessary so that the user can double-check everything.
5. Improve the findability of sustainable options
"I used an app as well, called Mallzee. It's like a Tinder for fashion. First, you search for something and can swipe left and right. You have lots of brands and different shops. I used that once when I was pregnant for the first time. I tried stuff from different shops, and that's how I got a graph for the fit of different shops and what I liked and didn't. I wasn't used to shopping online much, and it was quite useful to see stuff from different brands and compare." (Barbara)
People in my interviews all said they spent a significant amount of time doing online research to find out about companies' practices and product information. For example, to check the materials of a product, a company's reputation or to find reviews.
There's a general lack of trust in marketing messages, and when spending more money on better options, people want to compare more.
In his book "Hooked. How to build habit-forming products", Nir Eyal points out how Amazon provides tremendous perceived utility to its customers by allowing users to comparison shop from within site. Likewise, in my interviews, people repeatedly mentioned Amazon as their option when looking for ease of use.
Designers can improve the findability of sustainable options by making them stand out in product comparisons or by including sustainability as a primary category. In addition, saved searches can help users return to previous searches, so they don't have to do the work again.
Search patterns are particularly complex in retail. Faceted search, for example, tries to deliver a huge number of search filtering criteria and allows the use of multiple filters to narrow down substantial data sets.
Improving search can be highly beneficial for second-hand stores, where the user may have many different types of search criteria.
6. Use technology to provide more reliable information
"You can trace back who was in charge of the company's philanthropic work and how that was being implemented. You can see whether the company is in charge of doing the hands-on teaching or engagement with the farmers, whether they have a good reputation for doing that or whether it's basically like Nestle or someone that fakes they were with the community. People often present themselves in one way, and you think that's great, but then you find out that's all a bit of a smokescreen." (Reagan)
Due to a lack of trust and suspicions of greenwashing, people who want to shop responsibly spend time researching the companies to tell if they do what they say in terms of sustainability.
Most people are not sustainability experts and find it hard to check whether the company's impact on the environment and communities is relevant.
A way to improve this is to provide customers with the information they can trust.
Designers can start using technology to follow items' production process or precedence by using technologies such as blockchain.
Blockchain is a digital decentralised, distributed and public ledger. It can help track items throughout their lifecycles, including data about products, materials and suppliers. Many fashion brands are starting to use this technology to track an item's origin.
Another technology that Google is developing for fashion and sustainability is Google's Global Fibre Impact Explorer, built on Google Earth's engine and uses Google cloud computing. It assesses the environmental risk of different fibres across regions.
7. Improve the quality of product information online
"I like it when for a piece of clothing they show you brand photography, but they also show you people that tagged on Instagram wearing the actual item. A real-world view of what it looks like. A lot of the websites do that now. You can look at the Instagram people and what they look like in real life without the editing. You're often looking at the clothes, but you know there's a massive pin at the back to make them fit a certain way as opposed to real life." (Maisie)
There’s a difference between seeing an item in-store and buying it online. Not only is the process of fulfilment longer, but sometimes what you get doesn’t fit or is not the quality expected. And returns are a hassle.
However, buying online access to sustainable brands with online stores, but not necessarily with physical ones. It allows smaller businesses to reach bigger audiences.
But online, without good product information, people tend to look for reviews to find what other people felt when they had the products in their hands.
There doesn’t seem to be too much information when it comes to product information.
The most requested categories that designers can improve upon are UI/UX patterns on:
- Fit
- Comparisons
- Materials, quality and origin
- Product photography from as many angles and details as possible and using natural models.
8. Improve UX and CX of second-hand marketplaces
"I've bought second-hand clothes in charity shops. But for those kinds of things, I don't know if I would do it online? It's nice to go to one of those charity shops and browse and see if there is something nice. But I don't know if I would do it online because it's harder to see what state something is in. Or if it doesn't fit, you can't change the size. So, it's something that I do, but I like to do it in physical environments." (Barbara)
Some people enjoy the experience of going to a second-hand store to find something different and unique. They also do it as they think it's a more sustainable way to shop.
But even in the store, when looking for something specific, finding an item takes a lot of effort and dedication.
Most people I interviewed don't buy second hand online, as they find these online stores very difficult to navigate. Sites like Vestiaire Collective, Vinted, or eBay are used more by the "fashionista" type than the average consumer.
There's also a preconception that "vintage" is a specific look that is not suitable for their lifestyle.
For designers, How might we make the experience of buying second-hand clothes online more exciting? For example, we could use gamification, the metaverse, and social interaction.
One thing that came up from my research is that users tend to have their favourite second-hand shops, so embedding a store with a unique experience and personality would create fans and users that would go back to it. In addition, each group of users may do things differently and prefer different kinds of relations. Depop, for example, uses social interaction features that appeal to Gen Zs.
9. Create new solutions for new user needs
"I think everyone who buys stuff has a choice. How people see their wardrobe and how they treat their clothes, mend them, take care of them, and fix them if they break. Do they find many ways of wearing a piece of clothing?" (Karin)
Not all solutions to improve sustainable consumption have to be in the e-commerce space. There could be other ways to support users, such as helping them recycle the clothes they already own or finding new ways of styling them. In my interviews, people recognised that buying less and wearing what they own is also a way of being sustainable.
There are apps such as Save Your Wardrobe that allow you to categorise and organise your clothes. There are also renting clothes websites and services such as Sojo that facilitate the repair of clothes. On the environmental front, Tred-earth is an app that tracks your carbon footprint as you spend.
For designers, how might we allow the user to be playful with fashion and enjoy it without encouraging a constant cycle of consumption and throwing away?
10. Co-create with customers
"I don't know the fashion today, but I don't like it much. When you go to a second-hand shop, you find many styles from past years. If you go to a shop now, in a season, you will find only one type of clothes. All the jeans are in this style now, and all the T-shirts are in this style now. The colours are only for this season. I don't like it that much. I prefer to have a crazy variety of items to choose from." (Natalia)
A critical dimension of sustainability is the social dimension, which includes ideas of social justice, equity and empowerment of women.
Every person I interviewed said that they don't follow trends, like to have a personal style, and don't feel represented by the images they see from clothing brands.
The one-way communication modality from brands to people, with retouched and idealised images, doesn't appeal to women anymore.
Reflecting diversity and inclusion in all communications is a way for brands to address this. But also, from the designer's point of view, how can we get each individual to have a personalised experience where they feel a one-to-one communication is taking place?
Algorithms are a way to predict what users want based on previous actions, but what I'm referring to by "personalised experience" is not so much a passive interaction but a two-way interaction, such as co-creating with users.
Yvon Chouinard, the founder of the brand Patagonia, says, "Rather than dictating what I thought my customers should buy and wear, I listened instead."(fn) As a result, Patagonia has a deep knowledge of their customer.
The "Prosumer", as Don and Alex Tapscott define it in their book Blockchain Revolution, are consumers who produce.
"In a dynamic world of customer innovation, a new generation of consumer-producer considers the right to have its birthright". (Don and Alex Tapscott)
Conclusion
Maybe one day, we won’t have to be concerned about shopping sustainably because every product in the market will be responsibly produced and approved by government regulations.
In the meantime, there’s a growing awareness of sustainability from both brands and consumers. Still, many global economic and social factors in play affect sustainable consumption, and the problem will take a global approach to solve.
As product designers, we are the users’ advocates. Therefore, we should focus on solving their problems and creating good habits, such as the ability to find the right products and brands and shop securely and comfortably, instead of encouraging a cycle of fast shopping and constant waste production.
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lautecce@gmail.com