Beyond the product

In my last post I was musing on the idea that fashion and textile designers need to become more aware of the wider system that their product is operating in -  the whole lifecycle of the garment from raw materials, through the processing of the fibre, the construction of the garment and finally to disposal or re-use. 

But most importantly, and definitely the part of the lifecycle that I am most interested in, is the middle phase or 'use' phase -  the many complex reasons why we shop, why we keep some garments for longer than others and how we care for them. 

Why and how we consume is a process that's rich with emotion, narrative and symbol and I believe that designers need to have a better understanding of this process, particularly if they are interested in challenging our over-consuming habits. 

There's a great blog post on DeviDoll that describes how shopping for women is an emotional experience that is not only about the purchase of clothes but is more about socialisation, collaboration and 'advice-giving'. 

Also, as Tim Brown writes, we are moving from a world of industrial manufacturing to a knowledge-based economy. Our basic needs have been met by the vast array of consumer goods on offer and we are now moving to a higher level of need - we expect more sophisticated experiences and ideas. 

So rather than just churning out more products, the designers' role is now about new types of services, processes and ways of collaborating which are sensitive to our shopping impulses, but which offer an alternative to the old, unsustainable model of 'buy and throw'. 

Having just finished reading Kate Fletcher's book Sustainable Fashion & Textiles, I was most struck by the idea that fashion and textile designers have a new role to play as 'cultivators' of social innovation, to challenge our over-consuming habits.  

She defines it from the most basic level of giving the consumer confidence to ask more questions and to have the confidence to re-work their existing wardrobes. This is is a really important skill to encourage but not something that designers have ever done in the past - once the garment was sold, the designer's role was complete and it was left up to the wearer to decide how to wear, care and dispose of it. But now even Topshop have launched a website which gives shoppers tips on how to customise their old clothes,

brilliantly titled 'Topshop wants your rubbish'! 

 

But moving beyond clothes and fashion, social innovation is necessary today because we need to re-organise the way we do things. Ezio Manzini, a systems design thinker, talks about design in the last 100 hundred years as being a 'disabling' activity. We (designers) developed technologies and systems which made things more 'democratic' and easier to live day to day, but it had the effect of rendering us (non-designers)'disenabled'. We marvelled at the emerging design profession to design and produce more and more products which created new ways to get things done quicker and easier, and we lapped it up, naturally. But we lost that 'know-how' that communities and individuals had in the past, which enabled them to deal with the most diverse aspects of daily life, whether it was growing and distributing food, organising a school, repairing something or simply reshaping a garment. 

So how can designers become 're-enablers', to bring back this 'know-how' to individuals and communities? and where do fashion and textile designers fit into this? 

My guess is that fashion and textile designers will need to take a more 'systems' approach  - whether it is offering a repair service like Keep & Share or developing a sense of community through a social networking site, like the Topshop site.