Designing for (extended) product and material lifetimes

It has been said that products’ environmental impacts are already defined in the design phase and that because of this, the responsibility for unsustainable textiles or garments has very often been considered that of designers. The extent to which designers are able to make design choices that really affect products’ lifetimes depends on the company in which the designer works and its size and strategy. In the mass manufacturing industry, in which production is outsourced, designers are often too busy to find new knowledge and have less power to make selections according to sustainability criteria (e.g. in materials), to optimise quality or think about the product’s longevity. In smaller companies, designers might have many more opportunities to focus on longevity aspects and may even know the customers well and get direct feedback from users on, for example, functionality, use satisfaction or quality issues. In a smaller-scale business it might also be easier to try out new business models or add some services to the product.

This chapter provides some lifetime aspects for designers to consider when designing textiles, garments or fashion. It begins with technical durability, which is linked to quality aspects. Style and longevity, adjustable sizing, use satisfaction and services will be discussed and how these elements link to lifetime thinking will be elaborated on. The chapter ends by discussing recycling and how this new phase in a product’s lifetime determines some choices made at the beginning of the design process.