Sustainability culture and fashion enterprises

From creating questions to co-creating participation

Abstract

The potential role of co-design in the fashion industry and system toward a more sustainable future and as a critical action for social change can be addressed through the role design assumes in an organisation. This article describes a strategy to develop a sustainable consumption culture through participatory design activities. It does so by reconstructing the collaboration between a company and a local third-sector entity promoting co-design for social innovation. The methods used to drive this collaboration included ideation techniques and intensive co-design workshops aimed at developing a recognisable sustainable brand and understanding sustainability-related topics for the company’s customers. Strategies, design probes and replicable design tools emerging from the workshop were applied as innovative actions. This collaboration provided several experiences that, on the one hand, allowed the identification of new company strategies for supporting sustainability in the fashion industry and, on the other hand, created the condition to systematically adopt co-design instruments for providing social change through company actions.