Addressing Sustainable Apparel Design Challenges With Problem-Based Learning

Abstract

As consumers' social and environmental concerns have grown in the last decade, so has interest in eco-fashion. Behind fast-changing fashion trends, the apparel industry generates substantial environmental and resource depletion problems throughout the textile lifecycle. To respond to these trends, fashion designers and merchandisers have been motivated to practice sustainability in design and production. Some sustainable options are available, such as organic fibers and environmentally safe dyes. Still, there are challenges for apparel designers and merchandisers when trying to realize sustainability. To help undergraduate apparel students learn problem-solving approaches to sustainable garment design, a problem-based learning project was created and implemented in an undergraduate design course. In the course, students designed and produced an original sustainable garment. Student feedback following the project was largely positive, with most students indicating they would continue using sustainable practices in future work.Keywords sustainable design, design challenge, apparel design, recycling, post consumer, problem-based learning Sustainability in apparel design is a subject of increasing importance. The apparel industry can create many environmental problems, including large quantities of harmful waste that are generated at every stage of the apparel manufacturing process. Along with increasing global awareness of environmental problems, consumers' awareness of sustainability has risen as well. Consumers are seeking environmentally friendly clothing, and producers are exploring ways to meet these demands while keeping an eye on the bottom line. Though consensus exists within the design world that sustainability is a vital topic to explore, little has been written about how to teach this concept. This study suggests one approach to teaching sustainability concepts to undergraduate university students.

Sustainable Supply Chain Management Implementation–Enablers and Barriers in the Textile Industry

“…Furthermore, textile companies' supply chains are not only globally dispersed [42] and characterized by a strong social and environmental impact [43], but are also linked to a significant number of sustainability issues related to suppliers [44]. As a result, market participants in the textile sector are increasingly under the spotlight for their involvement in social and environmental issues [45].…”

“…Paradoxically, customers pressure textile companies with their consumption behavior by demanding variety and affordability of products. At the same time, a growing awareness for sustainability arises [43] Moreover, sustainability issues in textile supply chains increasingly attract the concern of other stakeholders, including NGOs, local governments and the media, creating additional pressure to address sustainability issues [49].…”

Strategic approaches to sustainability in fashion supply chain management

“…Despite the importance of achieving a sustainability approach as a whole, some academic literature discusses either environmental or social sustainability perspectives without considering them simultaneously (Carter and Liane Easton 2011;Ashby, Leat, and Hudson-Smith 2012). Instead, adopting a sustainability approach that identifies the synergies between these two aspects is becoming compulsory for SCM, in particular, within the fashion industry, where many companies are currently implementing different activities to lower their impacts on the environment and society (Chen and Burns 2006;Allwood et al 2008;Gam and Banning 2011;Niinimäki and Hassi 2011;Armstrong et al 2015). As suggested by Kozlowski, Bardecki, and Searcy (2012), social and environmental aspects within fashion supply chains should not be treated separately, but rather simultaneously, as they intertwine and influence each other.…”

Impact of a Fashion fTRACE App on the Perception of Sustainability

“…Contrarily, Shen et al found preventing sweatshop labor is more important to consumers than protecting the environment, despite the fact that they had little knowledge on the sweatshop situation (Shen et al, 2012). This demonstrates, on the one hand, limited knowledge and misconception of consumers regarding sustainability, since they define it simply without describing it in detail or with examples (Carew & Mitchell, 2002;Gam & Banning, 2011). On the other hand, consumers' perception of importance for certain sustainable issues differs with regard to the respondent sampling group.…”