Slow design‐driven innovation: A response to our future in the Anthropocene epoch

Abstract

Human activities have changed the Earth System to the point where we are in a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. This is characterized as a climate crisis with the practices and meanings associated with innovation being challenged. 'Slow Designers', including those living in the most climatically vulnerable parts of the Earth, are innovating design practices by building on the heritage and history of local communities and using eco-friendly materials. These craft-inspired approaches could mitigate our over reliance on the Earth System. Slow design-driven innovation (DDI), by translating communities' heritage, history and territorial importance, creates sustainable products that customers love and care for. We contribute to the theory of DDI by bringing together concepts from the Slow Food movement and DDI, coining the term 'Slow Design-Driven Innovation'. Slow DDI consists of four actions: envisaging the heritage, featuring the biodiversity in the product, translating traditional techniques into processes for innovative products and narrating a story about the products and their makers to promote new meanings. Managerially, this contributes to a model of responsible production that confronts current practices in today's climate crisis, as the products are long-lasting, high quality and are created using local organic materials, thereby protecting biodiversity.

Traditional and environmentally friendly attributes in products of highly design-oriented firms: an exploratory study in the perception of Italian entrepreneurs

“…Other recent studies focused on design management have analyzed environmentally sustainable design in organizations from different perspectives (Aversa et al. , 2017; Gasparin et al ., 2020; Jevnaker and Olaisen, 2022). Therefore, good design practice should regard sustainable issues (Brower et al.…”

Sustainable Fashion Product Innovation: Continuous Value of Apparel Products on Second-Hand Product Trading Platforms

“…The term "sustainable fashion" has arisen as a broad concept [12]; the working definition of sustainable fashion is: "The variety of means by which a fashion item or behavior could be perceived to be more sustainable, including (but not limited to) environmental, social, slow fashion, reuse, recycling, cruelty-free, anti-consumption, and production practices". Previous studies on sustainable product innovation have focused on various aspects, such as material choice, production methods, and business strategies [4][5][6][7]13,14]. These investigations aimed to minimize environmental impacts by considering the entire product life cycle while improving product quality and design.…”

Stories of value: Business model innovation adding value propositions articulated by Slow Storytelling

“…Slow design-driven organizations are ones which produce innovative products and translate the heritage and history of their communities into new products that the customers love and care for. The products that are created are long-lasting, high quality and use local organic (where possible) materials, collected and processed in such a way that it is limiting the negative impact on the environment, throughout the overall supply chain (Gasparin, Green, & Schinckus, 2020). Slow design is an emerging movement in fashion and design that recognizes the importance of taking the time to produce and to think carefully about the configuration of natural resources.…”