Care & Repair: from interventions to ecosystems
The transition to a circular textile supply chain requires more than just better materials and recycling. A large part of clothing’s environmental impact is determined during the use phase. Clothing often remains unused or is thrown away, even though it is still technically wearable. Care & Repair explores how design can contribute to extending the lifespan of clothing by making maintenance, care, and repair a structural part of the fashion system.
The project centers on the question of how designers can shape not only products but also services, behaviors, and forms of collaboration that encourage longer use of clothing. The goal is to develop both practical care and repair solutions and supporting systems that make maintenance and repair accessible, attractive, and second nature.
Equally important in this project is shaping perspectives on ecosystems and orchestration. How can different interests, actors, and rhythms in complex ecosystems—such as the ecosystem surrounding the maintenance and repair of clothing—be connected in such a way that collective action emerges? And what happens when designers take on the role of “orchestrator” in this context?
Design-driven innovation
Care & Repair brings together users, designers, repair services, brands, and researchers in a design-driven innovation process. Through co-creation, practical experiments, and design research, new strategies are developed for sustainable clothing use. This work follows the Double Diamond model (explore, define, develop, deliver), in which insights from behavioral research are linked to concrete design interventions.
The power of design lies in connecting different perspectives and levels of scale. In the research, design power is deployed at various levels, such as in the design of the research process and the interventions. A crucial role is reserved for the designer as an “orchestrator” of collaboration and change within an ecosystem. A sub-study will examine and evaluate the orchestration role of designers throughout the project.
Innovation and strengthening
The project’s intended outcomes are practical knowledge and tools for the sector, including design principles for repair-friendly clothing, white-label concepts for brands, and repair services, as well as training and manuals for maintenance and repair that encourage sustainable consumption behaviors. In addition, the sub-study on orchestration will provide insights for the creative industry regarding the design competency of “orchestration.” The plan is to translate these insights into a toolkit or workshop, tailored to the needs of the creative industry.
Through this approach, Care & Repair contributes to the development of new circular business models, the reduction of textile waste, and the promotion of a culture in which caring for clothing once again becomes a natural part of daily life. The project demonstrates that design not only develops solutions but can also shape the collaboration, infrastructure, and culture necessary for a circular textile supply chain.
Collaborations
Care & Repair is part of the NewTexEco research community, in which ArtEZ University of the Arts collaborates with Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Saxion University of Applied Sciences, and approximately thirty public and private partners on the development of a circular textile supply chain.
Ontwerpkracht Crossovers
In the publication series Ontwerpkracht Crossovers, Care & Repair enters into dialogue with the project Grassroots. In a duo interview written by Twan Eikelenboom, both projects share experiences from the early phase of their research and explore how design-led research can contribute to system change within existing structures.
Read the publication here Dutch
