October 2024 - Present
Clothezy (in progress)
Clothezy (in progress)
WHAT HAPPENS TO OUR CLOTHES?
WHAT HAPPENS TO OUR CLOTHES?
Growing out of or accidentally tearing clothes is never a pleasant experience. Personally, I frustratingly keep it aside and let it gather dust or I'll one day gather up the energy to donate it. And stitching is out of question for me, because I've never learned how to do it before.
Throwing away clothes can contribute to textile waste and large landfills, causing mass toxic chemical production and is not sustainable. This is a cause for concern!
As a result, I found a dire urge to design Clothezy, where users can track their environmental impact and participate more in clothing donations, addressing textile waste and providing resources for underserved communities.
This is as part of the Google Professional UX Design Certification Course. I wanted to design this app as a contribution to underserved communities and provide an efficient way of recycling, increasing sustainability.
Growing out of or accidentally tearing clothes is never a pleasant experience. Personally, I frustratingly keep it aside and let it gather dust or I'll one day gather up the energy to donate it. And stitching is out of question for me, because I've never learned how to do it before.
Throwing away clothes can contribute to textile waste and large landfills, causing mass toxic chemical production and is not sustainable. This is a cause for concern!
As a result, I found a dire urge to design Clothezy, where users can track their environmental impact and participate more in clothing donations, addressing textile waste and providing resources for underserved communities.
This is as part of the Google Professional UX Design Certification Course. I wanted to design this app as a contribution to underserved communities and provide an efficient way of recycling, increasing sustainability.
Growing out of or accidentally tearing clothes is never a pleasant experience. Personally, I frustratingly keep it aside and let it gather dust or I'll one day gather up the energy to donate it. And stitching is out of question for me, because I've never learned how to do it before.
Throwing away clothes can contribute to textile waste and large landfills, causing mass toxic chemical production and is not sustainable. This is a cause for concern!
As a result, I found a dire urge to design Clothezy, where users can track their environmental impact and participate more in clothing donations, addressing textile waste and providing resources for underserved communities.
This is as part of the Google Professional UX Design Certification Course. I wanted to design this app as a contribution to underserved communities and provide an efficient way of recycling, increasing sustainability.
ONLINE RESEARCH
ONLINE RESEARCH
To kick off my research process, I wanted to understand textile waste and its implications. Where do clothes end up if they're not donated? Where do people donate their clothes too? Additionally, I talked to friends who love to repurpose their clothing items and curated my findings:
Textile Waste
According to Earth.org, "92 million tonnes of textiles waste is produced every year", and "the apparel industry’s global emissions will increase by 50% by 2030."
Fast fashion is a trendy concept, where large amount of cheap clothes are trending for a short amount of time, leading to quicker waste production (stateofmatterappeal.com).
66% of discarded textiles are sent to landfills in the U.S. where they decompose slowly (bu.edu).
Donation
How does donation work? How much of our clothes are actually used and fit those who are underserved? An article I found interesting was published by the Washington Post, called "What really happens to your clothes after you donate them." What I found interesting after reading this article is that most of us donate our clothes and forget about them, but we don't really know where they are going!
According to the article, "a large portion of donated clothes typically aren’t suitable for someone else to wear because they are in poor condition. Those unwanted clothes can then become a problem if they get shipped overseas or worse, incinerated or landfilled." The article also points out that as the donators, we should make sure our clothes are in good shape before donating, so that they don't get thrown out.
When I came up with the idea for this app, I researched donation centers that I could have donated to, and found a list on Yelp that had reviews and ratings for each of them. In addition, I found many shelters close by, such as the Isla Vista Teen Center and Homeless Resource Center (I am based in Santa Barbara). I had never once heard of these shelters or heard anyone speaking of them, and realized that this was another issue I could solve with this app.
These statistics and helped clarify the specific problems I wanted to target and how I wanted to contribute to underserved communities with clothes.
Personal Experience
I once found a rip in the thigh section of a pair of leggings, and I wasn't sure what to do with it. I live in Isla Vista, so I'm not too familiar with donation shelters around here, and so I ended up keeping it because I didn't know what to do with it. Therefore, I found the need to understand other people's experiences in this or similar situations, leading to the user survey phase of the project.
To kick off my research process, I wanted to understand textile waste and its implications. Where do clothes end up if they're not donated? Where do people donate their clothes too? Additionally, I talked to friends who love to repurpose their clothing items and curated my findings:
Textile Waste
According to Earth.org, "92 million tonnes of textiles waste is produced every year", and "the apparel industry’s global emissions will increase by 50% by 2030."
Fast fashion is a trendy concept, where large amount of cheap clothes are trending for a short amount of time, leading to quicker waste production (stateofmatterappeal.com).
66% of discarded textiles are sent to landfills in the U.S. where they decompose slowly (bu.edu).
Donation
How does donation work? How much of our clothes are actually used and fit those who are underserved? An article I found interesting was published by the Washington Post, called "What really happens to your clothes after you donate them." What I found interesting after reading this article is that most of us donate our clothes and forget about them, but we don't really know where they are going!
According to the article, "a large portion of donated clothes typically aren’t suitable for someone else to wear because they are in poor condition. Those unwanted clothes can then become a problem if they get shipped overseas or worse, incinerated or landfilled." The article also points out that as the donators, we should make sure our clothes are in good shape before donating, so that they don't get thrown out.
When I came up with the idea for this app, I researched donation centers that I could have donated to, and found a list on Yelp that had reviews and ratings for each of them. In addition, I found many shelters close by, such as the Isla Vista Teen Center and Homeless Resource Center (I am based in Santa Barbara). I had never once heard of these shelters or heard anyone speaking of them, and realized that this was another issue I could solve with this app.
These statistics and helped clarify the specific problems I wanted to target and how I wanted to contribute to underserved communities with clothes.
Personal Experience
I once found a rip in the thigh section of a pair of leggings, and I wasn't sure what to do with it. I live in Isla Vista, so I'm not too familiar with donation shelters around here, and so I ended up keeping it because I didn't know what to do with it. Therefore, I found the need to understand other people's experiences in this or similar situations, leading to the user survey phase of the project.
To kick off my research process, I wanted to understand textile waste and its implications. Where do clothes end up if they're not donated? Where do people donate their clothes too? Additionally, I talked to friends who love to repurpose their clothing items and curated my findings:
Textile Waste
According to Earth.org, "92 million tonnes of textiles waste is produced every year", and "the apparel industry’s global emissions will increase by 50% by 2030."
Fast fashion is a trendy concept, where large amount of cheap clothes are trending for a short amount of time, leading to quicker waste production (stateofmatterappeal.com).
66% of discarded textiles are sent to landfills in the U.S. where they decompose slowly (bu.edu).
Donation
How does donation work? How much of our clothes are actually used and fit those who are underserved? An article I found interesting was published by the Washington Post, called "What really happens to your clothes after you donate them." What I found interesting after reading this article is that most of us donate our clothes and forget about them, but we don't really know where they are going!
According to the article, "a large portion of donated clothes typically aren’t suitable for someone else to wear because they are in poor condition. Those unwanted clothes can then become a problem if they get shipped overseas or worse, incinerated or landfilled." The article also points out that as the donators, we should make sure our clothes are in good shape before donating, so that they don't get thrown out.
When I came up with the idea for this app, I researched donation centers that I could have donated to, and found a list on Yelp that had reviews and ratings for each of them. In addition, I found many shelters close by, such as the Isla Vista Teen Center and Homeless Resource Center (I am based in Santa Barbara). I had never once heard of these shelters or heard anyone speaking of them, and realized that this was another issue I could solve with this app.
These statistics and helped clarify the specific problems I wanted to target and how I wanted to contribute to underserved communities with clothes.
Personal Experience
I once found a rip in the thigh section of a pair of leggings, and I wasn't sure what to do with it. I live in Isla Vista, so I'm not too familiar with donation shelters around here, and so I ended up keeping it because I didn't know what to do with it. Therefore, I found the need to understand other people's experiences in this or similar situations, leading to the user survey phase of the project.
SURVEYING MY TARGET AUDIENCE
SURVEYING MY TARGET AUDIENCE
For this app, I decided to design for users between the ages of 18 and 26, targeting a more modern user base and people more likely to find damages in their clothes.
In order to understand my target users' thoughts about the their personal experiences with damaged or outgrown clothes and their feelings about the environmental impact of textile waste, I conducted a detailed survey.
For this app, I decided to design for users between the ages of 18 and 26, targeting a more modern user base and people more likely to find damages in their clothes.
In order to understand my target users' thoughts about the their personal experiences with damaged or outgrown clothes and their feelings about the environmental impact of textile waste, I conducted a detailed survey.
For this app, I decided to design for users between the ages of 18 and 26, targeting a more modern user base and people more likely to find damages in their clothes.
In order to understand my target users' thoughts about the their personal experiences with damaged or outgrown clothes and their feelings about the environmental impact of textile waste, I conducted a detailed survey.
The main themes of the user questions were:
How often they have clothes that are worn out/too small/ripped
What they typically do with clothes they no longer want
What frustrations they have when wanting to donate
What features they would want in a clothes donation app
These basic questions helped me to understand my users' main habits with clothes usage and understand their perspectives on donations and repurposing.
The main themes of the user questions were:
How often they have clothes that are worn out/too small/ripped
What they typically do with clothes they no longer want
What frustrations they have when wanting to donate
What features they would want in a clothes donation app
These basic questions helped me to understand my users' main habits with clothes usage and understand their perspectives on donations and repurposing.
The main themes of the user questions were:
How often they have clothes that are worn out/too small/ripped
What they typically do with clothes they no longer want
What frustrations they have when wanting to donate
What features they would want in a clothes donation app
These basic questions helped me to understand my users' main habits with clothes usage and understand their perspectives on donations and repurposing.
INSIGHTS - AFFINITY DIAGRAM
INSIGHTS - AFFINITY DIAGRAM
INSIGHTS - AFFINITY DIAGRAM
Organizing the data in an affinity diagram, I pinpointed user pain points, needs and features/goals for the app.
PAIN POINTS
Users have a difficult time finding where to donate their clothes
Some users don't know how to repurpose/upcycle
Most users typically donate clothes, rather than repurpose.
USER NEEDS
Want the process of finding a place to donate to be simple and fast
Want tutorials on how to repurpose clothes
Want suggestions for underprivileged communities and ethical organizations to donate to, based off of location
Want information on the organization that they are donating to, including verification
FULL AFFINITY MAP
01 Traffic Acquisition:
Increase interest and funnel new people to the website
02 Site Stickiness:
Expand exploration of website content through a unique medium
03 User Retention:
Increase content value and keep customers returning
Kavya Verma
Contact
kavya.verma@gmail.com
Kavya Verma
Contact
kavya.verma@gmail.com
Kavya Verma
Contact
kavya.verma@gmail.com