Project Overview
I've accumulated a gross amount of T-shirts since high school and for over a year now, I've had a nagging question about what to do with the drawer full of shirts at my parents' house. I haven't taken them to Goodwill because I had a feeling that no one would repurchase them.
For a year I've been thinking about things I could possibly make from recycling T-shirts.
For my final Masters capstone, I decided to actually do something about it.
The Problem
When I started out, I knew this problem existed on a personal, annecdotal level. I never expected that the magnitude of this issue on both a national and global scale. The more I looked into it, the more motivated I became to find a solution.
Unfortunately, the story doesn’t end when a T-shirt reaches a landfill. Fabrics decompose and release landfill gas, a toxic brew of air pollutants that includes the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane. The EPA estimates that diverting often-toxic trashed textiles into a recycling program would be the environmental equivalent of taking 7.3 million cars and their carbon dioxide emissions off the road.
How might we divert t-shirts from the landfill and recycle them into long-lasting, consumer goods?
Assumptions
There are a few assumptions that were made in order to get started with with this project.
Making it easier and more convenient to donate clothing will lead to higher donation rates and lower landfill collection rates.
Consumers want to make sustainable decisions when discarding their clothing, but are unaware of how to do so or the current avenues are not accessible.
Consumers are willing to pay more for sustainably designed goods and services.
Research
Due to the nature and scope of the project I chose to pursue, my research did not look like a traditional UX project—I relied heavily on adapting my UX research toolkit. Throughout the discovery phase, I consistently had to reach outside of my comfort zone, accept my lack of knowledge in a plethora of areas, and take advantage of my others’ expertise. My research can be divided into 3 phases: defining research, discovery research and design research.
Defining: Secondary Research
Background Research
Inspiration Collections
Critical Exemplars
Discovery: Primary Research
8 Rapid User Interviews
SME Interview: T-Shirt Printing Employee
SME Interview: Fibers Professor and Artist
SME Interview: Marine Layer Employee
Design: Design Research
Goodwill Donation Flow Chart
T-shirt Lifecycle Mapping
Service Design Mapping
Defining Research
The background research I conducted was able to validate my problem space and motivate my project. To support the problem space, I conducted two collections workbooks with two different goals.
Inspiration Collection: A collection of product lifecycles, companies and business practices to inspire me, inspire the direction of the project and guide me forward.
Critical Collection: A collection of historical and modern inventions, practices and movements that have led to the over-production of t-shirts in America to contextualize the historical and ethical implications of such a project.
Discovery Research
I felt it was important to gain perspective from both common consumers and subject matter experts. I intentionally chose a mixed variety of consumers and participants ranged from 18-55 years old, included international and domestic citizens, and identified as both male and females. Rather than conduct a survey, I elected to deploy rapid user interviews in which I had a fixed set of questions for all interviewees, but could probe further for more information if needed.
For subject matter expert interviews, I wanted to expand beyond my field of knowledge and utilize other field experts to expand my understanding. This included a former T-Shirt printing company employee, a textiles and fibers professor and artist and a marketing director for my #1 exemplar, Marine Layer.
Discovery Insights
Design Research
My experience in UX research has centered around the act of gathering as much knowledge as possible. Through this project, I was challenged to learn by doing, in which I used mappings, diagrams and sketches as a way to gain knowledge. This design research included components such as: a Goodwill donation flow chart, T-shirt lifecycle flow map, and a service design mapping. For each component, I would begin with sketches, receive feedback and critique from colleagues and iterate until a more hi-fidelity digital version was complete.
A first iteration sketch of a t-shirt lifecycle.
The lifecycle of a T-Shirt donated to Goodwill. Click to expand.
Designing The Service
“We’re really starting to realize that it’s all connected—through supply chains, through our limited natural resources—and I think that we’re going to start seeing more systems where the materials are recovered and the emerging technologies and startups are finding ways to more efficiently integrate recovered materials and resources back into products.”
Existing lifecycle of a t-shirt. Click to Expand.
My proposed lifecycle. Click to Expand.
Designing The Physical Good
While the system design of collecting the t-shirts and diverting from the landfill is essential to my project, producing a unique, sustainable and commercially viable physical product made out of t-shirts was my main concern. Through several rounds of experimentation in the workshop, I was able to narrow down a design direction and create an innovative material.
Iteration 1
For the first batch of experimentation, we experimented with 3 different types of treatments on the t-shirts: contact cement, rubber caulk, and fiberglass resin. For each sample, an equal number of t-shirt layers were used for consistency.
Samples before treatment.
Treating the first sample with resin.
Samples after 3 different treatments.
Iteration 2
For the the second round of experimentation, we made a T shaped mold and folded the t-shirts to attempt a 90 degree angle. We did this to test the fiberglass treatment’s ability to hold shape. This iteration, we used 6 layers of t-shirt to strengthen the overall material.
The outcome was surprising to say the least. The mold kept it’s shaped and even on the point of the angel, it is able to hold over 200 pounds of weight.
The 90 degree mold.
Iteration 3
Based on the outcomes of the first two iterations, we decided to move towards a full fiberglass treatment. We updated the composition, adding more saturation of resin and using 5 layers of t-shirt. We also used a transducer to attempt a cleaner lay-up and smooth out the wrinkles and imperfections.
Getting materials ready for the resin pouring and transducer.
The first transducer prototype waiting to cure.