Everything That Went Wrong: challenges and opportunities in designing and prototyping long-life garments in a circular economy

This paper considers the case of the Service Shirt, a proof of concept prototype made as part of a design researchers in residence programme at a fashion brand, within a scientific research consortium. During the development of the concept to prototype stage, many problems arose. In this paper the two authors - co-creators of the prototype - explore the challenges encountered when confronting the theoretical framework of new circular economy business models with the material reality of design collaboration and prototyping. The authors argue for the potential of design-led investigation to expand the lifecycle of garments and offer new insights to understand the challenges of developing circular prototypes within a linear fashion production model. By analysing the different stages of the design and prototyping phase through a combination of adapted annotated portfolio and after-action review methods, four main elements of the project were identified as potential focal points: collaboration, the design challenge, manufacturing, and materials. Throughout these categories, it was found that communication and effective transfer of knowledge were keys to success. For each of these aspects, the authors suggest how the design process may be improved in future iterations.