Up-cycling Fashion
🌿 TL;DR - Project Snapshot
For: Eco-conscious shoppers and thrifters
Problem: Fast fashion dominates the market, leaving few convenient options for users to shop sustainably and locally.
Goal: Design a platform that connects environmentally conscious shoppers with local sellers and second-hand clothing exchanges — promoting sustainability through community-driven upcycling.
Outcome: A mobile app prototype that helps users buy, sell, and exchange pre-loved fashion items within their local communities while encouraging sustainable practices.
Impact: Local Green Closet offers users a convenient and community-centered alternative to fast fashion, supporting small sellers while reducing waste.
My Role: UX/UI Designer — led user research, flow design, and usability testing.
Team: 3 UX/UI Designers
Timeline: 3 weeks
Tools: Figma, Miro, InVision
🌱 Project Overview
Local Green Closet is an app concept that empowers users to shop, sell, and exchange pre-loved clothing within their communities. The goal was to make sustainable fashion accessible, affordable, and social.
As fast fashion continues to exploit workers and harm the planet, our team wanted to design a solution that supports both ethical shopping and local connections. As an avid thrifter myself, this project allowed me to explore a problem space I deeply care about — sustainability in fashion.
Fast fashion (noun): The rapid production of inexpensive clothing that mimics current trends, often at the expense of environmental and ethical responsibility.
User Research
We began with a central research question:
How can users who want to practice sustainable fashion connect to locals looking to eliminate unwanted apparel?
To answer this, we conducted 4 user interviews with individuals who frequently thrift, participate in clothing swaps, or prioritize sustainability in their shopping habits.
Research Goals
Understand users’ shopping motivations and barriers.
Explore perceptions of sustainability and second-hand fashion.
Identify opportunities for a digital solution to support ethical shopping habits.
Demographics
Shoppers who enjoy thrifting, clothing swaps, or hand-me-downs.
Users who value sustainability but still seek affordability and quality.
“I love sustainability, but I still need affordable options.”
“Shopping online is convenient now, but I worry about fit and waste.”
“I love finding gently used apparel and giving clothes a second life.”
Insights & Analysis
To synthesize our findings, we built an affinity diagram and identified recurring themes across user interviews.
Users Value:
Affordable but quality items
Clothes that last
Transparency in sourcing and sustainability
From the research, we learned:
Users are aware of fast fashion’s negative impact but struggle to find ethical, low-cost alternatives.
The pandemic shifted shopping habits — many now prefer online options but still want local engagement.
There’s a growing desire for trust, connection, and accountability in how clothes are bought and sold.
Key Takeaway/Problem Statement
Fast fashion has made clothing cheaper and more accessible than ever, but at a steep environmental and ethical cost. Many consumers are aware of its negative impact and want to shop more sustainably — yet they struggle to find affordable, trustworthy alternatives within their own communities. Our research revealed that shoppers crave transparency, local connection, and quality over quantity, but existing resale platforms often lack the sense of community and accessibility they value.
Ideation
I facilitated an “I Like, I Wish, What If” brainstorming session to generate ideas. Each team member contributed unique features, and we voted on those that best aligned with user needs.
Key ideas surfaced:
Hosting local clothing swaps and donation drives.
Connecting users through community resale events.
Highlighting sellers with ethical practices.
We then used a feature prioritization matrix to evaluate impact and complexity.
High-impact ideas included:
Knowing when local community members were giving away or selling items.
Finding budget-friendly, high-quality pieces nearby.
These insights directly informed our app’s core concept — a hyperlocal resale marketplace for sustainable fashion.
Storyboard
Our storyboard followed Mai, a user looking for a new dress for her birthday.
Frustrated with mall prices and wasteful trends, she discovers Local Green Closet through a friend, browses local listings, and picks up a unique pre-loved dress via contactless pickup.
This story helped us define how the app facilitates meaningful and sustainable shopping experiences — personal, affordable, and community-driven.
Prototyping
Before designing, I created user flows for:
Onboarding
Shopping
Checkout
These flows visualized each step in the user journey, ensuring logical progression and smooth navigation. We then sketched each screen by hand before building low-fidelity wireframes in Figma.
Onboarding Sketch
Shopping Sketch
Check Out Sketch
The early prototypes focused on core interactions — logging in, browsing, favoriting items, and completing a checkout flow.
User Testing
We conducted 4 usability tests with our low-fidelity prototype to validate core interactions and icon clarity.
Objective
Can users sign up and onboard smoothly?
Are icons like “heart” and “profile” intuitive?
Can users navigate checkout without confusion?
Tasks
Create an account.
Select an item, favorite it, and view it in your profile.
Add an item to the shopping bag and purchase it.
Key Findings
Most users completed tasks successfully but questioned why location data was required during onboarding.
This feedback inspired a design improvement: adding clear permission prompts explaining how location helps connect users with local sellers and pickup options.
How we improved…
We added a permission screen and an “are you sure?” confirmation message to emphasize transparency and user control over location sharing.
Final Prototype
The final design incorporated a clean, nature-inspired palette with green tones to reinforce sustainability and trust.
Key features included:
A community-driven feed showcasing pre-loved clothing.
User profiles with seller info and local pickup preferences.
A simple checkout flow encouraging sustainable exchange.
Final Thoughts & Next Steps
This project was an opportunity to explore how digital design can influence environmental responsibility and community engagement. I learned how to balance usability with ethical design — building something that supports both people and the planet.
Next Steps
Clothing Swaps: Add a feature to organize local swap events where users can exchange items for free.
Community Verification: Introduce ratings or badges for verified local sellers.
Sustainability Insights: Help users track their positive impact (e.g., “You saved X lbs of clothing from landfill”).