Up-cycling Fashion
Project Overview
Local Green Closet is an attempt to provide environmentally conscious shoppers an app where they can shop, sell, and share pre-loved items with their community. Fast fashion has taken a toll on the planet and continues to exploit workers globally. As an avid thrifter myself, Local Green Closet addresses a problem space I feel strongly about.
Team: 3 UX/UI Designers
Timeline: 3 weeks
Tools: Miro, InVision, Figma
fast fashion (noun): an approach to the design, creation, and marketing of clothing fashions that emphasizes making fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to customers.
User Research
We began with user interviews and a central research question in mind: How can users who want to practice sustainable fashion connect to locals looking to eliminate unwanted apparel?
Goal
To understand users shopping habits, their thoughts on fashion sustainability, and how we can make a unique application to address their needs.
Demographics
Shoppers who enjoy thrifting, clothing swaps, and who, overall want to shop ethically.
Methodology
4 interviews, conducted over zoom with users who meet our target demographics.
“I am so all about sustainability. With the pandemic I wore the same stuff all the time and I loved not having to buy things contributing to global warming and waste. ”
“I use to try and shop in person. A lot more in person. Now I shop online, but will it fit? Now I’m lagging due to covid and fears of being in public around groups of people.”
“Finding gently used apparel and staying on budget while doing my part for clothes not to end in landfill and I love giving used apparels a second life. ”
Analysis
To analyze the responses we received during the interviews, an affinity diagram was constructed
Tries to understand where their clothes come from and make smart choices
Appreciates low-cost, but quality items
Looks for items that will last
From the user interviews we learned…
Many users were familiar with the negative effects of fast fashion, but still need affordable options.
Shoppers want to find affordable items, but not sacrifice quality in return, like their experience with trendy mall stores.
After the pandemic, many consumers have become comfortable with, and even prefer, shopping online.
Therefore, users need help finding affordable and sustainable fashion locally because they are noticing the life of their garments are decreasing due to the poor quality of mass produced items.
Ideation
With a user need established, we began brainstorming ideas of unique features for the app that are not currently offered by other second-hand clothing platforms and voted on the ones that spoke to us the most.
Next, these ideas were organized into a feature prioritization matrix, focusing in on High Impact features: Knowing when friends or fellow community members were getting rid of unwanted garments and wanting to find budget friendly pricing when looking to add new items to one's wardrobe.
So, what makes Local Green Closet valuable to users?
… it connects local small businesses and individuals to those who want low to no cost, second-hand garments with the option of contactless pickup or shipping. Environmentally conscious people can find friends or community members who are looking to list quality items all while practicing sustainability.
In envisioning what a typical user’s experience may look like when discovering Local Green Closet, this storyboard centers around, Mai, who is frustrated with retail chain stores. They are recommended Local Green Closet by a friend and is able to find unique, affordable, and sustainable pieces.
Prototyping
Before jumping into designing, a user flow of the possible actions a user can take helped visualize each screen of the app. Breaking them up into digestible pieces: onboarding, shopping, and checkout.
Onboarding Sketch
Shopping Sketch
Check Out Sketch
The sketches were turned into low-fidelity clickable wireframes.
User Testing
We asked four users to test our digital prototype.
Objective
To confirm users can sign up and get onboarded smoothly.
To determine if icons such as “heart” and “profile” are easily recognizable.
Can users successfully navigate through the checkout process?
Target Users
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.
Thrifters, clothing swappers, hand-me-down wearers, online shoppers. Essentially, anyone that cares for the environment and is aware of the damaging effects of fast fashion.
From the user tests, we learned…
folks were able to complete each task with ease. However, a question we constantly heard was: why do I need to input my zip code during onboarding?
In continuing to advocate for sustainable practices we pondered heavily on the impact of shipping. By asking users to input their zip code, they would be connected to local buyers and sellers. A pickup location can be agreed upon, allowing for the elimination of shipping and it can also become an opportunity to connect with people in the area.
We understood the need for transparency and made some changes.
How we improved…
A permission screen and an “are you sure” screen helped to clarify the goal of entering location information.
Final Prototype
Final Thoughts and Next Steps
This project was not only educating, but also allowed us to think outside the box on potential solutions. It provided practice in creating an original product from start to finish and was an immersive experience into design thinking.
Next Steps
Clothing Swaps - Local Green Closet started off with the idea that it would allow users to find clothing swaps in their communities. However, user research pushed us into the idea of buying and selling items from one’s closet. We still feel that clothing swaps, where people come together with items they would like to donate and are able to take what they want free of charge, are a valuable alternative to fast fashion practices. Adding a feature to the app to include a way to organize clothing swap events is up next.