UTS - Smart Design 84811
HIGH DISTINCTION
CONCEPT
THAT'S UNSUSTAINABLE is an electronic hanger that allows users to see which garments they wear less frequently to help them decide whether to change their behaviour and start wearing those again or donate/resell those clothes.
FUNCTION AND MATERIALS
The purpose of this project is to inform consumers about their use patterns in relation to garments – especially seasonal ones. The hanger can tell if a garment was worn or not based on a button-activated timer that should be pressed when hanging clothes; and it communicates to the user via 2 LED lights, activated via remote control, that are located on the hook – the yellow light turns on after nine months, and the red after 12 months. The product is entirely made of recyclable plastic (PLA) and can be easily disassembled for proper disposal. The electronic components were programmed using Arduino and placed within the 3D printed prototype for tests.
SUSTAINABILITY
The fashion industry currently is the second-largest polluter in the world – only after the oil industry – and to meet the 1.5oC climate target, its emissions would have to be halved. However, even though that seems not feasible in theory, a more realistic way of approaching that problem is by increasing clothing utilisation; because if a garment is worn 50 times instead of 5, 400% fewer carbon emissions are associated with it. Globally, an average of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or incinerated every second and USD 460 billion of value is lost each year by the disposal of clothes that could continue to be worn. Additionally, according to The Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2017), increasing the average number of times clothes are worn is the most direct lever to capture value and design out waste and pollution in the textiles system, mainly because clothing is vastly underutilised worldwide. In China, for example, clothing utilisation has decreased by 70% over the last 15 years, so changing that scenario from multiple perspectives could present positive impacts. The material used to produce the hanger is also fully recyclable, and the product can be easily disassembled for proper disposal.
