Co-creation and the implementation of sustainability in the fashion industry

The call for climate action is a challenge for the fashion industry's future. In recent years there has been a change in the mindset of the industry. Now sustainability is perceived as one of the best opportunities to add value to brands while making a difference to the planet (Brown, 2019). The fashion industry produces between 4% to 10% of total Global GHG emissions (Fashion United, 2021). Fashion and sustainability have long been considered incompatible terms. This research, focusing on the background of the fashion industry and the current market environment, offers an understanding of how consumers can adopt sustainable products (Cervellon & Carey, 2018).

A dictionary definition suggests that fashion “is a popular style of clothes, hair, etc. at a particular time or place”; fashion is about design and change. Change comes from the French word “changier” which comes from the Latin “cambiare, cambire”. The meaning is “to barter and exchange”. Real change is not just in the substitution of new things. Real and meaningful change is also about the exchange. Exchange was the basis of the human economy before capitalism. Perhaps it will be useful to rediscover some of this ethos to develop a sustainable strategy that can face the real challenges of modern times. Implementing exchange requires reciprocity and mutual interests from traders and new KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to monitor and measure outcomes. The strategy implies that instead of offering a sustainable approach to the consumer, we need to design co-creation techniques and KPIs that help brands implement sustainability together with the consumer.

This proposal comes from a background in applying co-creation techniques for common good purposes. One of these techniques is called Ikigai (García, 2016). Ikigai is a Japanese concept that means “a reason for being”. Ikigai is found at the intersection where passions and talents converge with world needs and for which those needs we are prepared to pay. Ikigai, therefore, allows companies to design a sustainable strategy with their customers (Nordgren & Schonthal, 2022). The sustainable products that the brand offer should match the four categories of Ikigai:

•What you love, for example a stylish, wearable, and durable design
•What the world needs. In this instance, minimizing environmental impact (raw material and waste)
•What you are good at producing. Quality and comfortable clothes can provide joy and last more than one season.
•What the producer and the consumer is prepared to pay: this means matching the price of the product, with the revenues of the company and the incomes of the workers and suppliers.

We have implemented an experience of co-creation (Ind, 2013) developed for three years (2020-23) through the Eramus+ project Sustainable Fashion and Employability Skills (SFES). The SFES project has provided students the skills for enhancing their employability while making the fashion industry more sustainable. With a group of 30 students from 5 different academic institutions, we have co-designed this approach with the aim to identify the skills that can match the requirements of the brands and the consumers to co-create the sustainability of our planet together.

For this work, we have analyzed the moment in which the user decides whether to keep a garment or replace it with a new one. This moment has been selected as a charismatic action. This tool helps the user to decide the level of sustainability and impact of each decision adopted. Prolonging the life of our garments is one of the best strategies to guarantee the future of future generations (Suruj-Zagma, 2021).

The questions addressed important aspects related to sustainability (Bouzon, 2015) such as the quality of the clothes and if they are suitable for different seasons; the frequency of use and the number of units of each garment, the time have been in the cupboard, and if the garment comes from a friend, a family member or we got it second-hand. Depending on the results obtained, the user receives customized recommendations focused either on extending the garment's life, buying pre-loved garments, or exchanging or donating clothes (Wiedemann, 2021).