Students take the lead in clothing sustainability research

How do students handle their clothes? And what role does that play in the transition to a circular fashion sector? The Care & Repair research project of ArtEZ University of the Arts (ArtEZ) and the Hogeschool van Amsterdam (HvA) actively involves students in understanding and changing clothing use.

How students wash, dry and care for their clothes largely determines how quickly clothes wear out and thus how quickly they are discarded. Yet there is a surprising lack of knowledge about that daily behaviour. With Users & DIY Care – Uncovering Behaviors, Aspects & Archetypes, Caroline Couch (Care & Repair, ArtEZ University of the Arts) investigates what really happens; at home and in student houses. The kick-off will take place during ReFashion Day at Radboud University, where Couch will talk to students and observe their clothing care behaviour.

ReFashion Day: students in action, researchers in the middle of practice
During ReFashion Day, students will be enticed to look at their clothes differently: swapping, repairing, upcycling.

Care & Repair adds a line of research:

• Students talk about their laundry routines
• researchers analyse what they do and do not do
• experiences are directly translated into insights for circular design
• initial archetypes of caring behaviour are formed

The presence of a washing machine, made possible by Miele, makes the conversation concrete:
How much detergent do you use?
When do you choose to dry in the machine?
What do you do in case of a stain?

“Washing feels like something small. But that very routine determines how long clothes last.”
– Caroline Couch

ReFashion Day will be followed by measurements and observations of students and young professionals during similar activities at ArtEZ University of the Arts and one of Miele’s Laundry Boutiques, among others.

Why washing matters
Many clothes only get a short life:

• 75% of what is discarded is still in good condition
• damage and wear are often caused by inadvertent improper maintenance

Caroline Couch therefore focuses on ordinary everyday behaviour, an area that has hardly been explored in research. She builds on Care & Repair literature analysis and an earlier Dutch Design Week intervention, which already experimented with practical tools and coaching in garment care.

Objective of this project:

• revealing behavioural patterns
• defining aspects & archetypes
• designing interventions that really connect with how people live
  
  

“By looking very practically with students at what they do,
we learn where design and education can help.”
– Elise van der Laan, Care & Repair project leader

Part of NewTexEco
Care & Repair is part of the broad NewTexEco community of ArtEZ University of the Arts. In it, ArtEZ works together with Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Saxion University of Applied Sciences and some 30 partners on the transition to a circular textile chain, with design as the driving force.

Care & Repair is supported by CLICKNL and runs until April 2028. The insights will be translated into guidelines, tools and formats that will become widely available to the sector.