Revived: a research on the effect of rebranding in … › 42b92654 › files...Therefore the logo...
Transcript of Revived: a research on the effect of rebranding in … › 42b92654 › files...Therefore the logo...
![Page 1: Revived: a research on the effect of rebranding in … › 42b92654 › files...Therefore the logo was vinyl cutted and transferred to the fabric with a heat press. This gave a clear](https://reader033.fdocuments.us/reader033/viewer/2022042315/5f032a577e708231d407dd09/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Revived: a research on the effect of rebranding in order to extend the lifespan of clothes
ABSTRACT
Due to environmental issues, people should be using most of
the clothes they own, but according to previous research [1],
only 20 percent is used on average. Rebranding is researched
to optimize use of the clothes in people’s wardrobes and
thereby lessen the need for buying new clothes. Within this
research, the target group is women of age 18 to 24. By
asking test subjects for unused clothes, and redesigning and
rebranding these, the researchers looked into the viability of
rebranding for sustainability. The clothes were packaged as
if they were new to see if this affected the perception of them.
As a result of the rebranding, the perception of the clothes
changed from old and boring to new and stylish, and 70% of
the clothing pieces were worn after returning. Readers do
have to keep in mind that the research was done with a
relatively small sample group. Due to the positive outcomes,
however, there is hope for this method to be an improvement
to the fashion industry.
Author Keywords
Wardrobe usage, sustainability, redesign, rebrand, fashion.
INTRODUCTION Currently 68 pounds of clothing is being thrown away per
person per year and many new clothes are being purchased
nonetheless[3]. New clothes are bought very often as
research shows the lifetime of a clothing piece is only 2.2
years[14]. These clothes are very often produced as part of
the Fast Fashion industry, and as Fast Fashion is very
unsustainable, solutions to this problem have to be found
[3][7]. According to Ginny Snook Scott, chief design officer
of California Closets, only 20% of people’s wardrobes is
being worn on a regular basis. The clothes that are not used,
stay in our wardrobes for a variety of reasons [10]. Among
these reasons is the change in how valuable a clothing piece
is to a person, therefore, the research will focus on adding
new value to the clothing. Possible solutions to the waste of
clothes and the pollution originating from it could be changes
in the production process, but also changes in the consuming
mindset and finding new purpose for unused clothes are
possibilities for improving the situation. According to Leslie
L. Davis[4], the branding and physical quality of clothing has
a positive influence of people’s perception on the quality of
clothing. Therefore improving the factors; physical quality
and branding, could stimulate people to buy more second
hand clothing.
By doing research into the effects of rebranding and the
experience of second-hand clothing, ways to motivate
people to use unused clothes, and therefore reduce waste, can
be found. This paper will answer the question: What effect
does rebranding, and altering the experience, of women’s
unused clothes have on the lifespan of these clothes?
MOTIVATION AND RELATED WORK Related work Fast Fashion
The textile and clothing industry is according to a report by
the United Nation Environment Programme[11] the world
second biggest economic sector. The current most generally
used method, which originated in the 90’s, is fast fashion.
In fast fashion the industry attempts to keep up with the
latest trends and therefore has to be highly flexible and have
the ability to produce high quantities in little time.
Furthemore, as emphazised by Gardetti and Torres [5],
abuses of working conditions, violation of human rights by
low wages, and long working hours are typically seen in
industries similar to the fashion industry. Pollution
According to M. Aakko and R. Koskennurmi-Sivonen[1],
the textile and fashion clothing sector is a threat to the
environment and to social welfare owing to problems like
pollution, wastes and human rights issues. The five main
environmental issues that make the textile and clothing
production operations unsustainable are described by
Blackburn[2] as water, chemicals, asset stripping of non-
renewable resources, waste, and transport. Waste
A big problem in the fashion world is the amount of waste
per year. 21 Percent of the annual purchased clothes stay,
unused, in homes and enlarge the ‘national wardrobe’ as
stated by Oakdene Hollins [6]. These clothes will finally
end up in landfills. According to Anne C. Woolrich et al.
[13], only 25% of this waste produced in the fashion
industry is recycled.
Maxime Dassen
Student Industrial Design TU/e
Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Anouk Stijnen
Student Industrial Design TU/e
Eindhoven, The Netherlands
![Page 2: Revived: a research on the effect of rebranding in … › 42b92654 › files...Therefore the logo was vinyl cutted and transferred to the fabric with a heat press. This gave a clear](https://reader033.fdocuments.us/reader033/viewer/2022042315/5f032a577e708231d407dd09/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Using other materials and Production methods Many alternative production methods in the fashion
industry are being explored[8]. None of these alternative
methods have taken a big stand in the current fashion
industry and therefore fast fashion is still a big player.
Furthermore, material changes have been explored, but
their impact on the environment remains little compared to
the large amounts of pollution caused by the rest of the
fashion industry. For example the increase of using organic
cotton. Chemicals and pesticides are largely used in the
traditional ways to grow cotton. Organic cotton is grown
without using pesticides or synthetic fertilizers, which could
reduce the negative impact on the environment[9].
Changing raw materials and production methods is not the
only way to make the fashion industry more sustainable.
Decreasing the amount of clothing that is produced will
also lead to less pollution and waste. Therefore this paper
dives deeper into the new destination for unused clothes. Branding and physical quality
According to Leslie L.Davis [4], the addition of brands and
the physical quality of clothing have a positive influence on
women’s perception of the quality of clothes.
There is no proof yet that improving these factors will also
help to improve the experience of second hand clothing.
Therefore this direction is still unexplored and worth
looking into with this research. The link between clothing
quality and urging people to buy second hand clothing will
be emphasized on in this research.
Research gap and motivation
The related work above shows the big need of a change in
the fashion industry. It also shows the steps that are already
taken, and the influence of branding. The fact that there is
so much waste and pollution but also an opportunity for
change, was the motivation for writing this paper. Also as
there has been done research into branding, but not
specifically on branding in order to reduce waste in the
fashion industry, there is a research gap in which this paper
will fit. Another gap that will this paper will inspire to fill is
the changing experience of second hand clothing to give
unused clothes a longer life span. Last, a strong motivation
is the creation of awareness on the topic of sustainability in
the fashion industry since questionnaires showed the lack
thereof.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The research question, as stated in the introduction, is: What
effect does rebranding, and altering the experience of
women’s unused clothes have on the lifespan of these
clothes?
In order to answer the Research question and make this
research fit in the literature gap, the following four sub
questions are stated.
1. Are people aware of the amount of unused clothes
they have?
2. Why is there a high percentage of unused clothes?
3. What is the influence of a brand on the perception
of a clothing piece?
4. Does rebranding increase the viability of second-
hand clothing?
5. Which traits, considering smell, label placement,
logo, redesigning and packaging, are commonly
associated with high end brands?
DESIGN OF PROTOTYPES
To find an answer to the research questions, the research will
be executed by making use of a design. The designing of the
prototypes was the process of changing and rebranding
clothes. Rebranding was a combination of different factors
which are described below.
Changing clothes
The new look for each clothing piece was created by making
use of a moodboard. This moodboard showed ideas on what
small style changes could be done, for example the addition
of lace on the neckline.Other changes were executed by
making use of laser cutting and embroidery. Patterns were
created and added to the moodboards and after the
completing of the moodboard it came to practice. On Figure
1 an example is shown of a clothing piece before and after
the small style change.
Figure 1. On the left a shirt of shown before the style changes,
and on the right the same shirt is shown after style changes.
(Photographer: Maxime Dassen)
Labeling and logo
The addition of labels was part of the rebranding process.
The name and logo were chosen after a user test with a
sample of 20 women age 18 to 24. These women could
choose from a list of names, and when they chose the name
they could choose the logo that suited best. The women were
asked to argue their choices by describing the appearance of
the name and logo. Words as ‘fashionable’, ‘trendy’,
‘modern’, ‘clear’, and ‘catchy’, were triggers for choosing a
specific name and logo since this was the image the brand
should have.. In the end this led to the name ‘Revived’ and
the logo which is shown on Figure 2. With this logo, a label
![Page 3: Revived: a research on the effect of rebranding in … › 42b92654 › files...Therefore the logo was vinyl cutted and transferred to the fabric with a heat press. This gave a clear](https://reader033.fdocuments.us/reader033/viewer/2022042315/5f032a577e708231d407dd09/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
could be created. For the labels a golden fabric was chosen
to appear as a luxurious label. First trials with laser cutting
the logo in the fabric were done, but the logo was not clear
enough and the goal was to make people read and recognize
the brand at a glance. Therefore the logo was vinyl cutted and
transferred to the fabric with a heat press. This gave a clear
and professional looking label which is shown on Figure 3.
Since branding was very important, placement of the logos
was done strategically. The logo had to be seen, but must not
be the eye catcher. This resulted in a different placement of
the logo on every clothing piece to make it visible and subtle
at the same time.
With the logo also stickers were created. These were used for
the packaging as described below.
Figure 2. The logo of the brand ‘Revived’ is shown.
Figure 3. The ‘Revived’ label is shown on a rebranded jeans.
(Photographer: Maxime Dassen)
Packaging
The packaging had to look luxurious and professional.
Therefore packaging of other brands were analysed and the
recurring things were used in the packaging of the ‘Revived’
clothes. The packaging existed of a cardboard box with the
logo on it, and blotter with stickers on it. The designed
stickers and complete packaging are shown on Figure 4 and
5. Also included in the box was a picture of a model wearing
the clothing pieces. From the questionnaire described in the
‘User Study’’ section, it turned out that this could influence
the perception of the clothing pieces and could therefore be
a trigger for wearing it. Example of such pictures can be seen
on Figure 6. The last thing included in the box was the
addition of a smell. While seemingly a trifling matter, a scent
that is congruent, significant and liked has a large probability
of resulting in positive behavioral outcomes that strengthen
retail brand image[11]. A small trial was therefore conducted
where young female adults had to describe the smell of a
small range of perfumes. Scent that were described with
words like “fresh”, “modern” and “trendy” where taken apart
and their similarities written down. The common traits of
these perfumes were “Fruitiness” and “Lightness”. A
perfume with these traits was therefore sprayed in each box,
with the amount small enough that it would only give a hint
of the smell.
Figure 4. The stickers that were placed on the packaging are
shown.
Figure 5. The box that was used for packing is shown.
(Photographer: Anouk Stijnen)
Figure 6. Two pictures of the photoshoot with a model are
shown. (Photographer: Maxime Dassen
![Page 4: Revived: a research on the effect of rebranding in … › 42b92654 › files...Therefore the logo was vinyl cutted and transferred to the fabric with a heat press. This gave a clear](https://reader033.fdocuments.us/reader033/viewer/2022042315/5f032a577e708231d407dd09/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
USER STUDY Participants
In this research, five participants take place which are
selected on gender and age. From the population of Dutch
women of age 18 to 24, a random selection led to a sample
of five Students from Eindhoven University of Technology
were excluded however due to their prejudice and experience
concerning research. This is because women buy more
clothing than men, and besides that they tend to regard
clothes as ‘old’ so they leave them unworn in their wardrobe
before throwing them away after a while. Therefore women
end up with seven times as much clothes as men do[3]. Since
women have a big share in the amount of waste and unused
clothes, they are the target group for this research. Besides,
women are more likely to let themselves be influenced by a
brand or the physical quality of clothes[4].
Methodology
Figure 7. The timeline of the user study is shown.
To find an answer to the research question, a mixed research
method was used. As the sample size is relatively small, and
the research is very in depth, the qualitative research method
is more suitable and offers the most reliable results. On the
other hand, the possibility of comparing the pre and post
situation in terms of numbers of worn clothes, there is also a
quantitative method used in this research.
The goal of this research was to answer the Research
Question and sub questions. Therefore the clothes of the
participants were redesigned and rebranded to see if this
would stimulate them to wear these unused clothes again. On
figure 7 a timeline is shown of the complete user study and
the activities that took place.
Questionnaire
The research started off with a questionnaire (appendix 4).
This questionnaire was a preparation for the rest of the
research. Questions on wardrobe usage, branding, second-
hand clothing and sustainability in the fashion industry were
asked. The answers were used for specifying the research
direction and optimizing the research method.
Collecting of the clothes and interview 1
After selection of the participants, as described in the
‘participants’ section, they were interviewed (appendix 1)
and part of their unused clothes collected. In interview 1 the
co-constructing stories technique was applied and the
outcome was used to optimize the process by taking the
habits, desires and needs of the users into account. In the
result section ‘Outcomes of interview 1’ additions to the
process following the results of this interview are explained.
All participants were asked for 3 pieces of clothing they do
not wear, but do fit them and are not damaged. As described
in the ‘outcomes of interview 1’ section, the first interviews
showed that the most important reason for not wearing
specific clothes was not size, style, or color, but the fact that
it was not new anymore, and they lost interest. Therefore this
was the problem the researchers focussed on by making
small changes to the clothes and rebranding them.
Furthermore, seasons were taken into account. Collected
clothes had to be suited for the current season, so they could
immediately be worn after being returned.
The design in this research is the complete change in
experience of participants’ clothes. The most important
alteration is the rebranding of the clothes. The complete
design of the prototype that was used in the methodology is
described in the ‘Design of prototypes’ section.
Interview 1 also showed people’s hesitation towards second
hand clothing originating in the experience of these clothes,
for instance the musty smell which makes the clothes feel
old. Therefore clothes are washed and ironed after restyling
and rebranding to make them look, feel and smell like an
unused piece of cloth. More info on this process of
experience change and rebranding can be found in the
‘Design of prototypes’ section
Returning of the clothes
When returned, they are packed in blotter and a box that are
both labeled with the designed stickers that are shown in
Figure 3. A touch of perfume and fashionable pictures of a
model wearing the clothes are also added to the package, to
complete the experience of receiving a new and branded
piece of clothing. Pictures of the photoshoot can be seen in
Figures 4-6.
The reaction of the participants was filmed as the “Revived”
clothes were returned to them, enabling the researchers to
analyze their reactions afterwards. Analyzing the reaction is
important in order to see if the participants act positively
surprised. First the box was handed over and they were given
the time to unwrap the clothes and look at them and at the
included pictures.
Interview 2
One week after the clothes were returned, interview 2 took
place to see if the clothes were already worn and if the
opinion on them had changed in this week (appendix 2).
Interview 3
A month after returning, interview 3 took place (appendix
3). Waiting a month gives the participants the possibility to
wear the clothes and also shows the possible viability of
rebranding for sustainability for a longer term. This last
![Page 5: Revived: a research on the effect of rebranding in … › 42b92654 › files...Therefore the logo was vinyl cutted and transferred to the fabric with a heat press. This gave a clear](https://reader033.fdocuments.us/reader033/viewer/2022042315/5f032a577e708231d407dd09/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
interview was also another co-constructing stories technique.
The participants were asked for an evaluation on the
experiment, and options for the future. Furthermore, at this
time a check took place in which the participants were asked
to recall the brands name and draw to logo. As the branding
is very important for this research, so is the impact of this
brand on the participant.
Data analysis
The data from the interviews have been analyzed by starting
off with reading all interview answers again. This was done
through a thematic analysis which started with clustering
topics digitally. Clusters were made by selecting answers
about similar topics. Specific quotes from the interviews
were written down and linked to one another. This gave a
clear view of the problem and the results during the user
study. The same process was also followed with post-it notes
to make it more hands on and spark new insights. The results
and conclusions which resulted from the data analysis are
described in the following chapters.
Quantitative results
Figure 8 gives an overview of the increase in worn clothes.
in the ‘Qualitative Results’ the reasons and further
explanation will be given.
Figure 8. Graph shows the increase in usage of the clothing.
The x-axis shows the timeline, and the y-axis shows the
percentage of worn clothes.
Qualitative results
Questionnaire outcomes
The first insight of the questionnaire was that women wear a
smaller percentage of their wardrobe than they think they do,
which was a very important result since it showed the lack of
awareness and the need for change. The lack of awareness is
shown in the difference in estimated percentages of worn
clothes, in comparison to the percentages that show up when
women start counting the worn clothes.The reason why
women don’t wear specific clothes is often that the clothes
do not feel new anymore because they wore them too many
times and they just lost interest.
Another insight is the fact that the lots of women are willing
to pay more for a branded piece of clothing. Furthermore,
only a very small percentage turned out to buy second hand
clothing. When asking for reasons for not buying second
hand clothes, the association women have with second hand
clothing played a role. They think of them as old, musty and
damaged which is why most of them never, or almost never,
but second hand clothes.
The combination of the problem around awareness of
wardrobe usage, branding, not liking clothes after wearing
them a few times and the bad image of second hand clothing
led to the completing of the research method. It gave a
specification of the topics that needed to be researched or
taken account during the research.
Outcomes of interview 1
When collecting the clothes, a few questions were asked to
the participants to get a better understanding of their habits
and needs. This was also a variety of co-constructing theories
as the answers to the question led to small changes in the
design and the method used during the research.
The participants were being asked whether they ever buy
second-hand clothing and why they do, or do not do this.
Two participants sometimes buy second hand clothing. The
rest of them gave similar answers to the question why they
are not buying second-hand clothing. They state that the
clothes feel old because they smell old. Also they do not
know where the clothes come from, which makes it even less
attractive to buy them. Because there was such a big problem
regarding the experience of these clothes, a lot of emphasis
was on this topic during the redesigning. The results of these
questions were taken into account when continuing the
process, and therefore the clothes were washed and perfumed
before being returned.
Three women indicated that they prefer branded clothing
over non-branded clothing. The others did not have any
preference. On the other hand they all agreed upon the fact
that when clothes are branded, they will naturally be more
expensive, and women are willing to pay extra money for the
addition of a brand. Furthermore, they all agreed that when
clothes are branded, and more expensive, this has to be
reflected in the packaging. They expect more beautiful and
luxurious packaging when the price and quality increases.
When asking the participants whether they ever heard about
Fast Fashion or the amount of pollution caused by the fashion
industry only one said yes. The others did neither know the
term or the effects. They all gave unused clothes to charity
![Page 6: Revived: a research on the effect of rebranding in … › 42b92654 › files...Therefore the logo was vinyl cutted and transferred to the fabric with a heat press. This gave a clear](https://reader033.fdocuments.us/reader033/viewer/2022042315/5f032a577e708231d407dd09/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
or sold it after keeping it in their wardrobe for a while, but
they did not do this with sustainability in mind. This reflects
the lack of awareness for this topic.
Three women indicated to be easily influenced by seeing
other women wear the same clothes they gave. They are more
likely to wear an unused piece of clothing if someone they
admire does this as well. This created the idea of doing a
photoshoot and include pictures of a model wearing the
rebranded clothes in the packaging of the clothes.
The last insight that came from these interviews was that all
women stated that they are relatively more careful with
expensive (branded) clothes, and they do wear the clothes
more often and for a longer period of time.
Outcomes of observation during returning
When observing the participants during the returning of the
clothes, a few things stood out.
First of all, all participants made a comment about the look,
the smell or both. Their reactions were surprised and they
started looking at the logo at first. After this they opened the
box and unwrapped the packages.
Afterwards they inspected all clothes. They were looking at
the labels and were very careful with the clothes. The way
they opened the box and unwrapped the clothes showed that
they treated them with care and thus as a valuable piece of
cloth. Two participants immediately said that they were
going to wear a specific piece of clothing because they liked
it that much.
Outcomes of interview 2
One week after the returning, interview 2 took place. First of
all the participants were being asked what the first thing was
that came up in their mind when thinking about receiving
their clothes. One woman said the smell, two said the
packaging, and the last two said that they were surprised
because they liked the new piece of clothing more than the
old.
Four pieces were worn already in the first week. These four
were from three different participants. The most named
reason for not wearing the others was that the right
opportunity had not occurred.
When asking about the pictures that were included, three
women indicated to be stimulated by these pictures to wear
the clothes. Two of them actually did, and the third one did
not because her clothes did not fit the occasions occuring that
week.
Outcomes of interview 3
After one month interview 3 took place. This was again an
interview and also a co-constructing session. Not only the
experience and results were discussed, but also changes and
options for the future.
Eleven pieces of clothing were worn after one month. Each
of the participants wore at least one piece of cloth. One
participant indicated that she did not like denim anymore, so
therefore the rebranding did not bring her interest in the the
piece of clothing back. Another stated that one piece of
clothing still felt like the old one, and therefore was not worn.
The other three participants had no specific reason for not
wearing all of their clothes, and expected to be wearing them
in the near future.
When discussing the process and the result with the
participants a few points came up. The first thing was that
one woman was not completely satisfied with the work
quality of one piece of cloth. It could have been done more
professional which would have led to wearing it, but now she
was not going to wear it. This particular piece frayed after
being laser cut. Another woman indicated that it would be a
nice addition to be able to give suggestions to the designer
for the redesigning of the clothes to make sure every woman
likes the result. But on the other hand she stated that for her,
only rebranding would have been enough, and that the
redesigning was not necessary.
The last suggestion from one of the participants was adding
the possibility of trading clothes amongst participants. She
did not like all of her own clothes, but would like to trade
because there might be a rebranded piece of clothing of
someone else she might want to have. When asking her if this
would not lead to making it feel like second hand clothing,
she answered that the experience of the packaging, branding
and smell would not make it feel like a second hand piece of
cloth. At the end of the interview the participants were asked
if they see potential in a concept like this. All five
participants answered yes. They would be willing to pay for
such a service and two of them indicated that this experiment
made them aware of the pollution caused by the fashion
industry, and that they are stimulated to make changes to
their mindset.
When asking the participants whether they could remember
the brand name, all of them could. The results of drawing the
logo are shown in appendix 5.
Most important outcomes
The difference in language usage in pre- and post-
intervention by the participants when they refer to the
clothing pieces might reflect the effect of rebranding most
clearly. Before the intervention they would refer to the
clothes as “dull”, “old”, “rags” or “worthless”. Post-
intervention these same clothes would be mainly referred to
as “classy”, “stylish” and “cool”.
Discussion
The first point of discussion which raised from this research
was the risk for participant to fall back in the same pattern.
Clothes were redesigned because they did not like them
anymore after wearing them too often, so what if they stop
liking the rebranded clothes after wearing them a few times?
![Page 7: Revived: a research on the effect of rebranding in … › 42b92654 › files...Therefore the logo was vinyl cutted and transferred to the fabric with a heat press. This gave a clear](https://reader033.fdocuments.us/reader033/viewer/2022042315/5f032a577e708231d407dd09/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Then the clothes would be unused again. However results
from this research indicate this does not have to happen. The
interviews showed that women see branded clothes as more
valuable and state that they wear it for a longer period of
time. This would mean that the rebranded clothes will have
a longer life cycle than they had before. However, if it does
happen anyway and clothes will end up unused again, there
lifetime was already possibly doubled with this method. If
the lifetime of only a small percentage of all unused clothes
in the world would get a doubled, it would already decrease
the impact on the environment which is the aim of this
research.
The second point of discussion is the sample size. Due to the
time intensive work that needs to be done for each
participant, the sample size is quite small. With only five
participants the research may not generalize enough which
makes the results not reliable as they could be with a bigger
sample size of for example 100 participants. Further research
has to be executed on a larger scale to be certain of the
results. However, the results do give hope for them to be
representative.
Another point of discussion is whether the market is big
enough for this idea and what business model could be
created to make this happen. The market for this concept is
indeed a problem nowadays since the interviews showed the
lack of awareness on the topic of sustainability in the fashion
industry. However, when people are aware of the problem,
and are activated to make a change, a big market could arise.
Also considering the results of the last interviews, all women
indicated that they would definitely use a service like this if
it would exist. Not solely for the sustainability but also as a
value in itself.
Last, the lack of anonymity might cause for biased results.
The participants might have acted more positive towards the
clothing as a result of them knowing a positive perception
was the goal of the research or because of their relation to
(one of) the researchers.
CONCLUSION
From the answers to interview 3 it can be concluded that
the bad experience that comes with second-hand clothing
could be solved by rebranding and also the way of
packaging the clothing. Smell, look and addition of fashion
pictures all contribute to the change in experience.
Another conclusion is that what made the participants wear
the clothes again was not only the small style changes, but
also the addition of the brand and special experience of
receiving the clothes in luxurious packaging. According to
the answers of interview 1,2 and 3, this luxurious packaging
can be seen as an increase in value and an extension of the
lifespan.
The first sub question can be answered with the results from
the questionnaire and interview 1. The gap between what
women think they wear, and actually wear is quite large
which shows that they are not aware of their wardrobe
usage nor the amount of unused clothes they have.
The answer to sub question two is also provided by the
questionnaire and interview 1 and 2 that took place before
the intervention. From the questionnaire three main reasons
for not wearing these clothes rose; they felt old and no
longer interesting, they no longer fit or they were a bad buy.
The lack of awareness mentioned before, while not the
cause, plays part in the high percentage of unused clothes as
it causes the clothes to stay in the wardrobes instead of for
instance returning them to the store or donating them to a
second hand store.
The effect of branding can be seen in the results of the
complete user study. In the questionnaire participants state
they would be willing to pay more for clothes that have a
brand over brandless clothes, insinuating the brand adds
value to the clothing. This was confirmed in interview 1, in
which the participants stated to be more careful with brand
clothing as they felt they would lose more if they were
damaged over other clothing pieces. Above all the
difference between the perception of the clothes pre-
intervention and post-intervention shows the effect of a
brand. Where the brandless pre-intervention clothes were
called words in the trend of “bland” the branded post-
intervention clothes were seen as elegant and interesting.
This answers the third subquestion.
While success with changing the perception of clothes by
rebranding suggests it might work on second hand clothing,
this was not tested in this paper. Therefore subquestion four
is not fully answered but might be interesting as future
research.
The answer to the fifth subquestion can be found when
looking at the technical research explained in the section
“Design of prototypes”. Starting with the smell, which had
to be light and fruity to be associated with high end brands.
The logo would have to look both fashionable and clear to
seem high end while the packaging could be more
extravagant. The redesigning would have to be only small
adaptations and most favorably tiny accents on the clothing
and nothing more. Small changes are necessary however as
they give the participants the opportunity to look at the
clothing pieces as if they were different ones than before.
The placement of the labels varies with the clothing pieces,
but always needs to have a balance between presence and
subtlety.
The goal of this paper was to find additional options for
improving the sustainability of the fashion industry by
answering the question: What effect does rebranding, and
altering the experience, of women’s unused clothes have on
the lifespan of these clothes?
From the results of this research can be concluded that
rebranding and altering the experience of unused clothes
has a positive effect on the lifespan of these clothes. They
are worn after rebranding, and even expected to have a
longer lifespan in the future than they had before because of
the addition of the Revived brand. This answers our
research question. As described in the ‘Opportunities for
future research’ section, this research can be used as a
based for further research on larger scale.
![Page 8: Revived: a research on the effect of rebranding in … › 42b92654 › files...Therefore the logo was vinyl cutted and transferred to the fabric with a heat press. This gave a clear](https://reader033.fdocuments.us/reader033/viewer/2022042315/5f032a577e708231d407dd09/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Opportunities for future research
The results show promise. Due to the high success rate with
positively changing the perception of the clothes an
argument can be made for the generalisation possibilities of
the sample group, despite its small size. Further research on
a larger scale is highly recommended and could be fruitful
for both lessening and raising awareness of the
unsustainability of the fast fashion industry. Besides scaling
up the research it might also be interesting to look into the
effects of rebranding as done in this paper but then on
second-hand clothing as this could also help making the
fashion industry more sustainable.
value for businesses, designers or researchers
There are varying business models suited for the rebranding
of clothing by Revived. It could be financed through a
collaboration with other fashion brands, where the clothes
all come with a voucher allowing one free rebranding. It
could be a webshop, where a collection and delivery
appoint could be made and paid per piece of clothing or
through a subscription with a monthly fee.
If looked further into the solutions for second hand
clothing, it turns out that a trading system could work as
well. In this situation a Revived clothing piece can be
picked from someone else after turning in unused clothing.
So the difference with the current process would be that
women do not get their own clothing pieces back, but can
choose to trade them for other women’s rebranded clothes.
Research would need to be done into the effectiveness of
each approach, the added value to the environment and their
viability as a business.
For other designers this research can be used as a guideline
on what method could work in order to improve the fashion
industry. Besides that, parts of the results can also be used
to search for other opportunities to improve the current
situation. By using the results from this research as
knowledge on the habits and reactions of women, other
designs could be made to either validate or decline the
working of this method. As mentioned in the discussion,
this research promises a lot, but due to the relative small
sample size, a future step would be to repeat the research
with a bigger sample size.
REFERENCES
1. Maarit Aakko, Ritva Koskennurmi-Sivonen. 2013.
Designing sustainable fashion: Possibilities and
challenges. Research journal of textile and apparel
17,1: 13–22.
2. Richard S. Blackburn, 2009. Sustainable Textiles:
Life Cycle and Environmental Impact. Woodhead
Publishing.
3. Luz Claudio. 2007. Waste Couture: Environmental
Impact of the Clothing Industry. Environ Health
Perspect 115,9: 449–454.
4. Leslie L. Davis. 1985. Effects of Physical Quality
and Brand Labelling on Perception of Clothing
Quality. Sage Journals 61,2: 671-677.
5. Miguel A. Gardetti, Ana L.Torres. 2013.
Sustainability in Fashion and Textiles. Greenleaf
Publishing.
6. Oakdene Hollins Ltd, Salvation Army Trading
Company Ltd. 2006. Recycling of Low Grade
Clothing Waste. Nonwovens Innovation &
Research Institute Ltd. Retrieved June 11, 2018
from: www.inno-therm.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/10/Recycle-Low-Grade-
Clothing.pdf
7. Annamma Joy, John F. Sherry Jr, Alladi
Venkatesh, Jeff Wang and Ricky Chan. 2012. Fast
Fashion, sustainability, and ethical appeal of
Luxury Brands. Fashion Theory 16,3: 273-296.
8. Kirsi Niinimäki, Lotta Hassi. 2011. Emerging
design strategies in sustainable production and
consumption of textiles and clothing. Journal of
cleaner Production 19,16: 1876-1883.
9. Bin Shen. 2014, Sustainable fashion supply chain:
Lessons from H&M, Sustainability 6,9: 6236-
6249.
10. Ray A. smith. 2013. A closet filled with regrets.
The wall Street Journal
11. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
TEXTILES—Fashion that doesn’t cost the Earth.
Retrieved June 11, 2018 from:
http://www.unep.fr/shared/Publications/other/WE
Bx0008xPA/textiles.pdf
12. Philippa Ward, Barry J. Davies and Dion
Kooijman. 2004. Ambient Smell and the Retail
Environment: Relating Olfaction Research to
Consumer Behavior. Journal of Business and
Management 9,3: 289-302.
13. Anne C. Woolridge, Garth D. Ward, Paul S.
Phillips, Michael Collins, Simon Gandy. 2006.
Life cycle assessment for reuse/recycling of
donated waste textiles compared to use of virgin
material: An UK energy saving perspective.
Resources, Conservation and Recycling 46,1: 94-
103.
14. WRAP. 2012. Valuing Our Clothes, the true cost
of UK fashion retail. Retrieved June 11, 2018
from:
http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/valuing-
our-clothes-the-cost-of-uk-fashion_WRAP.pdf
![Page 9: Revived: a research on the effect of rebranding in … › 42b92654 › files...Therefore the logo was vinyl cutted and transferred to the fabric with a heat press. This gave a clear](https://reader033.fdocuments.us/reader033/viewer/2022042315/5f032a577e708231d407dd09/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
APPENDIX 1.Interview 1 questions
All questions are in Dutch because these are the original
interview questions that were asked to the participants.
1. Hecht jij normaal gesproken veel waarde aan merken?
Vind je het belangrijk dat jouw kledingstukken van een
bepaald merk zijn?
2. Ben jij bereid meer te betalen voor een kledingstuk dat
een bepaald merk draagt?
3. Vind je het belangrijk dat mensen om jou heen het
kledingmerk kennen dat jij draagt, of koop je ook
kleding van onbekende merken?
4. Koop je wel eens tweedehands kleding?
5. Waarom koop je wel/geen tweedehands kleding?
6. Beschrijf in 1 woord wat een tweedehands
kledingwinkel uitstraalt voor jou
7. Vind je de verpakking waarin jij kleren ontvangt
belangrijk? Denk hierbij aan een winkeltas of
bijvoorbeeld een doos waarin kleding van webshops
wordt opgestuurd
8. Vind je dat een bepaalde verpakking iets zegt over de
prijs en kwaliteit van de kleding die in de verpakking
zit?
9. Ben je zuiniger met kleding die duurder of van een
bepaald merk is?
10. Hoe veel procent van jouw kledingkast draag je op
regelmatige basis? (schatting)
11. Beschrijf in 1 woord de belangrijkste reden dat je
sommige kleding nooit draagt
12. Ben je op kleding gebied beïnvloedbaar door modellen
of andere sterren? Dus ben je sneller geneigd een
bepaald kledingstuk te dragen als een bekend persoon
het ook draagt?
13. Merk je dat je merkkleding langer gebruikt dan niet-
merkkleding?
14. Wat doe je met kleding die je niet meer gebruikt?
(verkopen of weggeven bijvoorbeeld)
15. Laat je ongedragen kleding eerst een tijd in de kast
liggen alvorens je het weg doet? (Hoe lang)
16. Heb je al eens gehoord van fast fashion? Wat betekent
het?
17. Ben je op de hoogte van de milieuvervuiling die
veroorzaakt wordt door kledingproductie?
18. Houd je rekening met het milieu door het kiezen voor
duurzame merken of het recyclen van je kleding?
2.Interview 2 questions
All questions are in Dutch because these are the original
interview questions that were asked to the participants.
1. Wat is je opgevallen aan de verpakking waarin je
de kleding terug kreeg?
2. wat is je opgevallen aan de geur van de kleding?
3. Voelde het als een nieuw kledingstuk?
4. Was het zien van een foto waarop iemand anders
je kleding draagt bevorderlijk voor jouw mening
over de kledingstukken?
5. Verwacht je dat je de kledingstukken weer gaat
dragen? Waarom wel/niet?
3.Interview 3 questions and logo drawing results
All questions are in Dutch because these are the original
interview questions that were asked to the participants.
1. Herinner je je de naam? Kun je het logo tekenen?
2. Wat zou aan de ervaring van ophalen,
herontwerpen en teruggeven van de kleding
veranderd moeten worden?
3. Zou je in de toekomst je ongedragen kleding vaker
opsturen om het te laten re-branden?
4. Heb je verder nog opmerkingen of ideeën voor een
eventuele herhaling van dit experiment?
4.Survey questions
1. what percentage of your wardrobe do you think
you use? (clothing not fit for this season left aside)
2. Please check your wardrobe if possible. What
percentage of your wardrobe do you actually use?
3. Describe the most important reason you do not
wear these clothes in one word.
4. Do you think it is important that your clothes are
branded?
5. Are you prepared to pay more for brand clothing
than for clothing without a brand?
6. Do you ever buy second hand clothing?
7. Why?
8. Describe in one word how a second hand clothing
store feels to you
9. Do you pay attention to how the clothes you buy
are packed?
10. Do you think the packaging reflects the quality of
the clothing?
11. Are you more careful with high end and branded
clothes compared to cheap clothes without a
brand?
12. Are you familiar with the term ‘fast fashion’?
13. Do you take the environment into consideration
when deciding which type of clothes to buy?
![Page 10: Revived: a research on the effect of rebranding in … › 42b92654 › files...Therefore the logo was vinyl cutted and transferred to the fabric with a heat press. This gave a clear](https://reader033.fdocuments.us/reader033/viewer/2022042315/5f032a577e708231d407dd09/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
5.Logo drawing results
6.Contribution
What Anouk Maxime Milan Andrea
Workbook updating A M
Brainstorming and
narrowing down to
wardrobe use
A M M A
Making questionnaire
questions
A M
Research on working of
embroidery machine, laser
cutter and vinyl cutter
A
Poster midterm demo-day A
Making online
questionnaire
A
Making questions for 3
interviews
M
Returning clothes A M
Collecting clothes A M
Doing interviews A M
First logo design A
Design final logo
M
Research/interviews for
logo style
M
Design stickers
M
Reading and selecting
research papers for final
paper
A M
Laser cutter, vinyl cutter
and embroidery files
A M
Development of Research
question
A M
Story board video A M
Shooting and editing demo
day video
M
Shooting and editing final
video
A M
Fotoshoot with model
M
Documenting process with
pictures
A M
Buying materials for
designing/labels
A M
Sewing/embroidering/laser
cutting/vinyl cutting/heat
press
A M
Posters design and editing A
Business cards
M
Writing introduction first
draft paper
A
Writing method, results,
motivation first draft paper
M
Writing second draft paper M
Writing final paper draft
M
![Page 11: Revived: a research on the effect of rebranding in … › 42b92654 › files...Therefore the logo was vinyl cutted and transferred to the fabric with a heat press. This gave a clear](https://reader033.fdocuments.us/reader033/viewer/2022042315/5f032a577e708231d407dd09/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Editing final paper draft A
Processing coach
comments in paper after
meeting
A M
Final grammar check
paper
A
Layout final paper M
7.Reflections Reflection Anouk
What I wanted to learn
Before this project I had trouble to make myself be heard
during group meetings. Therefore, at the start of this project
I wanted to focus on getting my point across to the other
team members in a clear way. Teamwork is an important
part of my vision and the communication during group
meetings has been the biggest problem in this so far. I tried
to speak with a more calm voice and show less doubt about
what I said as I believed these were the main points for
people to overlook me. So what did I want to learn? I
wanted to learn how to be more present, but also how
technical devices like the embroidery machine and the laser
cutter work.
What were my responsibilities
In the contribution list most of the tasks I’ve done
throughout the project are described. From the start
Maxime and me have been working together and therefore
almost all of the work was partially done by me. Some of
the tasks I did myself are the making of the posters and
finding out how the laser cutter, heat press, 3D printer and
Embroidery machine work.
What did I learn
In the first week I had a lot of trouble getting my point
across to my teammates again. By staying calm and
confident I only seemed to get through to Maxime. I
appreciated the effort she showed to make things work.
After the first week there were no more group meetings
with all of us do to the full planning of some. Maxime and I
met with the two of us, which made it easier for me to make
myself be heard. Even though it is not as effective as a
whole group, I do believe it helped me communicate better.
There was a moment in the project where we had a heated
argument, and where I normally would have panicked I
stayed calm and we managed to talk it out. This was a huge
learning point for me, as this way of reacting did not only
cost me less stress but also ended up with better results for
the research.
Another though moment was at the demo day, where a
woman stated it would never work on her and kept on being
very negative about our research. I took it personal as I had
really tried to make the results as clear as possible and
thought I must have done something wrong in explaining
the project to her. Looking back on this, I think there may
always be people who disagree with what you say and do
and that this is no reason to write of the research as useless.
As stated in the research it does not have to work on
everyone to be effective, so I should not immediately worry
about the opinion of one person and should instead focus on
why they think negatively and see if I can change that.
I also learned things that I expected to learn, like the
workings of the technical devices in the CEST lab. By
working with the trainees there and by doing research
online I found how to make the digital files for these
machines, how to use them and what materials should be
used for what. This is the progress I made within the
technology and realization expertise area. I learned about
writing papers, what kind of phrasing I should use and the
general lay out when writing about tests. I learned how to
do a somewhat longer term user study, fitting the
competency area of user and society, by getting feedback
from the coaches and experts in the squad. The advice they
gave was very helpful and really helped us develop
throughout the project. Last, I wanted to learn to present
and pitch. While I did not learn this to the full extent of it, I
did pitch and present to non-teaching staff.
What would I do different next time
Next time I will go into the project with more confidence,
knowing I am able to communicate and present. I have built
this confidence throughout the project and would like to
build it further so I will no longer be the silent student
towards the teaching staff.
Furthermore, if there would ever be trouble with group
members not working or showing up for meetings I aim to
react more firmly. When Milan and Andrea stated they
would not come to meetings as they had more important
things to do, I did not know what to say. I had been
carefully asking them if they would please at least attend
meetings where I should have rallied with Maxime and
show them there are consequences to not showing up. Next
time I will focus on the people that do put effort into the
projects sooner, and keep on working independently of
whether the rest of the group joins or not. This said, I do
hope this never happens to this extent again.
Last, I did not learn much concerning the expertise areas of
Business and Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Aesthetics
and Math, Data and Computing. In the future I would like
to learn more about these areas, but mostly the Business
and Entrepreneurship area. This because I am interested in
this area and knowledge thereof could greatly benefit my
future designs.
Reflection Maxime
Before the start of this project I had a clear plan on what
topic I wanted to focus since the squad is very in line with
my vision and identity. We got the chance to make teams
depending on our interests which worked out very well.
Anouk and I agreed upon a lot of things which made the
process very smooth. We started off as a group of four, but
due to the limited time the other two group members had,
![Page 12: Revived: a research on the effect of rebranding in … › 42b92654 › files...Therefore the logo was vinyl cutted and transferred to the fabric with a heat press. This gave a clear](https://reader033.fdocuments.us/reader033/viewer/2022042315/5f032a577e708231d407dd09/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
we could never meet with the four of us and Anouk and I
ended up meeting with the two of us. Soon the decision for
splitting up was made, and afterwards the other two group
members quitted the project. This situation shows my first
learning point. In previous groups I would not have know
how to handle this situation, but Anouk and I had the clear
goal of completing a good project. Therefore we chose to
not let the process be disturbed by the group issues, but just
go on with the project. I tried to get the other two on track
multiple times by updating them about the status and asking
them to join meetings, but after a while we decided that this
did not work any longer and talked to our coach. We
splitted up and looking back, this does not feel like a
failure. We tried our best to make it work and made the
decision at the right moment. Also we did not stop working
in the weeks we had group issues, so we did not lose any
time which I am very satisfied with. Asking a coach for
help is something I do not regret since we tried to manage
the problem within the team multiple times but it did not
work out. Even though we noticed that there is a big
difference between a group of four and two, I believe we
did a good project which is equal to a four-man project.
Next time I would try to be more strict to team members
that do not show up. At the beginning I did not know how
to handle the situation and kept on giving them updates of
the project, but next time I will give them a clear choice of
contributing or leaving the team as trying too long leads to
frustrations that can negatively influence the project.
This project contributed a lot do the developing of my
designer skills, but also to the development of my vision
and identity. I have already been interested in the
combination of fashion and sustainability, but this project
made me even more passionate about this topic. I now
explored a first option of making the fashion industry and
know there are more options to explore and I look forward
to doing this in the years to come on TU/e but also after my
studies.
The next learning point is how to work with machines such
as the laser cutter, vinyl cutter and embroidery machine.
Experimenting with these machines and choosin different
fabrics for working with this, made me develop within the
competence area of Technology and Realization. In
previous projects I did not make a lot of prototypes, so I am
glad that I was finally able to work in this competence area
now.
Besides this I did a lot of research on rebranding, logo
designing and create a luxurious packaging and wearable. I
combined trends with user test to create the optimal
experience. This made me grow in the competence areas of
User & Society and Creativity & Aesthetics. User &
Society is even more developed because of the focus on
society we had in our projet. Not only the environment was
a central point, but also creating awareness and activate the
society to make the fashion industry more sustainable.
I would have liked to dive deeper into the business model
behind our idea, and entrepreneurial opportunities, but there
was no room for this due to limited time we had and the
different focus we set. We did focus on rebranding and
experience creating, but not on business development. Next
semester I will be doing an Internship in which I will be
focusing on business in combination with sustainability in
fashion.
8.Video
Demo day video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgJMsa97Fyo&t=2s
9.Consent forms
![Page 13: Revived: a research on the effect of rebranding in … › 42b92654 › files...Therefore the logo was vinyl cutted and transferred to the fabric with a heat press. This gave a clear](https://reader033.fdocuments.us/reader033/viewer/2022042315/5f032a577e708231d407dd09/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)