As a part of Visa Climate Tech Hackathon 2024, we developed ReThread, a conceptual digital platform promoting sustainable fashion by encouraging clothing reuse and recycling. In partnership with Visa, it rewards eco-friendly purchases made using a Visa card, supporting a circular fashion economy.
My Role
As a UX Designer for this project, I conducted surveys and interviews to understand consumer behaviors around sustainable fashion. Using these insights, I developed the concept model, mapped user flows and wireframes. I designed high-fidelity prototypes, ensuring an intuitive user experience that encourages eco-friendly purchases.
Team of 2
Tools
Timeline
2 months (April 2024 - June 2024)
ANTICIPATED IMPACT
Project overview
As part of the Visa Climate Tech Hackathon 2024, my teammate and I chose the Recommerce and remixing data prompt, focusing on using payment data to create solutions that blend financial technology with sustainable practices.
Recommerce is the resale, rental, or refurbishment of previously owned products, extending their life cycles and promoting sustainability by reducing waste.
Secondary Research
Fast Fashion is a Major Contributor to Environmental Pollution
We began our research by identifying the biggest contributors to pollution. Fast Fashion emerged as a significant concern due to its rapid production and disposal cycles. A major contributor to landfills, and plastics in the ocean.
Main Insight
Despite its environmental impact, fast fashion is projected to continue growing, with emissions expected to rise by 60% by 2030.
Surveys
Survey Indicates Consumers Concerns about Quality and Hygiene outweigh Environmental Concerns When Buying Clothes.
I conducted surveys to understand consumer awareness and attitudes towards sustainable fashion and identify why consumers continue to support fast fashion despite its impacts on the environment.
Distributed in social media platforms like Reddit, Facebook.
Participant Demographics
40 Respondents
Age group of 18 - 55
Diverse socio-economic backgrounds
Few questions from Survey
How familiar are you with the concept of clothing recommerce?
What factors would influence you to purchase pre-owned clothing?
What are your primary concerns about buying used clothing?
Key Findings
60% respondents lacked awareness of how their fashion choices impact the environment.
Top 2 significant concerns were Quality and Hygiene followed by Higher Prices, Accessibility, Limited Options.
Only 35% had purchased pre-owned clothing in past 5 years.
Based on these findings, it's likely that limited awareness about environmental impacts, combined with quality and hygiene concerns, contributes significantly to consumers hesitation to adopt recommerce alternatives.
User interviews
User Interviews Reveal Discounts and Convenience Drive Consumer Preference for Fast Fashion Over Recommerce
I conducted user interviews to better understand consumer motivations and barriers to purchasing used clothing, focusing on factors like quality perceptions, trust issues, and value assessments.
Participant Recruitment & Criteria
10 Participants
Age group of 18 - 35, balanced across genders
Criteria for selection included recent purchase history of both new and used clothing.
Questions from the interviews
Describe your most recent experience with buying used clothing. What worked well, and what didn’t?
What motivates you to buy new clothes? is it for a specific occasion, a trend, or something else?
How do you typically dispose of clothes you no longer want? Can you walk me through your thought process when deciding whether to donate, sell, recycle, or throw something away?
Have you ever learned about the environmental impact of fashion (e.g., carbon footprint, water usage)? If so, did it change the way you shop for clothes? Why or why not?
Key Findings
Consumers prefer fast fashion over recommerce due to its convenience, such as faster shipping, wider product availability, and attractive pricing through frequent discounts and coupons.
Finding ways to recycle clothes is often difficult and tiresome.
Environmental awareness motivates people but isn't enough to change behavior.
Consumers prioritize convenience and financial incentives such as fast shipping and product variety over sustainability, even when aware that these features contribute to higher emissions and mass production. This highlights a gap between sustainable intentions and actual shopping behavior.
Additionally, the perceived difficulty involved in recycling clothing lead consumers to discard their garments instead, further highlighting the barriers to adopting sustainable fashion practices.
Reoccurring Themes
Theme 1
Convenience & Cost Over Sustainability
Sustainable alternatives and Recycling feel too expensive or less convenient, discouraging adoption.
Theme 2
Lack of Awareness & Information Gaps
Consumers lack awareness of how their fashion choices impact environment, and lack clear guidance and transparency to make informed decisions.
Theme 3
Sustainable Shopping Barriers
Concerns over quality and hygiene prevent many from considering secondhand options and recycling clothes feels difficult due to a lack of clear options.
Findings highlight the need for a sustainable solution that considers both environmental impact and consumer preferences while addressing barriers associated with Recommerce such as quality perceptions, recycling difficulties, financial incentives. This solution should seamlessly fit into everyday life, offering a compelling choice over fast fashion and simplifying the decision to opt for sustainability.
Design Goal
To create a solution that encourages sustainable fashion choices by addressing barriers to eco-friendly shopping and promoting long-term, mindful consumption habits.
EXPLORATIONS
A subscription model is a sustainable alternative to fast fashion.
To innovate for sustainable fashion, we explored various concepts to see which best addressed consumer needs while promoting convenience, affordability, and environmental impact.
Shifting from fast fashion to a subscription model ensures all clothes are used to its maximum before being responsibly recycled.
Business Considerations
Providing incentives for sustainable purchases with a Visa card make the subscription model more appealing.
Our research showed that environmental awareness alone doesn't drive change, and fast fashion thrives on coupons and discounts. To compete, we could introduce a rewards program for Visa card users for sustainable choices they make, making a subscription model even more easier to switch to. Visualizing impact and offering rewards also reinforce sustainable behavior.
This Approach Benefits Both Visa and Consumers
For Visa
Rewarding sustainable purchases made with a Visa card builds brand trust, strengthens customer relationships, and attracts environmentally conscious users, increasing customer retention.
For Consumers
A subscription model offers a cost-effective and diverse wardrobe and offering rewards motivates consumers by making sustainable choices feel valuable, and personally rewarding.
Revenue Model: Ensuring Profitability and Scalability
We designed a revenue model to ensure the business remains profitable and scalable while supporting the sustainability-driven subscription model.
Pricing Justification
To ensure financial sustainability, ReThread’s pricing model is structured around cost recovery and a 35% markup to support logistics, platform maintenance, and sustainable sourcing.
Businesses pay between $500 and $5,000 annually to feature their products in ReThread’s ecosystem.
User can pay additional fees and order more clothes than their plan offers.
Individual item rentals available at $5-$25 per piece, offering a flexible alternative.
Minimum Price Calculation
Assumption: Monthly operational costs per user are $15.93.
Using the formula:
15.93+(15.93×0.35)=21.50
(Total Monthly Costs to Cover + 35% Markup = x )
The minimum price must be $21.50/month to break even, with actual subscription prices ($29, $49, $99) ensuring profitability.
Service Blueprint: Mapping Key Business Operations
We developed a high-level service blueprint for ReThread to map out the core elements of our business functions, providing a clear visualization of operational workflows.
(Click on image to enlarge)
Design Process
Low Fidelity and Mid Fidelity
Designed low fidelity screens to identify core elements on the screen based on their importance.
Style Guide
I designed a style guide to ensure consistency, clarity, and a cohesive visual identity across the platform.
Design decisions
Reinforcing ReThread through Reward Points, User Education, and Recycling Features.
Final Designs
Onboarding Experience
Introduces users to the app’s assurances, benefits and subscription plans, communicating its value and help users get started smoothly.
Placing an Order
Users can easily browse, choose, and place their orders with minimal effort.
Redeeming Rewards
Allows users to see the impact of their sustainable choices and provides them with multiple options to redeem their rewards.
Recycling Experience
Simplifies drop-off scheduling by guiding users through item selection, location choice, and confirmation.
Think aloud Evaluation
Evaluation showed ReThread effectively meets User Expectations
Our goal was to evaluate the prototype’s usability, educational effectiveness, and reward appeal. 6 Participants completed given tasks while thinking aloud, allowing us to assess their experience with ReThread.
Tasks
Complete the Sign-Up Process and Place Your First Order on ReThread
Use the Recycle Feature to Recycle a Garment on ReThread
Redeem Rewards Points on ReThread
Evaluation Metrics
Participants were assessed based on:
Task Success Rate
Time on Task
User Satisfaction
Qualitative feedback
Findings
Positive Response to Sustainability Insights
Users were drawn to learning about the impact of their choices, suggesting that educational components were valuable.
Motivation through Rewards
The rewards system was seen as a major value add, making people more drawn towards sustainable fashion.
5/6 Participants said they would consider switching to ReThread for a sustainable future
reflection
Key Takeaways
If Visa were to adopt ReThread, it would simplify the process for users to engage in sustainable practices by making recycling simpler and rewarding sustainable actions. This integration could impact sustainability efforts on a global scale due to Visa's extensive network. Visa could attract eco conscious consumers, expand user base and loyal customers.
Ultimately, by promoting the reuse of garments, ReThread would help mitigate the environmental damage caused by fast fashion, including reductions in plastic waste, water usage, tree harvesting, and energy consumption, leading to a more sustainable future.
This project reinforced the importance of sustainability in design and the need to design responsibly for our planet, which is something I’ll carry forward in all my future works. With more time, I would have explored the finer details of functionality and developed a more compelling strategy for user engagement and long-term adoption.
