Wearabouts is a digital platform that promotes intentional fashion by connecting users to sustainable brands, stories, and garment care. It encourages mindful consumption through transparency, education, and emotional connection to clothing.
Desk Research
We began by conducting desk research to map the current landscape of fast fashion, sustainability, and regenerative practices. Our goal was to identify the systemic problems in the fashion industry and understand existing efforts to counteract them. This secondary research helped us contextualize our primary findings and inform our problem framing.
Key Insights from Industry Reports & Articles
1. The Fast Fashion Loop:
Major retailers rely on a high-speed production model that encourages frequent purchases of low-cost, low-quality garments. This leads to overproduction, overconsumption, and massive waste. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second.
2. Perception vs. Practice:
While 73% of consumers say they want to shop sustainably, fewer than 30% actually do (McKinsey, 2021). The intention-action gap is fueled by price sensitivity, lack of information, and convenience.
3. Greenwashing & Mistrust:
Many brands market themselves as “sustainable” without transparency. Consumers are increasingly skeptical of these claims, highlighting a need for traceability, storytelling, and accountability.
4. Rise of Regenerative & Circular Models:
Regenerative fashion goes beyond sustainability to actively improve ecosystems—through practices like carbon-negative farming or upcycling waste. Brands like Fibershed, Patagonia, and Eileen Fisher are pioneering localized, circular systems.
5. The Role of Repair, Care, and Craft:
Research points to a growing movement toward repairability, slow fashion, and craftsmanship. Concepts like visible mending, clothing libraries, and “buy less, choose well” campaigns are gaining traction, especially among younger audiences
Primary Research- Surveys and Interviews
To ground our design decisions in real-world behavior and needs, we also conducted qualitative and quantitive interviews. Our goal was to understand the systemic drivers behind fast fashion consumption—and what motivates (or discourages) users from shopping more sustainably.
We gathered over 50 survey responses to identify behavioral patterns, attitudes toward fast fashion, and openness to alternative consumption models.
- Most participants associated sustainable fashion with high cost and inconvenience.
- Many admitted to impulse buying despite feeling guilty afterward.
- Repairability and ethical production were valued, but rarely factored into actual purchases.
We conducted 12 in-depth qualitative interviews to dive deeper into these patterns.
Key insights:
- Emotional attachment to clothing was linked to its longevity.
- People were more likely to buy sustainably when they felt informed and emotionally connected to a brand’s values.
- A desire for storytelling, transparency, and education emerged strongly—people wanted to know where their clothes came from and who made them.
User Journey Maps
Based on our research, we synthesized our insights into journey maps to visualize the emotional and behavioral flow of users navigating fast fashion choices. These maps helped us identify friction points, moments of decision, and opportunities for intervention.
Lo-Fi Wireframes
With a deeper understanding of user behaviors and motivations, we moved into ideation. This phase was about transforming our research into meaningful design concepts. We wanted to imagine a system that interrupts impulse buying and creates space for mindful reflection, education, and emotional connection to clothing.We began by brainstorming as a team, using our “How Might We” questions to guide idea generation. Working on Figma, we created digital lo-fi sketches to explore the layout and interaction of core features. This allowed us to think fluidly and test different approaches without being constrained by interface rules. We focused on imagining moments where users might slow down, learn about a garment's origin, or reconsider a purchase.
Design System
As we moved into high-fidelity design, we developed a visual system rooted in sustainability, nature, and neutrality. We chose a nude-toned palette inspired by earth and skin, aiming to create a calming, grounded interface that contrasts with the urgency of fast fashion. The logo evokes circularity and regeneration, tying into themes of craft and care. Our component library in Figma included consistent, accessible UI elements designed to support a slow, intentional user experience without visual overwhelm.
Site Mapping
