Emotional Durability : Strategies and Future Integration – A Case Study

Abstract: Background – Design for longevity stand in strong contrast to the dominant model of fast fashion, where mass-production, low prices and poor quality is the characteristics. The fast-paced model is linked to environmental degradation and there is a need for a systemic change in the system. Design for longevity has been identified as one of the most effective means to reduce environmental impacts, however there are significant gaps in knowledge in relation to garment longevity and its integration within fashion brands. As the active lifetimes of garments are decreasing, resulting in a truck full of textiles and clothing reaching landfill evert second (EllenMacArthurFoundation 2017). This shows that consumers have fleeting relationships with their garment and product attachment has decreased, which shows that there is a need for strategies that facilitate product attachment to help facilitate more circularity within textiles and clothing. Emotional durability has been highlighted as an approach to design for longevity, it’s a new research area that tries to understand the complex interchange between consumption, the meaning of products and relationships between people and products. Emotional durability focuses on ways to prolong the use of products to extend the lifetimes and thereby decreasing the need for early garment replacement.  Purpose – This study focuses on understanding the phenomenon of emotional durability and its integration possibilities in textiles and clothing companies. The purpose for this thesis is to expand on current knowledge on emotional durability from a brand perspective, through highlighting the challenges and enablers for emotional durability. Using design thinking to understand it’s integration potential, through collaboration and iterative feedback loops to push innovation and build resilience into product-user relationships.  Methodology – The research was conducted using a single case study with an abductive approach. The research builds on the theoretical perspective of IDEO (nd) design thinking theory. Semi-structured interviews with a Swedish fashion and lifestyle company, including employees within the design, sustainability, quality and communications departments provided the basis for collecting primary data. The primary data was supplemented with secondary data which included website articles, sustainability reports and internal documents. The data was analysed qualitatively through thematic content analysis which was triangulated.  Findings – The results of the study, shows that emotional durability can be enabled through a range of strategies including personalisation, transparency, graceful ageing, functionality. These strategies can be supported by services provided by brands, where communicative education plays a supporting role in helping build relationship which can ensure better product retention. The results further highlighted that using design thinking theory can help overcome some of the challenges that was found within emotional durability. Through continuous collaboration both across departments, but also with stakeholders and competitors a knowledge sharing platform can be built, which can ensure better opportunities within emotional durability and thereby designing for longevity.  Practical implications and research limitations - This research contributes to creating new insight into a relatively unexplored area, emotional durability from a brand perspective and the integration through the use of strategies and services. Thus, aiding brands to gain more understanding in the integration and thereby providing solutions that can facilitate longevity. The study is limited by the choice of case-company, which is a Swedish Fashion and lifestyle company.