Designing for Effortless Sustainability: A Smarter Wardrobe Experience
A clever wardrobe system that makes sustainable fashion effortless—empowering you to make mindful, impactful choices with ease.
Project Overview
Role: UX/UI Design
Project Type: Advanced Project Design Studio
Featured at the University of Sydney’s Design Computing Graduate Show
Australians buy an average of 56 new clothing items each year, yet over 200,000 tonnes end up in landfills.
The Problem
Young adults are particularly influenced by social media trends that encourage fast consumption. Despite awareness of sustainability growing, many lack the education, tools, and support needed to make informed choices.
As a result, sustainability feels unattainable and disconnected from their everyday lives.
How might we empower young adults to adopt sustainable habits and foster mindful consumption?
The Solution
A smart wardrobe system that breathes new life into your clothing, suggesting creative outfit combinations based on your least-worn items, making sustainable fashion both accessible and effortless.
Trove seamlessly integrates into users' daily routines, with smart hanger devices that serve as visual and tactile reminders. These innovative hangers light up to highlight underutilized items, guided by app-generated categories and personalised outfit recommendations.
The Process
Empathise
Research Questions
We began our process by seeking to understand our target demographics’ behaviours, motivations, and barriers to sustainable fashion. We aimed to understand how social media influences fashion purchasing habits among 16-35-year-olds and their awareness of sustainable consumption. Our research was guided by five key research questions:
1. What are their purchasing habits?
2. How knowledgeable are they about sustainability?
3. What motivates their consumption?
4. How does social media influence their decisions?
5. Are they willing to change once aware of sustainability issues?
Research Methodology
To minimise the limitations and biases inherent in any single research method, we opted for method triangulation using online ethnography, interviews and focus groups as well as some additional secondary research. The largest portion of our research came from extensive primary research.
Secondary Research
Industry reports and academic sources guided our primary research, and supplemented our findings.
Focus Groups
Encouraged in-depth discussions on sustainability perceptions.
Online Ethnography
Reddit and Twitter provided cost-effective insights into consumer behavior.
In-depth Interviews
Explored consumer attitudes and purchasing influences.
Empathise
Synthesis
Through a collaborative process of affinity diagramming and thematic analysis, the following insights were generated after critically evaluating the findings of our primary research data.
Themes & Insights
1. Accessibility
Users want to adopt a sustainable lifestyle but will not actively seek out information on how to do so unless it is easily accessible.
The solution should align with users' desire for self-expression and enjoyment of fashion, ensuring that adopting sustainable practices does not compromise these values.
3. Education
Consumers lack awareness of how sustainability directly affects them, often prioritising more immediate concerns like price and aesthetics when making purchasing decisions.
Many also perceive sustainable lifestyles as financially burdensome, making it difficult for them to adopt sustainable practices.
2. Attainability
Consumers expect brands and governments to take responsibility for addressing sustainability issues, feel they lack the resources to tackle these challenges individually.
Highlighting immediate benefits can motivate users who are less inclined to act, making sustainability feel like an achievable goal.
4. Social Influence
Social media subtly shapes consumers' purchasing decisions and can be leveraged to encourage positive sustainable behaviours on a subconscious level.
The solution should take a multichannel approach, combining social media with traditional media, peer influence, and personal experiences to reinforce sustainable choices.
Ideate
Ideation and Concept Development
Our team generated three potential solutions through two rounds of ideation with methods, including Crazy 8's and brain dumps, to address sustainable fashion. Key themes that emerged during brainstorming included enjoyment, accessibility, and immediacy. We evaluated the concepts using a weighted decision matrix to determine the most effective solution.
1. Stokl
A digital wardrobe app with social features for logging outfits, sharing styles, and getting reminders to wear underused items. It also offers clothing care and upcycling tutorials.
2. ResaleRoute
A platform that merges sustainability with convenience, linking users to nearby thrift stores, donation bins, and clothing swaps.
3. The Real Cost
An interactive AR/VR installation that educates consumers on the environmental and financial impact of their fashion choices, revealing the true cost of clothing.
Using a weighted decision matrix, we evaluated each concept against key criteria, including effectiveness, feasibility, and innovation.
Results:
Stokl emerged as the strongest concept with 94 points.
ResaleRoute followed closely with 86 points.
The Real Cost ranked third with 79 points.
Based on these insights, the team prioritized solutions that make sustainability feel attainable, enjoyable, and actionable while directly addressing the key barriers identified in our research.
Prototype
Low Fidelity
We began our low-fidelity prototyping by designing the physical hanger because integrating tangible interactions was crucial to our solution.
Hanger Prototype Iterations
1. Sand Timer
Issues: Bulky, costly, poor visibility when clothes were hung.
Learnings: Shifted to a simpler, more intuitive visual indicator.
A physical hanger with a built-in sand timer to track unworn clothing.
2. Light Indicator
Issues: Visibility was limited in crowded wardrobes; didn’t work for folded clothes.
Learnings: Needed a clearer, data-driven feedback system, leading to a screen-based approach.
A hanger with a light that signals unworn items.
3. Screen
Issues: Provided useful feedback, but social features felt unnecessary.
Learnings: Focused on personal insights over social recommendations.
Screen displaying last-worn data, social recommendations, and an LED light for visibility.
4. Reset Button
Issues: Improved usability but needed to balance physical and digital interactions.
Learnings: Prioritised a seamless reset function with user-friendly features.
Reset button and simplified recommendations by time unworn, color, and dress code.
After refining the hanger’s physical interactions, we moved into mid-fidelity to integrate digital touchpoints and test user interactions more effectively.
Testing
Mid Fidelity
Since our focus was initially on prototyping the physical hanger, we moved directly to mid-fidelity app designs to test how users interacted with both elements.
For the user testing fair, we introduced a mid-fidelity app prototype with a sign-up page, onboarding walkthrough, and statistics dashboard. Key features from previous iterations, like social and recommendation tools, were retained. We also enhanced the hanger by integrating LED strip lights for visibility and adding a pressable button to test user interaction.
We conducted usability testing to evaluate our mid-fidelity prototype in a real-world setting. This helped identify pain points, user behaviors, and areas for improvement. To evaluate the usability and experience of our Trove prototype we utilised the ‘Think Aloud Protocol’ and ‘Observation’. Through employing these methods we wanted to assess the two main aspects of our prototype, the ‘app’ and the ‘physical wardrobe’, as well as the interaction between both aspects.
Approach
Users completed two key tasks per section, focusing on core functions. Our evaluation was guided by six usability principles:
Effectiveness – Does the app achieve its purpose?
Efficiency – Can users complete tasks quickly and easily?
Safety – Is the experience error-free?
Utility – Does it meet user needs?
Learnability – Is it easy to use from the start?
Memorability – Can users recall how to use it after a break?
Key Findings
User Friendly System
Users found the interface intuitive, supporting time, energy, and financial management.
Onboarding Challenges
Many struggled with first-time use, highlighting the need for clearer guidance.
Unclear Daily Relevance
Users questioned how frequently they would use the app, suggesting a need for stronger positioning.
Disconnect Between Physical & Digital
A gap between the hanger system and app experience indicated the need for better integration.
Clothing Tracking & Social Features
Clothing Tracking & Social Features – Users valued these but felt social engagement could be more seamlessly integrated.
Prototype
High Fidelity
Based on user feedback, our final design iterations focused on improving the usability, accessibility, and engagement of the Trove system. We streamlined onboarding, optimized wardrobe management, enhanced analytics, strengthened social features, and refined the 3D model for smart hangers.
Simplifying Onboarding & User Interaction
To improve first-time user adoption, we redesigned the phone app onboarding process with visual guides to reduce cognitive load. Additionally, a tablet interface was introduced and mounted onto wardrobes to bridge the gap between the app and the smart hanger system, providing users with a seamless and intuitive way to engage with their wardrobe.
2. Optimising Wardrobe Organisation
The previous ‘Closet’ was transformed into ‘My Wardrobe’, prioritizing least-worn items at the top, encouraging users to rotate their outfits.
A red/yellow labeling system was introduced to highlight underutilized clothing, nudging users to wear them. Additionally, a calendar feature was implemented, allowing users to pre-plan outfits for upcoming events, integrating seamlessly with their schedules.
3. Personalised Analytics & Sustainability Insights
To provide more actionable wardrobe insights, the analytics dashboard was redesigned for clarity and engagement. Sustainability analytics, showing water, CO₂, and financial savings from outfit reuse were integrated into the dashboard. A new feature called ‘Least Worn Items’ was introduced to highlight least utilised items, alongside a donation prompt for clothing that had not been worn in over 120 days.
4. Strengthening Social Engagement
Recognising the importance of community in fashion, we expanded social features within Trove. Outfits of the Day’ enabled users to share their daily looks. A shared events section allowed attendees to view and coordinate outfits with friends. A notification system was added for outfit recommendations and friend requests, enhancing interactivity.
To perfect the smart hanger design, we conducted multiple prototyping phases:
White Model: Tested the foundational form, structure, and lighting system.
Grey Model: Refined ergonomics, ensuring comfort, ease of use, and seamless component integration.
Final Design: A sleek black-and-white model with an intuitive digital display, improved lighting cues, and enhanced compatibility with various garment types.
Prototype 1: White Model
Prototype 2: Grey Model
Final Outcome
Prototype 3: Final Design
Through continuous iteration and user-centered design, Trove evolved into a seamless, intelligent wardrobe system that not only maximizes outfit usage but also enhances social engagement and sustainability awareness. The final product successfully integrates digital and physical interactions, creating an engaging, data-driven fashion experience.