Digital Product Passport
- thecriticalpulse
- 23. feb.
- 2 min læsning
by Leonie Heise
In my Master's thesis, I explored how the digital product passport could be used to prolong the lifespan of our clothes. The digital product passport is a digital version of a care label, often in the form of a QR code, which can provide more detailed information about a garment to the end consumer as well as to all other stakeholders throughout the garment's lifecycle, such as the manufacturer, the fashion brand, and recycling companies.
One of the major problems in the fashion industry is the short duration of clothing use, leading to their disposal in landfills. With the digital product passport a better and more transparent flow of information can, for example, help end consumers to maintain their garments correctly or direct sorting and recycling companies at the garment end of life to improve their secondary use. That is why the digital product passport was a very interesting tool for me to explore as a fashion designer working in the field of design and sustainability.
During my investigation, I discovered that some of our clothes are associated with personal experiences or memories, either from ourselves or others. My goal with this project was to emphasize the emotional value that our garments hold. Consequently, I developed a prototype of a digital product passport that includes information about the garment's origin, maintenance and repair instructions, and, additionally, the stories collected by you or others while wearing that specific garment.
I was so fortunate to collaborate on this project with Swap Spot, a volunteer-based, non-profit, second-hand clothing swapping collective at the Kolding public library, in Denmark. This collaboration provided an ideal context for me to explore how second-hand garments often carry stories even before we discover, purchase, sell, or swap them.
Finally, I hand-stitched a QR code onto a shirt I discovered at Swap Spot. The person who gave me the shirt shared a story about how it reminded her of a friend from whom she had received the shirt. Now, when you scan the QR code on the shirt, you can learn about her story, along with various other stories that this shirt has been a part of throughout its lifetime.
Bio: Leonie Heise, originally from Aachen, Germany, started her education in Vienna in 2014 at Herbststraße Wien, where she learned about fashion craftsmanship. Ever since, a strong passion for sustainable approaches in fashion led her to her further studies at the Hochschule für Künste in Bremen with a degree in Integrated Design and the Master’s Program in Design for Planet at Design School Kolding. Throughout her educational and professional journey, Leonie was engaged in various projects related to fashion and sustainability. Among these, the Digital Product Passport became an essential tool. It played a central role in her work, enabling her to explore, experiment, and drive positive change within the fashion industry.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn_leonie heise
Kommentarer