Mesh

Use a speculative design approach to explore future solutions to an emerging problem by designing experiences that provoke conversation and help craft the future world we want to live in

Fast fashion as an industry hosts a myriad of ethical and environmental problems. The hasty rate of clothing produced in this industry generates massive material waste. Because 85% of all textiles end up in landfills each year, it harms the environment as it dehydrates water sources and pollutes rivers and streams.

Fast fashion is frequently produced in sweatshops, where low-wage employees are forced to work long hours in hazardous conditions while being exposed to dangerous chemicals used in the textile industry. Although tackling the industry of fast fashion is beyond the scope of our project, we still hope to mitigate the harmful impacts of fast fashion by targeting individual consumption practices.

Mesh provides an easily accessible alternative to fast fashion that allows users to continuously engage with fashion without the unnecessary resource expenditure.

Storytelling is essential for any product, but for our project, its significance was paramount. We recognized that framing Mesh through a speculative lens necessitated deliberate world-building. Alongside this speculative aspect, storytelling emerged as a central theme throughout our class. Our instructors emphasized the importance of everyone understanding their "why" - more showing, not telling.