Use

This chapter centres on the use phase of clothes: wearing them, laundering and drying them, and maintaining them. Often fashion’s most significant environmental impacts are created during the use phase; primarily from too frequent laundering, laundering in unnecessarily warm water, laundering small loads and using tumble driers to dry clothes. As the fashion designer is not in direct contact with the consumer during this phase, addressing these issues through design may seem difficult. This chapter aims to demonstrate that fashion design can indeed impact upon consumer behaviour towards a more environmentally considered use phase, and perhaps more engaged relationships with fashion amongst consumers.