MA students from IADT (User Experience Design) and NCAD (Circular by Design) participated in a game-based workshop at IADT last week (Tuesday, 13th October), which enabled them to learn about the Fashion System and its impact on people and the planet.

Designed and developed by Dr Hilary Kenna (IADT), Gwen Cunningham (NCAD), and Georgiana Dan (NCAD), the card-based game is played in rounds of incremental discovery and reveals how the fashion system works: from consumer demand and brand strategy, through garment design, source materials, manufacturing and production, to how garments arrive in high-street stores or via online delivery, and what happens to them at the end of their useful life.

Using visually arresting cards featuring facts, graphics, and statistics, the students created a visual map of the Fashion System. Through reflective and discursive exercises that followed, they identified their key learnings from the game and reflected on their own experiences of fast fashion.

The workshop concluded with co-creation activities in which students generated ideas for potential solutions at both individual and community levels, and considered the actions needed to create a more sustainable future.

The workshop marked the first live testing of the game, which was developed with research funding from Creative Futures Academy’s Community of Practice call. It brought together designers, researchers, and students from two different colleges, programmes, and disciplines in a rewarding exchange of teaching, learning, and creativity.

The workshop was the first in a forthcoming series that will test the game with a range of stakeholders, including Transition Year students, college students, local authorities, charities, and members of the general public. The ultimate aim of the game, and the research underpinning it, is to increase awareness and literacy about the Fashion System and to encourage positive behaviour change towards sustainability and circularity.

Photos: Nikita Kushch-Shevalov