Be part of a wardrobe study! In the comfort of your own home & in exchange for a small cash reward. The study will also be featured on the Antiform blog in August.
When was the last time you had a look into the depths of your wardrobe? Narnia may not be waiting on other side but there are certain to be some stories waiting to be told.
In my wardrobe there’s an old favourite, a dress right at the bottom of the pile. It’s been scrunched up against the back wall for a while now, though it’s seemingly uncreaseable. It is not destined to leave the wardrobe though as it holds far too many precious memories of some nights out with good friends. There’s also the beautiful caplet top with delicate beading. An exciting charity shop find, possibly 1970s, which I painstakingly mended the beadwork on, but now I hardly dare wear it out in case it falls apart. And then there’s this super-warm woolly Antiform cardi that I got a few months back when I was conducting research at their studio. It’s become an essential winter survival item which has been worn almost every day this winter. It features many shades of greeny-peachy-bluey colours – in a good way – and it is also magical because no matter how much I wear it, it never seems to need a wash.
Why do these stories matter?
As you probably know, people are buying and either throwing away or storing more clothing than ever before. What you might not know is that extending the active life of garments can offer the biggest savings overall in carbon, water and waste footprints. Even when compared with best practices in production and fibre choice, laundry and re-use and recycling, see the graphic below from a report by WRAP. This report also tells us that extending the life of clothing by an extra 9 months can reduce these footprints by 20-30% each. That’s a lot!
So why do the stories matter then?
Insights into how people use their clothing can help challenge our throwaway culture in fashion and find solutions. As part of my PhD research in sustainable fashion at the University of Brighton which follows on from my MA work at the London College of Fashion, I am conducting a ‘wardrobe study’ with Antiform customers. I want to know how you use your clothing: which pieces do you love to bits? Which ones do you rarely or never wear? Which ones do you wear all the time? What do you do with the unfortunate ones you fall out of love with? What if it’s broken? What if it doesn’t fit? Or is it just looking like it’s well beyond retirement age?
How can you take part?
This is the first study of its kind focusing on the customers of a pioneering sustainable fashion brand. Until June I will be travelling across the country to your homes to collect the stories of your clothes.
Simply click here to drop me a line via e-mail and if you are selected to participate I will send you more detailed information.
Please also feel free to contact and ask me any questions you might have.
Oh, and apart from bringing cake, I will also provide you with a £10 Antiform voucher!
Look forward to hearing from you!
~Anja Crabb
