Designing a Collaboration and Communication Process for a Garment Renewal Service

Abstract

The textile industry has a significant environmental impact and is one of the largest contributors to land and water use, greenhouse gas emissions, and raw material consumption. Transitioning the industry toward a circular economy is therefore essential, and one way to support this shift is by extending the lifespan of garments through repair and refresh. RecoMended is a company that provides industrial scale garment renewal services for other companies, enabling the resale or continued use of existing products. However, as industrial scale garment renewal services are new to the market, established collaboration and communication processes for developing service specifications are limited. As a result, the collaboration and communication process currently used by RecoMended is time-consuming, resource-intensive, and highly customerspecific, making it difficult to scale. This study aims to investigate how the collaboration and communication process between RecoMended and its customers can be improved to support more efficient development of service specifications for garment renewal and allow RecoMended to scale its production. The research was conducted through interviews, workshops, and contextual inquiries with RecoMended and several of its customer companies. The collected data were analyzed and synthesized, resulting in the design of a proposed future collaboration and communication process together with a service toolkit. The proposed design outlines a structured, step-based collaboration and communication process that is intended to support RecoMended and its customers in developing service specifications in a more informed and efficient way. The process is envisioned to be supported by a service toolkit consisting of standardized service packages intended to enable scalability in the production workshop, a reference library with visual and material examples of available renewal procedures, and a set of guiding questions designed to ensure that key decisions are addressed. While further development and testing would be required, the proposed process and service toolkit are intended to provide a foundation for clearer communication, more informed decision-making, and improved collaboration, thereby supporting RecoMended’s ability to scale its garment renewal services.