Students Collaborate to Develop Educational Green-Clothing Label Page: 3 of 15

                                
Students Collaborate to Develop Educational Green-Clothing Label

To address this need, our study aimed to create an informative green label for
sustainable apparel products. We created a research team consisting of two faculty
members and eight university students. The project lasted one semester, and the
team members collaborated on three tasks: (1) defining current problems, (2) de-
signing symbols and layouts, and (3) conducting the focus group discussions and
analyses. This article describes how the university research team developed a
green-clothing label layout and symbol designs for encouraging and assisting con-
sumers in obtaining information about the impact of a product on the environment.
Conceptual Framework
This study employed a three-stage design process (LaBat and Sokolowski 1999)
as a framework to develop the consumer-friendly and informative clothing label.
The design process model has three steps: problem definition and research, crea-
tive exploration, and implementation. These three steps are sequential events.
Problem definition and research engages preliminary and working problems that
initiate the next step. The creative exploration step involves idea generation,
design refinement, development of prototype, and evaluation of prototype. Im-
plementation connects with the actuality of product production for consumer use.
Further refinements can also be realized in this step.
This design process model proposed by LaBat and Sokolowski (1999) was
developed for the field of textile and clothing. They utilized the model for a
cooperative industry-university project for textile production. This three-stage
design process model was selected in our study because the label prototype that
was developed will be used for clothing products, and therefore, followed the
same design process as textile products. In addition, LaBat and Sokolowski's
(1999) model presented common structures not only from the textile and clothing
field but also the engineering and industrial fields. Conducting a structural design
process, as this model suggests, provides "justification for pursuing the best
design solution to the problem" (LaBat and Sokolowski 1999: 19).
Label Development Process
Step 1: Problem Definition and Research
One problem in the green apparel industry is the terms and definitions used by
companies and marketers to promote green products. These terms are often too
vague for average consumers to understand. Terms on clothing labels and tags
such as certified organic, recycled, recyclable, post-consumer, and all natural

267