Empowering Consumers for Informed Clothing Choices
BEYOND LABEL
Master of Design Thesis
Beyond Label is my Master of Design thesis, focusing on sustainable fashion and consumer awareness. As part of this research, I designed Amend, a mobile application that helps Gen Z consumers make informed, sustainable clothing choices. By scanning garment labels, users receive real-time sustainability metrics, allowing them to identify and avoid greenwashing tactics.
Solo project
with thesis
committee guidance
My Role
User Researcher
& Designer
Timeline
Tools
Figma, Miro, Adobe Illustrator, & Photoshop, Notion, Maze
1 Year
What Led to This Project
Navigating the Maze of Greenwashing
Many consumers struggle to distinguish genuinely sustainable clothing from misleading marketing claims. This challenge often leads to unintentional support of environmentally harmful practices, as brands use vague terminology and greenwashing tactics to appear more eco-friendly than they actually are.
SOLUTION
Making Sustainable Shopping Effortless
Through research, I realized that providing transparent, accessible sustainability information at the point of purchase could empower consumers to make better choices. Amend App aims to deliver this by offering real-time data on garment sustainability, making ethical shopping straightforward and engaging.
Your Sustainable Shopping Companion
Amend provides support, whether you're scanning a garment in-store, exploring educational content about sustainable materials, or tracking your eco-friendly purchases.
Your Sustainable Shopping Companion
Amend provides support, whether you're scanning a garment in-store, exploring educational content about sustainable materials, or tracking your eco-friendly purchases.
Your Sustainable Shopping Companion
Amend provides support, whether you're scanning a garment in-store, exploring educational content about sustainable materials, or tracking your eco-friendly purchases.
01. DISCOVERY
What Drives Gen Z's Fashion Choices?
Secondary Research
To understand the landscape of sustainable fashion, I conducted extensive research into consumer behavior, focusing on Gen Z's shopping habits and their awareness of sustainability issues.
Findings
To understand the landscape of sustainable fashion, I conducted extensive research into consumer behavior, focusing on Gen Z's shopping habits and their awareness of sustainability issues.
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These insights sparked deeper curiosity. I realized numbers alone weren’t enough. I needed to understand how Gen Z feels about sustainability in the moment of shopping, which led me to dig into their real behaviors, doubts, and motivations through direct user research.
Survey
To validate the insights from secondary research, I conducted a survey among 63 Gen-Z participants, focusing on shopping habits, sustainability considerations, and awareness of greenwashing.
Below are five key survey findings, supported by graphs and statistics from my research:
KEY TAKEAWAYS
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77% of Gen Z shoppers care about sustainability, but most are unsure how to identify truly sustainable clothing.
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46% have experienced greenwashing, highlighting the need for transparency.
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53% rely on social media to learn about sustainable fashion, craving visual and accessible content.
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Users want a simple, scan-based tool to get instant garment sustainability grades.
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Gamification motivates action, badges, scores, and rewards increase interest in sustainable habits.
Competitors Analysis
To understand the existing landscape and identify opportunities, I conducted a competitor analysis of current sustainability-focused fashion apps. The goal was to assess how other platforms address sustainability and where we could provide unique value.
Insights
App
Key Features
Strengths
Weaknesses
Brand ratings based on sustainability metrics
Comprehensive evaluation of brands' ethics
Lacks real-time garment interaction
Integrate interactive garment scanning
Second-hand clothing marketplace
Promotes circular fashion
Focuses only on resale, not new clothing
Combine education with resale insights
Barcode scanning for personal care products
Educates users about harmful ingredients
Not fashion-specific
Implement similar scanning for garment labels
Ethical brand curation & shopping guides
Highlights sustainable brands
Primarily web-based, lacks mobile engagement
Ensure a mobile-first experience
Peer-to-peer second-hand fashion marketplace
Community-driven approach to resale
No direct sustainability metrics
Introduce a gamified sustainability ranking
Photo Analysis Observation
To complement the survey insights, I conducted a photo analysis where participants were asked to share images of their current wardrobes. This qualitative method helped me observe real-life garment choices, uncover fiber types, and assess actual sustainable behavior beyond what users self-reported.
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Many wardrobes contained a mix of fast fashion and thrifted items, highlighting the tension between affordability and values.
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Material tags were rarely reviewed by users before purchase, most participants were unsure of what fabrics their clothes were made from.
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Natural fibers like cotton and linen appeared frequently, but synthetic blends were also common, often without users realizing.
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Sustainable behaviors like reusing, thrifting, and repairing were visible in some wardrobes but not consistent.
02. EMPATHIZE
Understanding User's needs and pain points
Through surveys, photo analysis, and co-creation workshops, I gathered insights into Gen Z’s fashion habits, sustainability awareness, and struggles with greenwashing. While the two personas I developed, Alison and Simon, don’t represent the entire sample group, they helped me deeply empathize with key user patterns and pain points. These fictional profiles grounded my design decisions and kept the focus on real user needs throughout the process.
User Persona & Journey Map
Based on my research, I prioritized Gen Z consumers who value sustainability but often feel misled or overwhelmed by greenwashing. These users became the core focus of my design decisions throughout the project.
Persona - 2
Persona - 1
HOW MIGHT WE HELP GEN Z SHOPPERS EASILY UNDERSTAND THE SUSTAINABILITY OF CLOTHING SO THEY CAN MAKE INFORMED, CONFIDENT, AND CONSCIOUS PURCHASE DECISIONS?
03. IDEATE
Helping users achieve their goal easily
Crazy 8s
After conducting in-depth research and identifying key user pain points around greenwashing and sustainability confusion, I used the Crazy 8s method to rapidly ideate potential solutions. I folded a sheet into 8 panels and set a one-minute timer per idea, which helped me quickly explore diverse UI patterns, like label scanning, sustainability scoring, and interactive closets. This exercise pushed me beyond my initial concepts and laid the foundation for the first sketches of the Amend app.
Information Architecture (IA)
To organize the core features of the Amend app, I created an information architecture that reflects Gen Z users’ mental models and priorities.
