research projects

Research projects represent different leverage points in the fashion system. These are places within a complex system (i.e., the fashion industry) where a small shift can trigger a larger change in the system’s structure, function, or behaviour.

shifting the burden

Principal Investigator

A SSHRC Insight funded project to examine the Canadian secondhand clothing (SHC) stream. From mapping current infrastructure and material flows to an in-depth study of the sorting process at secondhand clothing donation centres across Canada.

This project addresses the opportunities, solutions and policy recommendations needed to eliminate a major part of the global waste stream by expanding textile sorting practices and circularity in Canada. It is vital that we reduce the environmental impacts and address issues of social justice that our current fashion system has created by re-examining Western waste management strategies such as the export of donated SHC. As shifting the burden of SHC textile waste to countries in the Global South is no longer tenable.

TMU branded materials transition project

Principal Investigator

An outcome of the Toronto Metropolitan University renaming process is the significant waste generated in the form of branded materials. These materials cannot be re-circulated in their current form for a variety of reasons and would otherwise be destined for landfill. To responsibly manage this waste, the Branded Materials Transition Project (BMTP) was created by TMU to identify local solutions with the highest value recapture of materials.

The branded textiles arm of the BMTP became a creative endeavour, a research project, and an opportunity for a large-scale transition to develop institutional circular textile practices at TMU. This work builds upon the undergraduate textile recycling practices research project (see project overview below).

A total of 3520kg of branded apparel was collected from 21 departments, representing 32% of all university branded items.

undergraduate textile recycling & reduction practices

Principal Investigator

This project explored methods of teaching sustainable fashion relevant to the modern demand for fashion student’s skills and knowledge. The impetus for the project came from discussions with students over what was seen as an absurd practice — how can any teaching about sustainable fashion & design be taken seriously while simultaneously throwing textiles (e.g., scraps, toiles) in studio waste bins… We must, at an institutional level, model the behaviours and actions that we teach.

This SSHRC Explore funded study examined textile recycling and textile waste reductions initiatives at undergraduate fashion programs globally. Results from interviews and surveys with fashion schools globally informed the implementation of a textile reuse and recycling program at TMU Fashion School. With a participatory action research component, the project included the creation of a student group, the Sustainable Fashion Initiative (SFI) to participate in the implementation, management and maintenance of the program. Activities of the SFI include the collection, sorting, reuse, recycling, and student-led workshops that explore circular solutions for collected textile waste.

“How can we inspire and teach future designers to reduce TW and design for circularity if we are not problem-solving that very issue within our fashion program?”

to the end of the line: textile waste beach surveys in Accra, Ghana

Principal Investigator

Following the route of donated second hand clothing (SHC) from Western nations, such as Canada, to explore the social and environmental impacts at their final destination. This study address the question, “what is the fate of donated SHC once they they reach the end of line?”

staying with the trouble: the five unique business models of sustainably-minded fashion micro-and-small entreprises’ (MSEs’)

Principal Investigator

For over 10 years I have investigated the sustainable practices of sustainably-minded fashion micro-and-small enterprises (MSEs’). Using systems thinking, the aim is to see how these MSEs’ incorporate sustainable design strategies into their business. As a result, 5 unique sustainable micro-small business model archetypes have been identified. The business model archetypes are rooted and developed from the research findings, in particular the relationship between a design entrepreneur’s personal values and adoption of a particular business model archetype. Each business model archetype also dictated a particular set of specific sustainable strategies that a design entrepreneur would engage with to form the ReDesign framework.

The outcome of this research has a very practical application for design entrepreneurs who operate a sustainably-minded fashion MSEs’. By identifying the design entrepreneur’s values and by de facto the values of the MSEs’, the ReDesign framework suggests which sustainable business model and set of sustainable fashion strategies the MSE should adopt. The sustainable fashion strategies are holistic in nature as they include sourcing, design, product development, marketing, branding, services and end-of-life pathways.