EcoThread

Inspiration

Our shared experience as Asian women, with closets full of unworn traditional clothing, sparked the inspiration for this project. Traditional clothing is often made with large, high-quality pieces of fabric that often go to waste after 1-2 wears. This combined with our knowledge of fast fashion and overconsumption inspired us to think of an innovative way to help our community and mitigate our impact on textile waste.

What it does

It is a mobile application that bridges style and environmental consciousness. It does this by facilitating seamless collaboration between customers who wish to be mindful of their waste, and small businesses and local recycling centers.

How we built it

We created our mockup using Figma after whiteboarding and getting an understanding of what we wanted to build. We used Miro and Draw.io in order to plan out and visualize our approach in terms of UI and the system architecture diagram. We used Notion to keep track of our documents and tasks.

Challenges we ran into

We refined the idea by incorporating various elements such as tutorial features and shifting our focus towards traditional clothing. We also faced the challenge of streamlining numerous ideas into a single app, which led us to strategically narrow down the app's scope to emphasize upcycling and recycling.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Despite our diverse backgrounds, we were able to connect over a common problem.
Created the designs, wireframes, and system architecture within 2 days.
We were all able to use at least one technology we were previously unfamiliar with and were able to guide eachother throughout the process.
We effectively managed our time and delegated tasks, even without a specified team lead role.

What we learned

We improved our communication skills, leading to a better understanding of each other's perspectives during the prototype's creation.
We enhanced our proficiency with tools such as Figma and Notion.

What's next for EcoThread

Incorporate an ai model that would give users the option to alter their own clothing given the measurements for their current clothing. This provide users with the opportunity to upcycle their clothing without having to spend money on a 3rd party.
A reward system for recycling through the app in hopes that it would motivate users to be more conscious about the clothing they decide to keep.
Establish a process for users to donate textiles directly to small businesses where they can have more confidence that their garments will be upcycled.