Team:Aalto-Helsinki/Design

Product Design


Double diamond design approach

The whole design process is based on Double diamond model, developed by Design Council UK in 2005. Through divergent thinking and convergent thinking, we confirmed the problem definition in the first diamond process, including “discover” and “define” stages, and created the solution in “develop” and “deliver” stages.


Fig 1. Double diamond design approach


Desk research


Fig 2. Value chain of textile industry

Stakeholder research


Stakeholders mapping


Based on the value chain of textile industry, we identified the relevant stakeholders. The stakeholders were mapped based on the power and transition ability they have in textile industry. As a result, fashion companies that possess sustainability awareness are the key players in textile industry, which are defined as the primary stakeholders in our project.


Based on the stakeholder map, we decided to conduct stakeholder research with fashion companies as our primary stakeholder. At the same time, we also took secondary stakeholders, including natural dyed textile studio, local residents of textile manufacturing area and textile manufacturing factories, into consideration to understand the situation of textile industry better.


Fig 3. Stakeholders mapping based on power and transition


Fig 4. Stakeholders mapping


Approach of stakeholder research


According to Koskinen & Battarbee (2003), “The aim of concept search is to understand how people might use future equipment, how they see themselves as users, and what makes their life sweet or sour.” Therefore, we used design empathy, the ability to step into someone else’s shoes and to understand them through their experiences. Jane Fulton Suri: Empathic Design (2003), to make products for other people, who have different experiences, habits, competences and living contexts to ours.


In order to uncover deep insights to build a solid basement for innovative product design direction, we conducted stakeholder research through structured and thematic interviews.


Interviews


An interview is a conversation where questions are asked to obtain information. In design research, interviews usually take place in the context of the user. We used both structured and thematic forms in our interviews. In structured interview, the questions posed by the interviewer have been created and followed through the process. On the other hand, in thematic interview, the discussion can flow more freely.


Primary stakeholder- fashion companies with environmental awareness
  • Marimekko
  • Finlayson
  • Pure waste

Secondary stakeholder
  • Natural dyed textile studio, Osem
  • Local residents of textile manufacturing area
  • Textile manufacturing factory in Bangladesh

Insights (method & quotes)

After collecting those data from interviews and observations, the data were evaluated into knowledge, based on affinity mapping, to understand the pain points in textile industry. Opportunity questions were further brainstormed to solve the problems.


Fig 5. Stakeholder research data analysis approach





Fig 6, 7, 8 & 9 Interviews with different stakeholders


Fig 10. Interview quotes



Fig 11 & 12. Insights of the stakeholder research


Value proposition


A value proposition is a promise of value to be delivered and acknowledged and a belief from the customer that value will be delivered and experienced. SILKOLOR is there to provide gain creators and pain relievers based on the insights from the stakeholder research. SILKOLOR is an environmental friendly and energy efficient way of producing dyed silk fibers, which speeds up the transition of a brand to sustainable thinking and further promotes visible contribution and brand reputation. Moreover, thanks to the local self-sufficiency of colored fibers manufacture process, SILKOLOR helps fashion companies build transparency and well-regulation in supply chain.


Fig 13. Value proposition of SILKOLOR


Solution

Thanks to synthetic biology, we used chromoproteins and combined with spider silk inside E.coli to provide an alternative process of dyed silk fibers. The raw material and fiber dyeing process are combined into a single step, which can be local produced and well-regulated. Since there is no need for transportation between the raw material production and fiber dyeing step, it reduces the carbon footprint, which makes the process more environmentally friendly. With SILKOLOR, we visioned the traditional linear textile value chain can be better-shaped into a more ethical one and generates circular economy.


Fig 13. Value proposition of SILKOLOR


Benchmarking textile dyeing alternatives

Many challenges still prevent properly commercializing the production of silk protein. The industry has seen several contenders, but only recently one potential company close to scaling up their production enough has emerged: Bolt Threads. The property of supercontraction in the silk seems to necessitate blending the silk yarn with other materials, such as cellulose or wool. Regular silk from silkworms is already expensive material with the price ranging between $60-100 per kilogram, but Bolt Threads have yet to optimize the production, which keeps the cost of their silk above $100 per kilogram.


Thus, there are many obstacles to prevent large scale production of silk, and we expect that our product of pre-dyed silk fiber would prove even more problematic due to different properties of the material and take well over a decade to properly enter the market with our products. Likewise, genetically engineering silk worms to produce colored silk have posed difficulties, in which limited success has been accomplished with managing to produce green fluorescent silk. Additionally, mutant strains of silk worms and feeding mulberry leaves containing dyestuff have been successful ways to produce natural colored silks. Therefore, our team has decided to concentrate further on the fusion proteins with colorful chromoproteins combined with cellulose or keratin binding domain.


Major issues with using natural dyes in comparison to synthetic dyes are numerous. The challenges of natural dyes matching textile industry’s expectations and requirements include economical price range, wide range of hues and reliable colorfastness. This also may be why synthetic biology and engineered microorganisms could have an important role to shift towards more sustainable production, as some of the reasons for the costliness of natural dyes is their extraction from their source, producing and applying them to textiles. The most common dyeing techniques include exhaust dyeing, continuous dyeing and printing, but it is yet unclear what sort of technique would be most compatible with our bacteria-produced dyestuff.


Similar goal of utilizing genetically engineered E.coli bacteria has been successfully conducted before, but usually the approach has been different. For example, production of precursor of indigo in E.coli has allowed researchers to circumvent the conventional polluting steps of indigo dyeing by removing the need for both chemical synthesis and also the bleaching stage in fasting the textile. Thus, our dyeing solution may hold great potential due to the cellulose and binding domain that may remove the need for polluting mordants and reduce the excessive use of water.


References

1. Feldman, A. (2018). Clothes From A Petri Dish: $700 Million Bolt Threads May Have Cracked The Code On Spider Silk. [online] Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2018/08/14/clothes-from-a-petri-dish-700-million-bolt-threads-may-have-cracked-the-code-on-spider-silk/ [Accessed 5 Oct. 2018].


2. Mishra, A. and Rani, A. (2008). Biotech: A sustainable development tool for textile sector. [online] The Indian Textile Journal. Available at: http://www.indiantextilejournal.com/articles/FAdetails.asp?id=945 [Accessed 4 Oct. 2018].


3.Ma, M., Hussain, M., Dong, S. and Zhou, W. (2016). Characterization of the pigment in naturally yellow-colored domestic silk. Dyes and Pigments, [online] 124, pp.6-11. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0143720815003125 [Accessed 5 Oct. 2018].


4. Carvalho, C. and Santos, G. (2015). Sustainability and Biotechnology – Natural or Bio Dyes Resources in Textiles. Journal of Textile Science & Engineering, [online] 06(01). Available at: https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/sustainability-and-biotechnology--natural-or-bio-dyes-resources-intextiles-2165-8064-1000239.php?aid=69016 [Accessed 5 Oct. 2018].


5. Ibid


6. Chemists go green to make better blue jeans. (2018). Nature, [online] 553(7687), pp.128-128. Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-00103-8 [Accessed 5 Oct. 2018].