THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUST, A DIGITAL INTERVENTION DISRUPTING ONLINE FASHION SHOPPING

This report provides an overview of the research that underpins SUST, which has been designed to disrupt online fashion shopping practices. SUST is a platform consisting of a crowd-sourcing website (sust.earth) and an integrated web browser extension. It has been developed through a collaboration between Marketing and Consumption and Computer Science researchers at the University of Bristol, and digital innovation expert Dr Tim Kindberg at Matter II Media. Five phases of interpretive consumer research developed a detailed understanding of how the dynamics of online fashion shopping hinder sustainability and how a digital intervention can help foster sustainable change. This report provides a brief overview of existing understandings of the persistence of unsustainable fast fashion shopping, particularly online, from extant literature. It provides an overview of the methodology of the SUST research project, and a summary of findings. Finally, the core elements of SUST are explained, linking to the principles developed from the research.