Can a Streetwear ARG Change Clothing Recycling?
Can storytelling change clothing recycling? This article explores why I'm building The Canis, a streetwear ARG designed to make sustainable fashion more engaging.
We all know fashion has a waste problem.
Some of you might not know how big it is.
Less than 15% of clothing is recycled globally each year; yet we produce 92 million tons of textile waste in the same period.
Most of that ends up burned or in landfill.
Can storytelling change behaviour?
People are not going to stop producing fashion. It’s a part of who we are. How we make it, what we make it out of, and what we do with it after, is all going to change.
Historically, we’ve never had to worry about what happened to it after we were done. Can how we feel about what we’ve bought change that?
A photo representing the circular fashion process, organic cotton fibres clean enough to break down and reuse.
Why organic cotton isn’t enough.
If it was only that easy. Changing how people behave is hard.
Cotton is one of the most toxic fabrics on the planet, synthetics and micro plastics are another big topic. We’ve seen incredible and ridiculous innovations in textiles, but these are more often clickbait than sustainable.
GOTS certified organic cotton is grown free from harmful chemicals making it easier to recycle.
But organic cotton alone is not the main reason why most people buy.
Building a streetwear ARG.
The world I am building has game play elements. Comics, games and a series are in the pipeline, but the overarching question is how can we change behaviour?
A small incentive is a start. But is it enough to make you go through the steps of returning a t-shirt?
We all have clothing we value; we tend to keep those items. Often regardless of condition. What we do with the stuff we don’t want, or is damaged, is barely a thought.
The Canis is the experiment.
Do we not recycle because that’s the way it’s always been and ‘all it will take’ is a few regulations?
How long will these regulations take to become globally enforceable?
Or can we do something about it in the meantime?
I’m not saying I have the solution. But maybe, when you’re done with your tee or it’s looking a little haggard, you’ll hear Tenet’s voice saying, “The Canis takes it back” and scan the QR code.
Sun Eaters
A doodle. A grin. A giant cosmic worm.
Sun Eater began as a sketch over before evolving into one of the first true species of The Canis. This is how a bedtime doodle became mythology, original art, and sustainable streetwear.
I honestly have no idea why I put that doodle on a tee.
It must be his stupid grinning face.
He makes me laugh.
No one knew that this 11pm doodle, would become a species, a force of nature.
“I ate the sun, but I’m sorry!”
Star Maggots
Attracted to dying or unstable light.
They only know one way to solve a problem.
No world, no problem.
I almost deleted it
When I started the shop with my 20 year old teenage art, I knew they were characters, I knew there was a world.
The world just hadn't revealed itself yet.
While every other brand is doing back prints, sleeve prints and full-garment graphics,
I'm drawing star maggots.
Sun Eater is no longer a drawing
He’s a giant cosmic worm.
He cleans up.
He might eat our sun.
But he’ll definitely apologise after.
Let the design breathe
Inhale, hum, bark. (if you know, you know)
That's the transition from illustration to mythology.
I’m having so much fun. There aren’t enough hours in the day.
Though this heatwave is making me, question things. Maybe he should eat it…
How To Play
The Canis is built around alignment. It’s an evolving world of characters, artifacts, transmissions and hidden stories.
You don't enter The Canis. You recognise it.
You don't enter The Canis. You recognise it.
Find The Canis.
What is The Canis?
P.S The Canis doesn’t iron on Sundays.
The Canis is an evolving world of characters, artifacts, transmissions and hidden stories.
How to play?
1. Find The Canis.
2. Receive the transmission.
3. Choose your allies.
4. Wear the artifact.
5. You are now are guardian of The Canis. Unearth new fragments.
6. The Canis takes it back. Scan the QR code.
Why?
We believe storytelling can change behaviour. Rather than asking people to recycle because they should, we ask whether participation in a fictional world can make returning clothing feel meaningful.
Do you have to play?
No.
You can simply wear the artifact.
Many people do.
But if you pay attention, you'll notice patterns, symbols, characters and transmissions hidden throughout the collection.
What's coming next?
More artifacts. More characters.
More worlds. More signals.
The story is still unfolding.
Some chapters remain hidden.