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.