Kirsi Niinimäki

Aalto University · Department of Design

The study examined the data gaps throughout the textile supply and value chains, from fibre to the end of product life stages. The study revealed the challenges relating to data: missing data, data accessibility, data management, data reliability and relevance, mandatory or non-mandatory data collection and sharing, and costs. Listing the data gaps...

Transitioning to a circular economy (CE) may create unintended social consequences. This systematic review analysed 45 published studies from 2009 to 2023 that evaluate these consequences using social lifecycle assessment (S-LCA), a tool based on the UNEP Guidelines. Most studies focused on circular activities like energy recovery and material recy...

The chemical recycling of cotton towels via the Ioncell® technique is demonstrated. Cotton is the most common natural fiber. The season's value jumped 31% to 54.3 billion US$ in 2020/2021, and annually the average value in quota‐free periods accounts to 46.3 billion US$. Consequently, enormous amounts of cotton wastes are emerging. Especially, Euro...

This chapter shows how Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) could be integrated with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to monitor the challenges emerging from the textile industry’s transition towards a circular economy (CE). While CSR and S-LCA share a common objective of addressing societal challenges resulting from industrial practices, they...

The fast fashion industry is notorious for wicked environmental and social problems, such as exploitative resource use, high amounts of waste, excessive pollution, below-living wages and unsafe working conditions. Addressing these problems calls for a systemic view on the industry with the goal of minimising the intake of natural resources into the...

The widespread presence of textiles in our life can cause us to overlook the issues of environmental and social sustainability that affect this industry. Here, we highlight the reasons for poor social sustainability, barriers to change and policy related opportunities.

A sustainable transition towards a circular economy requires that businesses evaluate their environmental, economic, and social impact. Since there has been a limited effort for identifying the social impacts of businesses, social life cycle assessment (SLCA) was developed. In this paper, 44 peer-reviewed articles that reported the social consequen...

With continuing climate change, consumers are reconsidering their fashion-consumption habits and clothing and apparel businesses are critically examining their industrial practices. The coronavirus pandemic can be considered a turning point as it has significantly affected the textile and fashion industry. By applying path-dependence theory to anal...

The textile industry has tried to combat the criticism of fast fashion through overly simplistic solutions at the product and operational level. Fast fashion cannot be fixed — the industry needs to be reconstructed to emphasize long material and product lifetimes.

Unsustainable clothing consumption patterns, especially prevalent in the Global North, have come to the spotlight of media, policy-makers and the academic community in recent years. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the routine lives of citizens globally, which has impacted some consumers’ attitudes towards fashion and consumption practices...

The COVID-19 pandemic caused and still causes unprecedented disruptions in daily lives of billions of people globally. It affects practices and routines across all household consumption domains, including clothing consumption. Drawing on Social Practice Theory, this article explores and compares changes in clothing acquisition practices during COVI...

The fashion industry is one of the most polluting industrial sectors in the world and its environmental impacts are huge. Garments are produced effectively at a low price, are of low quality, and are used for a very short time before ending up in increasing textile waste streams. One critical aspect in this context is the lifetime of a garment. Sho...

This chapter approaches the concept of sustainable luxury through a consumer survey and a company case in Finland and aims to determine the Scandinavian perspectives of eco-luxury. Scandinavian consumers have a strong environmental awareness, making it interesting to investigate the understanding of luxury in this narrow frame. The company case is...

Esta publicação é o resultado da terceira edição do evento Café com Europa, dedicada ao tema HUMANO + DESIGN + NATUREZA, aliando o design sustentável à arquitetura. Em 2021, ano marcado pela pandemia COVID-19, o Café com Europa trouxe ao público, de forma totalmente virtual e gratuita, temas relacionados a cidades mais sustentáveis, retomada verde,...

It is widely acknowledged that clothing serves as our second skin. Colour plays a significant role in our choice when selecting our clothing, as well as in social and cultural realities, various rituals, everyday practices, and individual or group identities. In this study, we discuss consumer clothing choices in relation to colour based on data an...

Purpose Extending the active lifetimes of garments by producing better quality is a widely discussed strategy for reducing environmental impacts of the garment industry. While quality is an important aspect of clothing, the concept of quality is ambiguous, and, moreover, consumers may perceive quality in individual ways. Therefore, it is important...

In recent years we have witnessed an emergence of various do-it-yourself (DIY) activities in urban spaces. This article aims to shed light on these DIY activities in Helsinki, particularly within the textile and garment sector. Six DIY groups were selected, their organizers interviewed, and their respective activities were examined. The aims of thi...

Interdisciplinary research across the sciences and creative practice offers potential to explore new areas of knowledge previously hidden between disciplines. However, diverging epistemology and expectations make collaboration difficult. We interviewed 11 researchers working in projects that combined scientific and creative practice research, to in...

The way in which the current fashion industry operates needs to fundamentally change. In this endeavour, designers are considered central figures throughout the sustainable fashion literature. However, too little is known about clothing designers’ practical contributions to sustainability. Therefore, this study investigates how sustainability is in...

The fashion industry is the second largest industrial polluter after aviation, accounting for up to 10% of global pollution. Despite the widely publicized environmental impacts, however, the industry continues to grow, in part due to the rise of fast fashion, which relies on cheap manufacturing, frequent consumption and short-lived garment use. In...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Interdisciplinary research across art and science offers the potential to open up new areas of knowledge previously hidden in-between disciplines. At the same time, differences in disciplines' theoretical frameworks, verification methods and expectations can cause discrepancies, which can be fruitful but may also require further navigation efforts....

The transition from linear to circular fashion system(s) requires substantial changes at the level of legislation, infrastructure, technology, education, business and consumption. This exploratory study zooms into the business level, specifically into sustainable-minded clothing companies and their design practices. What happens in practice inside...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore swap-shops, which emerged as part of the collaborative consumption phenomenon, by investigating what the implications are of consumers acting as suppliers and how this affects supply chain management within the context of the fashion industry. Design/methodology/approach This study explores the colla...

Smart textiles are often developed in sports- oriented contexts through technology-driven processes. In the medical context, practitioners themselves also invent and develop technological aids in response to needs that emerge in practice. In these cases, novel technology may be the first driver for design to secure functionality and reliability, bu...

Purpose While aiming to create methods for fibre recycling, the question of colours in waste textiles is also in focus; whether the colour should be kept or should be removed while recycling textile fibre. More knowledge is needed for colour management in a circular economy approach. Design/methodology/approach The research included the use of d...

The promotion of sustainable fashion within a circular economy is a vital contemporary topic. This publication presents up-to-date research about the various levels of circularity at work in the fashion industry. Experts of design, consumption, business and industry explain how circularity in the production and consumption of fashion can be approac...

What kinds of implications does ‘design for recycling’ have for the designer’s role and practice in the context of textiles and fashion? In this paper, we approach this question by discussing the problem of low textile recycling rates alongside a disconnection between clothing design and textile recycling. Qualitative interviews with design, sortin...

The focus of this research is on the experiences of a new fashion pedagogy linked to textile studios at Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture, in Helsinki, Finland. Rich practice-based research and skilled use of materials and textile techniques are elements of transforming fashion design implemented through studio-based pedagog...

This study examines fashion entrepreneurship from the designer’s perspective. The aim is to identify what kinds of challenges fashion designers face in their simultaneous roles as designers and entrepreneurs, and what the potential advantages of that position are. The article aims to supplement existing research on micro-scale fashion design busine...

Previous literature in person–product attachment has identified factors in long-term relationships responsible for the strengthening of bonds between users and products, stimulating longevity in use. Interested in further understanding the matter in the realm of fashion, this study investigates how relationships between individuals and the clothes...

This article presents a study in which new materials are developed through experimental knowledge construction and knowledge exchange between different disciplines. The New Silk research project (2017- 2020) is the building block for the research. New Silk aims to produce new types of silk-like materials in the context of synthetic biology. In this...

This paper proposes new perspectives and systemic changes to the linear fashion scheme, which is currently driven by fast, cheap and low quality production that fosters easy disposal or replacement, due to the low product value for the customer/user. The authors seek to open a discussion on new value creation through social manufacturing, specifica...

This paper discusses the diverse roles fashion designers play in the contemporary fashion industry. Taking Finland as a case, it particularly investigates how fashion designers are involved in regional identity formation. By conceptualizing the place-making ability of fashion designers, it adds a new perspective on the expanded roles of fashion des...

This paper presents a case study where the early stage of multidisciplinary collaboration is investigated. In the studied case designers work together with material scientists, market experts and the manufacturing industry to develop new textile fibres from waste using novel innovations in chemical recycling. The studied project is defined to be de...

This chapter lays grounding for principles in a circular economy from the fashion viewpoint. Chapter presents following approaches; design for longevity, design for services, design for reuse in manufacture, design for material recovery and new business models for circular economy. Building a circular economy system and transformative business for...

Plants, algae, fungi and insects have been used as dye sources for centuries. Focusing on the sources of dyes that grow wild, or are suitable for cultivation, in Northern Europe, this book explores the versatility, practical uses and environmentally safe applications of natural dyes, while at the same time delving into their botany, chemistry and m...

The clothing industry is currently characterized by a fast metabolism, utilizing many resource inputs yet creating few productive environmental or social outputs. The concept of fashion is utilized by the clothing industry like an excess dose of carbohydrates, yielding a short-term high followed by an energy deficit that can only be satisfied by co...

This study consists of three different approaches to networks in the field of digital printing. The practice part of the study aims to construct a new business ecosystem – a Digital Printing Network (DPN) including designers, digital manufacturers, and material manufacturers. Consumer research studies reveal that creation is valued in a digital pri...

Recent sustainable initiatives in fashion companies are framing design practices that challenge the traditional role of clothing designers. This preliminary study aims to open discussion on challenging traditional clothing design, through an exploration of the shared emotional values between user and designers, when designing for longevity.

Sustainability is fuzzy and wide concept and the discussion what to sustain continues, the resources or lifestyle. Furthermore how holistically the sustainability should be approached is under discussion. According to the holistic approach for environmental ethics ecosystems and biosphere as a whole should be considered, not individual’s rights. Fu...

The purpose of this study was to understand how fashion-oriented females in two different countries evaluate three use-oriented product–service systems (PSS): clothing consultancy, renting and swapping. A mixed-method approach was utilized, including focus group interviews and a questionnaire. Both countries exhibited a higher level of interest in...

Luonnonväriaineiden mahdollisuuksiin on havahduttu nyt uudestaan. Ne ovat uusiutuvia raaka-aineita, joita käyttämällä ympäristö voidaan ottaa entistä paremmin huomioon tuotantotapoja kehitettäessä. Perinteisesti luonnonväriaineet on yhdistetty pienimuotoiseen käsityöläisyyteen, mutta nykyään niitä voidaan hyödyntää jopa teollisen mittakaavan tuotan...

This paper presents an approach to understanding green aesthetics in clothing and design-for-sustainability that unifies existing theories and describes aspects of green aesthetics. The aim of this paper is to define the dimensions of aesthetic perception in design and commodities, and while doing so the focus is on green aesthetics in clothing. He...

Current practices in the fashion industry and the use of textile materials are unsustainable. The consumption of clothing and textile products has increased simultaneously with an exponential increase in production volumes. This study focuses on how to newly appreciate material in fashion design through a case study in Zero Waste Fashion (ZWF) prac...

The short life span of clothing is problematic from the viewpoint of sustainable development, making the study of ways to extend garment use time worthwhile. This current study focuses on person–product attachments to clothing items and the context of attachment. The hypothesis in this study is that deep attachment to clothing offers opportunities...

This study investigates the activism in the field of clothing design and fashion through selected findings from a case study exploring the possibilities to activate consumers in the field of fashion. The main research question: 'Does participatory design process and consumer's own activity open opportunities to behavioural change?' will be elaborat...

This paper presents a study on sustainable product relationships with an eye on textiles and clothing. A framework is constructed which integrates sustainable product relationships and the field and role of design. As a result, it studies how an empathic design approach could improve a sustainable design process. In order to promote sustainability,...

This study contributes to current knowledge of sustainability in textile and clothing production and consumption. When the textile and clothing industry aims to promote sustainability, the main change factors have been linked to eco-materials and ethical issues in production. At present, however, business models are mainly linked with a large volum...

This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of eco-fashion consumption and consumer purchase decisions while constructing one's self with external symbols, such as appearance, clothing and fashion items. This study approaches sustainable clothing from a grounding in design research and the meanings of material culture. The study uses so...

This paper presents a study of how people form attachments to clothing. The aesthetic dimension is a fundamental attribute when consumers are forming product attachment. Yet the concept of beauty in clothing can be approached through a social, cultural and temporal context and in a multi-sensorial way. Furthermore positive experiences, memories, fa...

To assess a product's environmental impact is always a difficult job. How should one measure the environmental impact of a product or the production? Will the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) be one method in measuring a product's superiority with regard to environmental impact? This article reviews the possibilities of using LCA as a possible measureme...