Our team aimed to create a campus-based thrifting platform that makes sustainable fashion more accessible, convenient, and community-driven for students. The project focused on encouraging eco-friendly habits through clothing swaps, donations, and second-hand shopping while fostering stronger campus connections.

02 RESEARCH

Fast Fashion

The fashion industry is one of the world’s largest contributors to environmental damage. It is responsible for:

10% of global carbon emissions
20% of global water pollution
Approximately 2,700 liters of water to produce a single cotton T-shirt

Additionally, over 100 million tons of clothing end up in landfills every year, contributing to waste and pollution on a massive scale.

While many students are interested in thrifting and sustainable fashion, existing second-hand marketplaces often create barriers that discourage participation. Common issues include:

Safety concerns when meeting strangers
Inconvenient exchanges and shipping logistics
Time-consuming selling processes
Additional pollution caused by shipping and transportation

This highlighted an opportunity to rethink second-hand fashion through a localized, campus-centered experience.

How might we influence sustainable habits within students while fostering community?

03 IDEATION

Second hand clothing/ thrifting

by making sustainable fashion easier and more convenient, we can reduce clothing waste and promote eco-friendly habits on campus.

04 DESIGN DIRECTION

Garment Garden

Campus-Based Clothing Swaps

Users can:

List clothing items for exchange
Donate pieces to campus thrift initiatives
Coordinate meetups based on schedules and convenient campus locations

By keeping exchanges local, the platform reduces shipping-related pollution while making transactions safer and easier for students.

Sustainability Tracking
Every swap, donation, or second-hand purchase contributes to a user’s personal environmental impact tracker. The app visualizes:

Reduced carbon emissions
Waste diverted from landfills
Growth of the user’s “personal ecosystem”

This feature transforms sustainability into a visible and rewarding experience.

University Leaderboards

Garment Garden also introduces a school-wide sustainability leaderboard where universities can compare collective environmental impact.

Through partnerships with universities and environmental organizations, top-performing campuses could receive funding for eco-friendly initiatives such as:

Solar panels
Bike racks
Green spaces
Sustainable campus improvements

This encourages friendly competition while motivating larger-scale environmental action.

05 FINAL DESIGN

Final Design

Garment Garden is a campus-based thrifting app that allows students to safely swap, donate, and discover second-hand clothing within their university community.

To create a secure and trusted environment, users sign up using their university credentials, ensuring exchanges happen between verified students.

The platform combines sustainability, accessibility, and gamification to make second-hand fashion feel engaging and rewarding rather than inconvenient.

06 TAKEAWAYS & NEXT STEPS

Reflection

Despite not placing in the designathon, this project was still an incredibly valuable learning experience. Working within a limited timeframe challenged our team to think quickly, prioritize ideas efficiently, and make collaborative design decisions under pressure.

Throughout the process, I strengthened my skills in UX thinking, problem solving, and presenting ideas in a clear and compelling way. I also learned the importance of adaptability — balancing multiple perspectives, compromising on design decisions, and refining concepts rapidly as a team.

Most importantly, this experience reinforced that success in design is not only defined by outcomes or awards, but by growth throughout the creative process. Garment Garden allowed me to explore how design can encourage sustainability, foster community, and create meaningful behavioural change through thoughtful user experiences.