Data, Fashion Systems and Systemic Design approach: an information flow strategy to enhance sustainability

Nowadays, the role played by the fashion industry in contributing to the degradation of natural systems is increasingly acknowledged. Acting in terms of information flow from a systemic perspective does not represent a parametric adjustment, nor a reinforcement or a weakening of an existing cycle. It is the generation of a new sequence, that of information, in a place where it was not previously given, therefore inducing a different behaviour in people. The structure of information flows can be a useful leverage point in the fashion system, if the information is delivered where it was not before, causing people to change behaviour. Adding or restoring information, in a fashion system where the information circulating is sometimes not linked to an ethical and social value, can, therefore, represent an effective intervention, usually more accessible and cheaper than reconstructing physical infrastructures. The ambition of this paper is to offer a perspective that faces this complexity and align fashion with sustainability values through insights gained from data.