Chapter 1 — full chapter
1.4 Life Cycle Thinking and Life Cycle Assessment as Design Tools
Life cycle thinking expands the designer’s focus from the finished garment to the full journey of materials and products: raw material extraction and cultivation, fibre production, processing, manufacturing, transport, retail, use, care, repair, reuse and end-of-life. This broader view helps identify where environmental impacts occur, where value is lost and where design decisions can make the greatest difference.
Figure 21. Design decisions across the product lifecycle. At each stage, designers can influence environmental impacts, product performance and the potential to preserve value through extended and repeated use.
Life cycle thinking and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) are related, but they are not the same. Life cycle thinking is a design mindset, while LCA is a structured method for quantifying potential environmental impacts across a defined product system.