Ecard

Users as Stakeholder

Encouraging users to be active stakeholders in the fashion ecosystem empowers them and leads to more customer-centric, sustainable offerings.

VET: In what governence, design, production and use processes could you involve users?

HEI: What technologies could enable users to engage with your current processes? How would that change those processes?


Users as Stakeholders refers to the recognition and inclusion of end-users or users as significant stakeholders. In this context, users are not just passive recipients of fashion products but are actively involved in shaping the industry through their preferences, choices, and behaviors.

They play a crucial role in driving demand, influencing trends, and shaping the overall fashion landscape. By considering users as stakeholders, fashion businesses can effectively engage with them, incorporate their preferences and values, and create more customer-centric and sustainable fashion offerings.

The concept of “User as Stakeholder” emphasizes the importance of understanding and responding to the needs, desires, and values of users. It involves engaging with users as active participants in the design and production processes. This approach recognizes that users have a direct impact on the success and sustainability of fashion businesses.

By considering users as stakeholders, fashion brands and industry players can gain valuable insights into user preferences, market trends, and emerging demands. They can involve users at various stages of the fashion value chain, including product ideation, co-creation, feedback collection, and evaluation. This collaborative approach allows companies to align their offerings with user expectations, improve customer satisfaction, and build long-term relationships.

Furthermore, recognizing users as stakeholders also entails considering their broader social and environmental concerns. It involves accounting for ethical and sustainable considerations in the design and production of fashion products. By involving users in discussions about sustainability, transparency, and responsible consumption, fashion brands can respond to evolving user values and contribute to a more conscious, responsible industry.

Case studies

Threadless

Threadless positions its community as active stakeholders in product decision-making. Users submit designs, evaluate each other’s work through voting and commenting, and directly influence which graphics enter production.
Link to case

Patagonia – Worn Wear

Patagonia engages users as lifecycle stakeholders by integrating repair, trade-in, and reuse into its circular service ecosystem. User participation generates practical insight into durability, material performance, and real-world wear patterns.
Link to program

Levi’s – Tailor Shop

Levi’s Tailor Shop invites users to co-shape garments through repair, alteration, and customization. These interventions transform industrially produced jeans into co-authored pieces, making users stakeholders in both aesthetic and functional outcomes.
Link to program

Burberry – User-Generated Outerwear Storytelling

Burberry incorporates users as cultural stakeholders by inviting them to document and share their lived experiences with iconic outerwear. These distributed narratives reinforce the brand’s identity through user-authored representations.
Link to campaign

Nike By You

Nike By You enables users to act as design stakeholders by configuring colorways, materials, and visual identities across multiple footwear models. The platform operationalizes mass customization and demonstrates how user preference data informs broader design directions.
Link to platform

References