Assessment of Consumer Preference for Upcycled Textile Products

Abstract

Fashion industry contributes to environmental pollution, with increasing consequences all around the world. Circular economy can be a guideline for the fashion industry, encouraging product development focused on sustainable products. This study focused on development of twelve innovative useful products from textile wastes collected from 20 tailoring units. The upcycled products were evaluated for their acceptability, utility, creativity and aesthetic appearance. Evaluation of product assessment by consumers indicated that none of the products were rated poor. The popular product was fancy bag in terms of overall acceptability. Fancy bag, table sheet, slippers and pencil pouch were rated excellent for creativity. The highest score on utility was for pencil pouch, fancy bag, cell phone pouch and slippers. As for aesthetic appearance, slippers and hair accessories and jewelry were rated excellent. Hence, fabric waste generated from tailoring units can be upcycled into useful products rather than discarding in landfills or burning them up. The Government can initiate ways to popularize upcycled products promoting its environment friendly value. Collection centres for textile wastes can be set up for sorting the waste according to the end use it can be put to.