By understanding more about our clothes – where they come from and where they’re going – we can collectively build a fashion industry that causes less environmental damage. The Garment Lifecycle Map shows the stages in the lifecycle of different garments; from raw material to yarn (thread) to finished product and beyond. This interactive tool was designed and built for Tomorrow’s Wardrobe by textile researcher Laetitia Forst with graphic design studio ACRE.

Using the Garment Lifecycle Map tool, you can identify what types of feedstocks or processes were used in a garments production, what transformation processes it went through, consider how it was designed, and ultimately what end of life solution will be most adequate.

Laetitia Forst is a circular textile design researcher at the University of the Arts London. Her work bridges designer’s hands-on understanding of materials and the technical knowledge essential to a transition to circular and sustainable practices in the industry. By making textile and garment prototypes independently and with others, she explores the challenges of a shift to design for recycling and argues for the unique perspective of designers and makers. She has experience of working across multidisciplinary teams involving lifecycle assessment or material science expertise, as well as with fashion brands big and small. She is currently leading the Future Observatory funded New Composites project, which aims to develop and test recommendations for circular textile design with next-gen yarns.

ACRE is a new London based design studio founded by designer and creative director Jonas Zieher. Harnessing the synergies between a commercial and a progressive, experimental practice, ACRE creates effective and nuanced visual languages across brand identities, motion and digital design for clients like Apple, PORT Magazine, The Hyundai Department Store and the Design Museum London.

ACRE believes that designing means to build bridges between today and tomorrow, so irresistibly beautiful that crossing them becomes the only thing that matters.

Future Observatory is the Design Museum’s national research programme for the green transition.

Launched in November 2021, Future Observatory is coordinated by the Design Museum in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). As a cultural institution, the Design Museum is ideally placed to bring cutting-edge design research to broad audiences, making it accessible and engaging and enabling it to have a greater impact. Indeed, Future Observatory redefines what a museum can be: a place not solely focused on the past or the present but one that can help shape the future.

Acting as both a coordinating hub for a nationwide programme, as well as a research department within the museum, Future Observatory curates exhibitions, programmes events and funds and publishes new research, all with the aim of championing new design thinking on environmental issues.