Do you care about fashion and sustainability? Do you sometimes ask questions about products, brands, the industry or anything else connected with fashion, and look for answers? Would you be able to attend two face-to-face meetings in Bristol in weeks beginning 5th and 12th December?
It is important to us to hear the experiences and views of a diverse range of people, particularly those who are underrepresented in this context.
Check our requirements below then complete our brief (3 mins) online form by 28th November to apply.
The ‘Sust’ project (as ‘I Didn’t Buy’ is now called) received funding from the University of Bristol’s Brigstow Institute to extend its research concerning a digital platform for empowering consumers to shop sustainably. The team includes Fiona Spotswood and Jennifer Daniel (UoB), and Tim Kindberg (matter II media). Our new project focuses on fashion. It is investigating ways by which the platform will enable users to crowd-source information about the sustainability of fashion products and brands; information which the platform can supply to help others.
We are already working online with Fashion Revolution’s global network to co-design the crowd-sourcing facility, and are looking to recruit additional local participants who could take part in early evening focus groups in central Bristol, to the same ends.
We’ll be running two 90-minute focus groups in the weeks beginning 5th and 12th December and would like participants to attend both. We’re offering £20 in shopping vouchers per focus group to say thank you.
What will happen?
In the first focus group, we’ll ask about the sorts questions you have about fashion and sustainability (e.g. when making purchasing decisions), how you go about finding answers, and the challenges. We’re interested especially in how an online tool that encourages people to act collectively and crowd-source answers could help.
In the second focus group, we’ll show you the web-based tool we’ve made, which we would like you to help us develop. We’ll run some ideas by you for developing the tool, and ask you to brainstorm with us on themes of power, trust and value, to create other ways the tool could help. We will listen to your ideas and experiences to help us empower people to make more sustainable fashion choices .
Details and how to sign up
To apply, complete our brief (3 mins) online form by 28th November. The form will ask you to confirm that you meet the requirements:
- You ask questions about fashion and sustainability, and set out to answer them at least sometimes
- You can attend both 90-minute focus groups in central Bristol: Group 1 at 6-7:30pm on Mon/Wed 5th/7th Dec; Group 2 at 6-7:30pm on Mon/Wed 12th/14th Dec.
We will choose from among the applicants according to our research criteria – which include diversity of backgrounds
This project has been approved by the University of Bristol School of Management ethics committee. For any queries or concerns, please email management-ethicscommittee@bristol.ac.uk. For other questions regarding our project, please contact callout@sust.earth.
Image from wikimedia commons, licensed under creative commons.

