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In the fashion industry, 92 million tons of textile waste are produced every year. For Bethany Meuleners, Apparel and Textile Design &amp; Development Lead at Variloom, this isn't just a problem to be managed—it’s an industry ripe for reinvention.In a recent interview with&nbsp;Sourcing Journal, Bethany shared how Variloom, a Moon Creative Lab venture, is utilizing 3D printing and biobased materials to unlock a faster, cleaner, and more responsive future for fashion.<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img style="aspect-ratio:4234/6351;" src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Variloom0069_3_5e38852ea8.jpeg" alt="Variloom0069 3.jpeg" width="4234" height="6351"></figure><h3>Innovation Beyond the Label</h3>One of the biggest misconceptions in the industry is that a "sustainable material" label makes a product responsible. “In reality, true sustainability goes far beyond the material itself. It begins at the design stage, by considering durability, understanding consumer needs so the product is genuinely valued and used, and making intentional choices about where and how it is produced. It continues throughout the supply chain, from manufacturing and distribution to how the product reaches the consumer, and ultimately, how it is handled at the end of its life,” Bethany explains.&nbsp;Variloom’s approach centers on an on-demand 3D printing system. By producing customizable soft goods on-demand and on-site, brands can design and manufacture fabrics in days rather than months, and with a lot less waste. Reducing the need for inventory and bringing manufacturing closer to the consumer, Variloom’s process minimizes reliance on offshore manufacturing.<figure class="image"><img style="aspect-ratio:6720/4480;" src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Variloom0063_2_1_5a0fb8a82a.jpg" alt="Variloom0063 2 (1).jpg" width="6720" height="4480"></figure><h3>Closing the Loop</h3>In addition to its printing system, another facet of Variloom is its patent-pending soft, recyclable material. Developed using biobased thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and a proprietary blend of responsibly sourced natural additives and fibers, the material offers the stretch and performance consumers expect, but in a more sustainable, circular way. At a product’s end-of-life, the material can be recycled up to three times without losing its integrity.<blockquote>“A large share of waste happens on the consumer side.”&nbsp;</blockquote>“A large share of waste happens on the consumer side, often because people do not know what to do with a product at the end of its life. There is an opportunity to design products and create systems that make end-of-life solutions approachable and accessible for consumers.”&nbsp;<h3>A Personal Commitment to Purpose</h3>For Bethany, the philosophy of sustainability extends beyond the lab. Her own personal approach to clothing involves buying less, choosing quality staples, and caring for her clothing.&nbsp;“I have a very loved denim shirt that after several years, has now become my all-purpose yard work, crafting, and anything-messy shirt,” she shares. "How you care for your clothing is just as important to sustainability as what you purchase.”&nbsp;<blockquote>“Sustainability doesn’t have to come at the expense of&nbsp;great design.”</blockquote><h3>The Path Forward</h3>While sustainability is the core of Variloom’s mission, that doesn’t mean design comes secondary. As Bethany mentioned, it is all intertwined from the very beginning. From its 3D printing system to the patented soft material to a product’s end-of-life, Variloom has created a fully circular way of manufacturing textiles, all while keeping great fashion design at the forefront. “Sustainability doesn’t have to come at the expense of great design. With the flexibility of the Variloom technology, we aim to expand the possibilities for bespoke design while giving both designers and customers more freedom and customization. For us, sustainability and good design go hand in hand.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Make sure to follow&nbsp;<a href="https://www.variloom.com/">Variloom</a> to stay updated on the latest developments and news.&nbsp;

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Carbon Mileage is a venture from Houston, Texas that incentivizes air travelers to make carbon-conscious choices to enable a sustainable aviation ecosystem. Currently incubating at Moon Creative Lab, the Carbon Mileage team underwent a quick sprint to better understand decarbonization within the airline industry and plan their next course of action.&nbsp;<hr><h3>Key Learnings:</h3><ul><li>Defining a problem statement.</li><li>Identifying key users and stakeholders.</li><li>Understanding users through research.</li></ul><hr><figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Carbon_mileage_pledge_9f7a3bbd54.png" alt="Carbon mileage pledge.png"></figure>The Moon team recently met with Carbon Mileage, one of the ventures selected to be part of our Boost incubation program. Over the course of two days at our Palo Alto studio, we dug into the problem the team is seeking to solve: incentivizing decarbonization in the airline industry. Two days might seem like a lofty goal, but for us, we thrive in a short-time bound environment. Rather than spending unreasonable amounts of time reworking the same problem over and over again, two days allowed the team to make quicker decisions and confidently map out all necessary steps.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Before the workshop began, the team outlined three main goals they were wanting to achieve during the two days:&nbsp;<ol><li>Define the problem statement.&nbsp;</li><li>Name the biggest assumptions and build a user research plan to de-risk them.</li><li>Commit to a product hypothesis.</li><li>Work on team building to sustain momentum remotely.&nbsp;</li></ol>&nbsp;<h3>Defining a Clear Problem Statement</h3>Before any project starts, it’s important for the team to align on a clear problem statement before identifying a possible solution. By defining a problem statement, this prepares the team to further investigate different solutions through proper research and confidently act on the best proposed solution.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Carbon Mileage defined their clear problem statement as, “How might we engage air travelers in decarbonization efforts?” which evolved from the original statement that fixated on the idea of an incentivisation program. The original problem statement felt narrow and closed-minded to how much broader the team could explore decarbonization efforts. By switching the problem of only having an incentivization program to thinking more broadly towards engaging customers, this allowed the team to think much deeper into possible solutions.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<h3>Analyzing Target Customers and Stakeholders&nbsp;</h3>After defining the problem statement, it’s important to analyze who the true stakeholders are, also known as the target audience of the Carbon Mileage program and all those who would be involved in Carbon Milage’s solution. The team outlined four main stakeholders: airlines, air travelers, travel organizers, and sustainable fuel suppliers. Beyond identifying stakeholders, it’s important to get to know them even more by determining what motivates them to act a certain way or make specific purchasing decisions. By specifying key motivations, Carbon Mileage can leverage this information as a way to build engagement amongst target users and explore solutions to their problem statement.&nbsp;&nbsp;<h3>Mapping Out the User Journey To Better Understand the User Experience</h3><figure class="image"><img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/carbon_mileage_2_d30c966b9b.png" alt="carbon mileage 2.png"></figure>Aligning the user journey with the product hypothesis allowed the team to visually see where in the target audience’s journey it would make the most sense to implement Carbon Mileage.&nbsp;The team first explored, “How might Carbon Mileage reward travelers?” Some ideas included priority boarding, travel status, points redeemable for sustainable merch, and additional airline miles. Then the team explored how this might align with reduced carbon emissions. Ideas included buying carbon credits to compensate for annual travel and traveling with lighter bags to reduce fuel usage.&nbsp;While listing all of these ideas out is important, what makes the ideas even more tangible is creating concept cards to help paint a clearer picture of what direction the team feels is the ideal solution. By creating prototypes of the ideas, the team is able to confidently visualize the possibility of an idea before acting on it.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Carbon_Mileage_bd0574516a.png" alt="Carbon Mileage.png">&nbsp;<h3>Name Assumptions and Build a Research Plan to De-Risk Them&nbsp;</h3>With these concept cards, the team then built out a user research guide to de-risk any of their previous assumptions. By gathering early feedback from Moon team members, the Carbon Mileage team was able to commit to a product direction during the workshop.&nbsp;What was unique about this user testing experience was that it was the first time Carbon Mileage team members asked open-ended questions and avoided leading questions about their product. A leading question might look like, “Would you pack lighter if it meant to be rewarded by product credits?” rather than open-ended questions like, “What is the first thing that comes to mind about air travel?” The reason for asking open-ended questions versus leading questions was to widen the knowledge base for the team, unleashing new insights into what potential customers might bring. Many times teams lean on assumptions to answer the root of their problem rather than exploring the truest needs of their users.&nbsp;Taking the exploration even further, the team created a landing page to test the value proposition with users. Why a landing page? It’s quick, it’s tangible, and it’s the first exploration of the product that might speak to potential customers.&nbsp;<h3>What’s Next for Carbon Mileage &nbsp;</h3>The team agreed that there needs to be even more exploration of de-risking the most critical assumptions by engaging further user research with key stakeholders, focusing on travelers and airlines. Additionally, there needs to be a design experiment to test the theory that IF consumers were rewarded for choosing carbon reduction efforts, they would do so.Since this workshop was only two days, the team agreed that this would need to happen at a later time. We look forward to learning more about Carbon Mileage in the coming months as they begin to explore further together with Moon.If a workshop similar to this sounds interesting to you and your team, Moon would love to hear from you. Contact us at <a href="mailto:hello@mooncreativelab.com">hello@mooncreativelab.com</a> to start the conversation of how we can help your organization, team, or startup begin digging deeper into the root of the problem you’re seeking to solve.&nbsp; &nbsp;

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In this article, we talk with two Moon Creative Lab Designers about their experiences designing for inclusivity and how inclusive design can reach unexpected and wider audiences.<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/110822_Blog_Image_Inclusive_1500x2500_c1f4ad11ce.jpg" alt="Moon Creative Lab_ Inclusive_Design"><hr><h4>Key Takeaways:</h4><ul><li>What is inclusive design</li><li>Examples of inclusive design</li><li>How to design for inclusivity in your own work</li><li>Resources for learning more about inclusive design</li></ul><hr>Inclusive design is a design practice that we are always considering when supporting our ventures. At Moon Creative Lab, one of our core values is “Be Human-Centered” which focuses on designing for human needs rather than the business outcomes – the essence of inclusive design. We believe that unexpected opportunities come when we look outside of ourselves and really get to know our users. &nbsp;With Moon’s parent company, Mitsui &amp; Co., celebrating Diversity &amp; Inclusion Week this September, we interviewed two of our designers in Tokyo on what it means to design businesses, products, and services that are inclusive of everyone.&nbsp;<hr>What does inclusive design mean to you?<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Takuya_Moon_Creative_Lab_0db86155e2.png" alt="Takuya, Senior Design Researcher"><figcaption>Takuya Yamagishi,&nbsp; Senior Design Researcher</figcaption></figure>T.Y. “For me, inclusive design means design that is welcoming for everyone and can apply to many fields, from architecture to consumer product design to employee experience design and more. Sometimes there are conflicts and it is not possible to make everyone happy. However, in my view, we should always strive to maximize the happiness of every user.”<blockquote>Inclusive design is welcoming for everyone.</blockquote><figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Machi_Moon_Creative_Lab_63026b0b6e.png" alt="Machi, UI/UX Design Lead"><figcaption>Machi Rezende,&nbsp; UI/UX Design Lead</figcaption></figure>M.R. “For me, inclusive design is all about understanding and including the plurality of people and realities we have in the world. You’d be surprised – a recent study showed that only 21% of people are able to fully use most products, which means that inclusive design, which seeks to lower barriers to effective use, is actually for the majority of people.”<blockquote>Inclusive design is about including the plurality of people and realities.</blockquote><hr>What are some examples of inclusive design?T.Y. “When I studied at design school in Europe, I was impressed by the inclusivity of design there compared to design in Japan. Public notices were clear, simple, intuitive, and visual. In Japan, on the other hand, public notices still tend to be extremely wordy, complex, and non-user-friendly. Things are improving little by little, though. I also noticed that train station ticket gates were wider, allowing easier access for people in wheelchairs.Inclusive design encourages us to think about people who are not the same as us, empathize with them, and question our own assumptions. There is always a danger that we will design things that work best for us, the designer – but we are not everyone, and what works for us may not always work for others.”<blockquote>Inclusive design encourages us to think about people who are not the same as us, empathize with them, and question our own assumptions.</blockquote>M.R. “When talking about inclusivity, we usually think about the Physical aspect of design - <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ergonomics">ergonomics</a>, accessibility, design for the elderly and the physically challenged, and so on. But there are also cognitive and emotional aspects to consider.From a cognitive perspective, for example, we should consider such things as color blindness, but also dyslexia, which, as studies show, affects up to 12% of people globally. And also consider deepening our understanding of the wide range of neurodiversity that humans exhibit. Not everyone processes information in the same way and our design should take that into account.In terms of emotional inclusivity, we must also consider how people feel when using the products that we design. Recently there have been great improvements. For example, Instagram now provides more pronoun options for people who don’t identify as Male or Female. And you may have noticed that Slack now includes a range of skin color options for emojis so people can represent themselves online in the way that feels most comfortable for them. These changes may seem subtle, but they have a huge positive emotional impact on those who may otherwise feel excluded or ignored.”<blockquote>Not everyone processes information in the same way, and we must also consider how people feel when using the products that we design.</blockquote><hr>In your own work, how do you design for inclusivity?T.Y. “I am currently working on <a href="https://www.goril.jp/">GORIL</a>, a Moon Creative Lab venture that is creating an innovative way for people to improve their English pronunciation. Originally the project was called “Speak Like Native,” but in the process of interviewing potential users, we learned that the main goal of attaining native-like speech excludes many people, and our project has evolved as a result. We decided to avoid idiomatic expressions and use simpler, more direct language so that more people can use the product effectively.<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/GORIL_Logo_4d44bb3542.png" alt="GORIL_Logo.png">In the past, I also worked on a Moon venture that was developing a product for people with epilepsy, and this forced me to consider many new perspectives. We built a journaling system for the users, but learned that after an epileptic seizure, they are exhausted and unable to write. So, we simplified the design to include only icons indicating the most common range of experiences. This way, users could record their condition in a quick and intuitive way, and we later added an audio function which made it even easier for them.What’s important is that the insight for these improvements came from speaking with epileptic users and getting their feedback on our early prototypes. Without actually speaking with those who would use the product, we were designing in the dark.”<blockquote>Without actually speaking with those who would use the product, we were designing in the dark.</blockquote>M.R. “A while ago I was working on an application for visually impaired people in Japan that helped users navigate around train and subway stations. The app allowed them to find the right exit, restrooms, and so on by scanning QR codes in the station and guiding them around the yellow floor paths.What was interesting about this project was that – as a designer – it wasn’t about making something look good (because the users, by definition, had limited visual ability), but instead about making it work well. Because for these users, this app is not for entertainment or simple convenience, but rather a powerful tool that hugely impacts their lives and can, in some sense, change their reality.&nbsp;<blockquote>It wasn’t about making something look good, but about making it work well.</blockquote>To build this, we talked with visually impaired people and consulted with support associations in Japan to get a deeper and more authentic understanding of the users’ experiences with the product prototypes. We couldn’t have done this just based on our own experiences and realities.During this project, I also learned some interesting things about how inclusive design principles can contribute to design in general. Did you know that dark mode, which your phone or PC might switch to in the evening, originally comes from products designed for people with visual impairments? Or that text-to-speech technologies were first developed for people who could not read screens, but now are a major component of AI assistants like Alexa and Siri? In the end, inclusive design helps everyone.”<blockquote>In the end, inclusive design helps everyone.</blockquote><hr>Are the products and services you design for inclusive? Learn more about inclusive design here:<ul><li><a href="https://www.inclusivedesigntoolkit.com/whatis/whatis.html">What is Inclusive Design?</a> (Cambridge University)</li><li><a href="https://inclusivedesignprinciples.org/">Inclusive Design Principles</a> (inclusivedesignprinciples.org)</li><li><a href="https://xd.adobe.com/ideas/principles/design-systems/what-is-inclusive-design-principles-and-examples/">Inclusive Design: Principles and Examples</a> (Adobe)</li></ul>

Fashion On-Demand: A Conversation With Variloom

How a Two-Day Workshop Helped a Business Focus on a Better Solution

Inclusive Design: Building With Everyone in Mind

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Moon Stories Blog

Fashion On-Demand: A Conversation With Variloom

How a Two-Day Workshop Helped a Business Focus on a Better Solution

Inclusive Design: Building With Everyone in Mind

Join the Moon Community!