Care Labels

Microplastics are everywhere yet nowhere to be seen. Our reliance on cheap material is catching up with us and this project seeks to make visible the invisible. Around 35% of the microplastics contaminating the world’s oceans come from microfibres released when washing our clothes. In the UK, this is equivalent to the weight of 1,500 double decker busses every year, where an average domestic wash cycle releases more than 700,000 fibres into waterways. These labels break down the issue into digestible sections, borrowing the visual language of washing symbols to illustrate the points. Through learning about what microfibres are, why polyester is the worst culprit, our contribution in the UK specifically, how we can stop it on an individual level and the emergence of biosynthetics, this project intends to build awareness of the issue. A campaign showcasing the labels is concealed as a fashion editorial shoot to avoid the immediate reaction of climate exhaustion due to the saturation of doom narratives in mainstream media. I intend to bring optimism to tackling a serious and distressing wicked problem. Communicating hope is as important - if not more so- than communicating the severity of the issue in the context of environmental design.