In this paper, the development of ‘Residencies’ is described; a suite of research methods designed to meet the urgent methodological needs of a new wave of fashion and sustainability discourse focused on societal and structural change. An interdisciplinary approach drawn from cultural geography, art and design aims to chart complex and often overlooked dynamics of clothing behaviours as they take place in everyday life, intricately linked to the context they take place in.

Effective transformation towards sustainability in fashion has been limited by the dominance of technocentric approaches, disconnected from the social context of people’s lives or the realities of planetary boundaries. In line with a growing international move to re-prioritise social and human concerns in sustainable development work, Residencies offers potential new ways to identify and visualise social patterns, material flows and interactions. This is to enable future research outcomes identifying potentials for systemic transformation.

Authors: Katelyn Toth-Fejel