I kindly thank my supervisors, Prof. Dr. Hans-Luidger Dienel from the Technical Univer-

sity Berlin, Prof. Dr. Martina-Maria Keitsch from the Norwegian University of Science

and Technology and Prof. Monika Fuchs from the University of Applied Sciences Ber-

lin, for valuable guidance and encouraging suggestions throughout the dissertation.

I heartily thank my husband, who gratefully motivated me throughout the writing and

who believed in me until the end. Thank you for your support and for lifting my mood

This study looks at the possibilities of different approaches to designing sus-

tainable fashion. Its focus is on business attire, arguing that clothes should

not be seen as one entity but looked at as differentiated from each other.

The thesis follows a social constructionist approach as an overarching

The thesis first defines what business attire is and the clothing ob-

jects and attributes that business attire consists of, gives an account of the

sustainability of business attire and finally offers a thorough discussion of a

sustainable design framework that builds on citizen participation.

In detail, chapter three suggests a hermeneutic approach to business

fashion within the work environment in order to understand the symbolic

value and varying styles of these clothes, and to argue for their importance

within the workplace. Using a grounded theory approach and conducting

a content analysis with a structural linguistic model of 102 fashion magazi-

nes, the author found seven different styles of dress. This chapter thus first

Chapter four provides qualitative case studies of a small sample within

knowledge work environments in order to understand the potential for sus-

tainability in clothes worn to work. The idea that business attire sits outside

rapidly changing trends in fashion presents an exemplary way of designing

for sustainability by emphasising value criteria such as material durability

and style longevity. The design of business clothes requires, among other

things, a systematic knowledge of wearing behaviour in order to understand

the symbolic values of wearables. A study comprising a series of interviews

with business clothing wearers about patterns of disposal, laundry habits

and emotional attachment to business dress is then presented. The findings

ceptual approach to sustainable fashion design, including ways and means

towards a sustainable, participatory approach with design practice in mind.

The framework is based on the idea that citizen participation has been tho-

roughly researched, and that many lessons learned from this can be trans-

ferred to fashion design. A sustainable fashion design framework requires

design for the purposes of sustainability by providing a pratical guide for

designers, as well as academics, for further scrutiny and evaluation.

Chapter six presents a framework for sustainable fashion design,

using Design Thinking and the Stanford d.school bootleg as an inspiration

for structure and communication of the framework. In contrast to former

work, it discusses sustainable design in great detail by offering a strategy as

well as methods on the actual design process itself. The framework is then

discussed in the wider context of participatory design, sustainable design,

as well as citizen participation, and design thinking. The chapter concludes

with how to use the framework in practice and how it can change fashion