Thread Count

Our project explores the impact of globalization on fast fashion through an interactive simulation built in p5.js. We were motivated by our interest in fast fashion and the rapid acceleration of production cycles, and we wanted to create an experience that allows users to actively participate and feel the consequences of overproduction. We believe that fast fashion is often discussed in abstract terms, so we aimed to make its scale more immediate and tangible through interaction. Our central design question was: how can interaction and simulation help users understand the relationship between individual actions and large scale global production systems? To explore this, we designed a simple click-based interface where each user interaction increases the rate of garment production on screen. It starts off slow and manageable, but it quickly escalates into visual overload as garments multiply, similar to the exponential growth of the global fashion industry. We also incorporated features like country switching and production upgrades to further represent outsourcing and differences in manufacturing scale across countries. Through our prototype, we learned that a simple interaction can still produce complex and meaningful outcomes. Our core mechanic worked as expected, but the collaborative coding process created unexpected challenges. For example, we were unable to work on the same file at the same time so we had to coordinate and take turns editing the code. Managing variables across multiple files also required more structure than anticipated, pushing us to think more intentionally about system logic and organization. Ultimately, the project shifted from a data heavy visualization to more of a simulation experience. Our key takeaway is that immersive and interactive systems can make complex global issues more accessible, engaging, and impactful for users.