Project Overview
True Threads is a brand that helps users make sustainable fashion choices through real-time product insights and ethical alternatives.
Problem
Consumers want to shop more sustainably, but fast fashion dominates due to convenience and lack of transparency. Most users don’t have clear, accessible information about a product’s environmental impact at the point of purchase.
True Threads was designed to meet people across three different moments: in the app while shopping, in print at an event or mall, and passively while scrolling Instagram.
Goal
Create a brand system that makes sustainable fashion feel achievable and not overwhelming, across digital, print, and social touchpoints.
Research & Insights
- Conducted 8 user interviews and secondary research on shopping behaviors
- Identified key pain points: lack of awareness, overwhelming information, and price sensitivity
- Users preferred quick, visual indicators over dense sustainability data
- Conducted 8 user interviews and secondary research on shopping behaviors
- Identified key pain points: lack of awareness, overwhelming information, and price sensitivity
- Users preferred quick, visual indicators over dense sustainability data
User Personas
Moodboard
Design Approach
Designed for behavior change over time, focusing on simplicity, transparency, and reducing friction rather than overwhelming users or promoting guilt.
The App
A mobile experience built around a 1–10 brand rating system using materials, labor practices, and environmental impact data. Key features: score cards for brands, a map of ethical stores nearby, a Find Dupes tool for sustainable alternatives, and a For You feed.
The design approach prioritized simplicity over comprehensiveness — quick visual scores over dense data, because research showed users preferred scannable indicators they could act on instantly.
The A/B testing focused on two critical moments: how brand scores were displayed (card format vs. inline), and how the rewards/points system was introduced. The version that led with "Thread Points" earned upfront — before asking users to change behavior — performed better in testing.
Information Architecture
Mid Fidelity
A/B Testing
High Fidelity
App Prototype
The Infographic
A 24×36 print-ready poster designed to educate people about fast fashion's environmental cost to water usage, biomagnification, carbon emissions, and textile waste in a format that could live in public or retail spaces.
The same brand system from the app carries through the infographic, so anyone who encounters it and then finds the app immediately recognizes the brand. The design goal was to make statistics feel digestible rather than paralyzing.
The Instagram Campaign
A 6 post grid series that extended the brand into social, promoting mindful shopping as a lifestyle choice rather than an environmental obligation. The tone was aspirational, not preachy but showing that shopping thoughtfully is better for the environment and can be fun.
The grid was designed to work cohesively as a feed, meaning each post holds up individually but the series reads as a unified visual statement when viewed together.
Instagram Video Walkthrough
Impact
True Threads supports gradual behavior change by removing friction at every touchpoint — whether a user is standing in a store, sitting in a classroom, or scrolling their feed. The system meets people where they are, rather than demanding they come find it.
