Methodology of Product Sustainable Redesign. Case Study: Furniture of a Clothing Retail Store

Abstract

Companies awareness of the impact generated by its products increases and motivates them to develop initiatives to improve their sustainability. In this work, a methodology consisting of three main phases: sustainability assessment, redesign process and comparison of designs, is proposed to obtain more sustainable product designs. Methodology is based on the Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) approach, which is applied to simultaneously evaluate environmental, economic and social aspects. In the case study the sustainability improvement of the furniture of a clothing retail store is addressed. A set of indicators are considered to evaluate the sustainability performance of both initial design and redesign. The study concludes that the application of different sustainability strategies allows a significant enhancement of the environmental and economic indicators.