Design and Merchandising About the Project Developing Sustainable Consumption Mindset: The Clothing Connection

To examine the current laundry practices of CSU students in residence halls and to provide sustainable laundry tips that will allow students to help reduce their environmental impacts (e.g., energy and water consumption and use of toxic chemicals), save their time, and keep their garments longer.

In the Fall of 2020, 989 Colorado State University students residing in on-campus housing participated in a survey related to their current laundry behaviors and attitudes. Demographics of survey participants are listed below:

• Age_mean = 18.47
• Class Standing — first-year: 82.7%; second-year: 10.2%; third-year: 4.1%; fourth-year: 1.8%; Graduate Student: 0.2%
• Gender — Female: 69.6%; Male: 27.6%
• Race — Caucasian: 75.4%; Latino/Hispanic: 9.1%; Mixed Race: 6.3%; Asain: 3.7%; African American/Black: 2.7%; Native American/Alaskan Native; 0.9%; Other: 0.9%

• 58% said they decided how much detergent to use based on the amount of laundry, and 28% read the instructions to decide the correct dosage.
• Students typically did laundry when they had a full load (Mean = 6.04) and almost always cleaned the dryer lint screen (Mean = 6.38) on a 7 point Likert type scale (1=never, 7=always).
• Only 22% of participants chose laundry detergents based on environmentally friendly products/practices; 58% chose based on what their parents use; 32% selected based on price (*students allowed to select more than one option).
• 50% of participants washed a piece of clothing after wearing it once.
• 67% never sorted their laundry by fiber type; those who did sort their laundry, they hardly did that based on fiber type (Mean = 1.83)
• 42% of students falsely thought that filling the washing machine to capacity would not get clothes as clean; 45% (falsely) thought that filling the washing machine to capacity would cause water to overflow.

Project Funded by CSU Housing and Dining Services

Primary Researchers: Sonali Diddi, PhD. and Ruoh-Nan (Terry) Yan, PhD., Department of Design and Merchandising

Research Assistants: Michael J. Shaffer, Department of Art and Art History; Jessica R. Shaver, Department of Design and Merchandising

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