Internship at an online fashion store 3/3

 I am now starting my final week at my internship. The past few months have gone by incredibly fast, and it feels like the internship just started. At the same time, a lot has happened during this period, and I have had the opportunity to gain valuable insights.

Throughout my internship I have got the opportunity to participate in many parts of the business and got a better understanding of how e-commerce within fashion actually works. I have participated in buying meetings, photoshoots, livestream shopping sessions, and created content for their social media. It has given me insights into how different functions work together within an e-commerce company.

One of the most interesting things I have learned is how closely connected marketing, sales and inventory management actually are. Before starting my internship, I primarily viewed marketing as a way to create inspiration and build brand awareness in order to increase sales. During my time at the company, I have seen how marketing is also used strategically to influence sales, highlight specific products and brands, and manage the inventory when products do not sell as well or have a high inventory level.

The internship has also allowed me to apply my knowledge from my education in a real business setting. At the same time, it has given me a broader understanding of the daily decision making processes within the fashion industry and the balance between creativity, customer experience and business goals.

Consulting Field Study 3/3

 As I write this final blog post, I am happy to say that I am almost finished with my report. There are still a few references to double-check and, of course, several rounds of proofreading to fully process and reflect on everything I have accomplished. Looking back, I feel both content and proud of the work I have achieved and of my own development throughout the project. I believe my findings, analysis and conclusions answer the research question in a clear and well structured way.

One thing I have learned about my writing process is the importance of moving forward. As I mentioned in my second blog post, I felt stuck in the introduction chapter for quite some time, and my progress was moving slowly. Once I moved on to the discussion chapter, where I could begin analyzing and interpreting the findings, the writing became much easier and more enjoyable. The conclusion chapter was especially rewarding, as it became very clear what I wanted to communicate and what the study had ultimately contributed.

During this final week, my focus will mainly be on creating the poster and preparing for the final presentations. Yes, presentations in plural. I will present my work for Digital Business Lab, for Jenny, and finally travel to Värnamo to present the results to Värnamo of Sweden, the company involved in the field study.

I am also looking forward to spending less time in front of my computer. Despite exercising regularly, both my body and mind are asking for a break after many weeks of long hours, poor posture and constant thoughts about DPP. A big stretch and some distance from the topic feel well deserved.

Overall, I have truly enjoyed this journey. I have learned a great deal about both the subject itself and about how I work as a researcher. The project has strengthened my analytical and critical thinking, and it has shown me how much I enjoy exploring complex topics through research. Perhaps most importantly at the end, I have learned to be less critical of myself and my progress. Throughout the entire project, my curiosity has been my strongest driving force, and I hope to continue building on that in future research and professional opportunities.

Can small adjustments improve sustainability communication through corporate websites? 3/3

After two months, the consulting field study project has finally reached its final stage. I am grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with Värnamo of Sweden and the Business Lab to explore how sustainability communication can be improved through corporate website design.

To investigate whether small design adjustments could improve users’ speed of noticing and interacting with sustainability information, increase their exploration range, and enhance their perception of sustainability communication, I redesigned the website based on field observations, literature review, and VSME framework. One of the key design principles was placing the main navigation menu in a higher position rather than at the bottom of the page. Another important strategy was the repetition of sustainability-related content across different touchpoints. Finally, I conducted an experiment involving 22 participants using eye-tracking devices and questionnaires, and I analyzed how users perceived and interacted with the two website versions.

The findings showed that the version with higher navigation placement and repeated sustainability content performed better in several aspects, including notice speed, intuitive guidance, and viewing range. However, one construct related to user perception did not show a significant difference. This suggests that although improvements could be observed in user behavior, users’ subjective perceptions may still remain similar, highlighting the challenge of measuring and influencing user feelings and attitudes.

Overall, this experience not only deepened my understanding of website design and user behavior, but also provided valuable insights into sustainability communication. Although the journey was sometimes bittersweet, it inspired me to continue exploring sustainability strategies more deeply in the future!

Blog #3 Internship at the Swedish EPA

As my internship at the Swedish EPA continues, I’ve started to gain a clearer understanding of how sustainability work operates beyond theory and into practice. One thing that has stood out to me over the past weeks is how much environmental policy depends on collaboration, communication, and longterm planning.

Recently, I have been involved in work connected to upcoming EU regulations and internal coordination processes within the agency. It has been interesting to observe how different departments contribute with their own expertise to interpret legislation and discuss how new policies can be implemented in a practical way. Seeing these discussions firsthand has given me a broader perspective on how complex sustainability governance really is.

A large part of my current work has focused on mapping textile material recycling in Sweden and the Nordic region. This has involved identifying key actors, processes, and bottlenecks within the textile recycling value chain, as well as examining what is still missing to create more circular textile flows in the Nordics. Working on this project has given me valuable insight into both the environmental and structural challenges connected to textile sustainability, especially as new EU requirements continue to emerge.

Another part of my internship that I have enjoyed is participating in projects related to communication and stakeholder engagement. Organising webinars and interacting with participants has shown me how important knowledge sharing is within environmental work. Sustainability is not only about creating policies, but also about making information accessible and encouraging cooperation between different actors.

What I appreciate most about this internship is how it connects many of the topics I have studied at university with realworld challenges. Issues connected to circular economy, textiles, and resource efficiency are no longer just concepts from lectures, but something I now see being discussed and developed in practice every day.

This experience continues to strengthen my interest in sustainability policy and environmental governance, and I look forward to learning even more during the final part of my internship.

Blog 2/3 : Building bridges through ENGAGE

Hello

In this blog post, I want to talk about how the ENGAGE project has developed since my first blog post when much of our work at that time focused on understanding the purpose of the project and exploring how ENGAGE could build stronger connection between different stakeholders. Now, me and my teammate are going through interviews of different stakeholders to understand the view they have towards such project.

The most important part of this stage has been preparing for interviews of the primary stakeholders. My teammate and I have been working on pilot questions that can help us understand different perspectives of the stakeholders connected to ENGAGE. However, working on creating these questionaries for the interview and sitting with interviewees has made me realize that asking questions is not as simple as it first seems. A good question should not push people toward a specific answer. Rather it should create a safe space for honest reflection for both participants.

For me, one reflection I have had during this stage is that different stakeholders of the same category may see the same problem in different ways. As for now, I am taking the interviews of the students who are one of the primary stakeholders and I can see students from different region think about access to opportunities, confidence, and future employment differently. Thus, understanding these different perspectives is important before suggesting any possible suggestion for the ENGAGE project to hold on to. Because when I am thinking critically regarding the responses from the students from different regions, a lot of their responses seems similar in a lot of cases even though their perspective might differ in the broader scale.

This realization has been one of the most valuable learning points for me in this field study course. Because of this, I have beginning to understand how to create a connection between different stakeholders that matches the expectations, mitigate the communication gaps and establish the practical conditions that affect whether collaboration of such scale can be meaningful for both parties.

At this stage, the ENGAGE project feels going towards the right way than it did at the beginning. The direction we want to steer this project is becoming clearer, and the interview process will hopefully help us identify the possible patterns, needs, and areas for development based on the responses from the stakeholders. I am looking forward to finding out if the students and other stakeholders share similar views, or there are differences among the perspective of different stakeholders that need to be considered carefully.

In my next blog post, I am looking forward to reflect more on what we have learned from the interviews and how those insights may shape which direction this ENGAGE project lean towards in the future.

Communications and Commercial Intern 3/3

Communications and Commercial Intern: Post 3/3

Irene Rumiz

Hi!

This is my last blog post, and I can’t believe this incredible experience is coming to an end. I will always be grateful for the opportunity that The Loop Factory gave me to be part of its amazing team and experience working life in Sweden.

During these last weeks, I had the chance to work on a project that truly interested me, focused directly on marketing and communications. It had been a long time since I last worked in this field, as my previous experiences were more centered around management and leading projects (a little boring, honestly). So being able to work again in an area I genuinely enjoy feels amazing. However, the best part is not only that I got to work in a field I like, but that this assignment was created especially for me, based on my interests within the company.

As I mentioned in my previous entry, after I finished my original assignments at light speed, I was asked what I would like to focus on next. The marketing and sales team trusted me with a very important project, convinced that I would deliver accordingly. Feeling valued and considered important by a company that barely knew me, thousands of kilometers away from home, is something that fills my heart with pride and joy.

Working at The Loop Factory has been one of the best experiences of my life, not only because I was given the trust and opportunity to showcase my abilities in a foreign work environment, but also because of everything I learned here. I learned that Swedes have discovered the secret to work-life balance: fika breaks, such a small thing yet so necessary. I learned that we are all the same, no matter if you are the CEO or the intern (me haha), everyone has a place at the lunch table (and if it’s sunny, that lunch will definitely be outdoors). I also learned that this is how work should feel: everyone does their part, but there is no need to work under constant pressure (as if we were in a war zone all day just to function, which is what I was used to). Stability is key.

Regarding the train, it wasn’t traumatic at all. Commuting was a completely new experience for me, and honestly, I enjoyed it. I’m going to miss those train rides and the views from Borås to Varberg, they became an important part of my daily life.

I truly loved this experience: learning from each of my colleagues, being introduced to a whole new world; on one hand, the Swedish working environment, and on the other, the sustainability field. Ever since I started my master’s degree, sustainability has been an area that deeply interested me, and now, after this experience, I can confidently say that I want to keep learning and dig deeper into the possibilities of giving waste, especially textile fibre waste, a whole new life by extending its lifecycle.

Thank you, The Loop Factory, for having me, for believing in me more than I believed in myself, and for giving me a life-changing opportunity. I hope we keep in touch and, who knows, maybe work together again in the future. Thank you for being such an important part of my life in Sweden.

And thank you as well to everyone who read and followed my experience.
Thank you for your time.

Irene

Blog #3: High Precision, High Hurdles - Lessons from my virtual fitting room build

In this final post I reflect on the journey of my virtual fitting room project. Despite the considerable challenges encountered during the full application development, mainly due to the complexity of the real-time cloth physics, the research successfully validated a powerful conceptual open source pipeline.

The Gold Standard for Accuracy A key part of this project has been to demonstrate that a smartphone-based system can meet industry standards. My research shows that by using body proportions and machine learning, an average accuracy of 95.59% can be reached for critical dimensions such as waist, hip and thigh. The secret to the trillion-dollar problem of online returns is keeping errors within a margin of more or less than 2 centimeters.

The greatest challenge is in the technical realities of moving from a static 3D model to a dynamic “digital twin." The enhanced PBD framework is theoretically efficient enough to run in real-time on normal devices, but implementing the complex overlays and wrinkles of fabric in the open-source Godot Engine was a major technical bottleneck within the available time.

What’s Next? The application may not be fully "live," but I have defined a validated roadmap. The pipeline is ready for the next phase, which uses AI like Pix2Pix to help the system “see through” loose clothing and estimate body shape. The pipeline uses MakeHuman for anatomical realism and Mixamo for rigging.

This project shows that the fashion fit crisis has a promising open-source solution – it just needs a little more time in the fitting room of technical development.

Blog #2 : Individual Field Study 2026 - Influence of secondhand fashion on sustainable consumption in the Asian subcontinent: Exploring consumer and retailer perspectives

In my previous blog post, I shared a brief idea on secondhand fashion and my selected topic. In first draft, I worked on the introduction and methodology part, but to move further, the literature review needed more relevant articles. For which I created another search string to support the literature and move forward. 

Using the new search string on Web of Science, I found 15 more articles after continuous screening, which made the total number of articles 40, including the previous 25 articles for the review. Using these peer-reviewed articles, I am now currently working on answering the research question, which I have categorized into three themes: Theme 1: Consumer Perception, Motivation, and Barriers; Theme 2: Environment vs. Actual Behavior; and Theme 3: Platforms and Generation Z. Apart from these themes, I am also trying to cover the issues and challenges experienced by the retailer, which entail business and operational issues, supply challenges, trust and quality control, consumer awareness, and infrastructural limitations faced by the retailers. While working with the literature, the findings reveal that consumer perception is almost similar across the Asian subcontinent and taken as a low-class practice. 

Moreover, it is also influenced by some factors such as hygiene, product quality, and social stigma. In growing markets, these perceptions become stronger due to the cultural attitudes of that region. The findings also included that there is an attitude & behavioral gap among the consumers towards sustainable fashion, which means that consumers may express positive attitudes toward sustainability but do not translate these into actual purchasing behavior. However, it is seen that pricing of the product plays a vital role in purchasing secondhand products. The young consumers take into account the environmental side, whereas for the older consumers, it is found that price wins every time. And from the point of view of retailers, consistent supply challenges of product due to inconsistent size, styles, and quantities are creating barriers to growing the market. Transparency, quality control, and authenticity is also key factors in this case. So far, these insights are helping me in doing the literature review, and I am at the verge of writing my final report. Looking forward for a better outcome. 

From green claims to factory floors

 Hi,

This is my first blog, and I want to share what i have learned from studying about sustainability in the fashion industry. While going through different research articles, i started to notice something interesting and also a bit surprising.There is no doubt that sustainability has become a central topic in the textile and fashion industry. labels such as eco friendly, made from recycled materials have become more powerful marketing tools. But behind this polished messages lies a more complicated reality.

The  factories operate under very different conditions than brands. Many garment factories are located in developing countries where they face tight profit margins, short term and unstable contracts, high production pressure and limited access to advanced technologies. As a result, sustainability practices are sometimes implemented only partially. For example, a factory might meet the formal requirements of a certification or audit but fail to fully integrate sustainable practices into everyday operations. This situation can lead what is often described as symbolic compliance where the appearance of sustainability is achieved without real transformation.

For real sustainability i think brands and factories need to work together more  fairly. This means paying factories fair prices, building long term relationships, providing support and investment and being honest about real progress.From my reading and learning , i understood that sustainable fashion is not completely false but it is also not fully real yet. There is still a gap between what brands promise and what actually happens in factories.

Purchasing intern Gina Tricot - 2/3

 Hi all :) 

Since my last blogpost, I have completed my time with the heavyknitting team. I really enjoyed my time with them, since they made me feel very welcomed and embraced. I always got to share my opinions and thoughts during sample meetings and was able to look into some trendresearch to show the designer and headdesigner, truly making me feel like a part of the team. I also learned a lot more about their sustainability efforts regarding knitted garments, and that it is very different from the jersey team as they work more with animal fibers. I had very insightful conversations with the knitted team, and it was also very clear that they put a lot of effort and thoughts into these products, since they are a smaller team than the jersey department. I also felt here that they all worked close together (designer, purchasing assistant, purchaser, pattern maker) which made my weeks with them more insightful as I got to see all of the different work aspects. The purchasing assistant I followed these 3 weeks also takes care of the swimwear account. So I go to attend every meeting with her and the designer where we discussed colours, patterns, materials, etc. I enjoyed being able to assist the early meetings of discussion trends, and I'm eager to see what they will come up with next year, knowing that I was apart of the trendresearch! 

Overall, I am super content with my time with the heavyknitting team. Last week i was supposed to start my time with the heavywoven team, but because of some circumstances, I got to be with the lightwoven team for a few days (which makes dresses, blouses, shirts, etc). I actually enjoy being with different departments, since they all work somewhat differently, and I think that it is healthy to see different aspects and how different teams operate and what they focus on, which is also good for my own understanding and interest. From this week on I will be with heavywoven, and here it's also different on how much they do and what they focus on since their primary products are jackets! Tomorrow we will have a in-person meeting with their suppliers from China, which I think will be super interesting to attend and maybe ask they some questions on how they work together with GT. 

That's all for me now, thx for reading!

Zoë