Design for durability, or as it is sometimes called, is gaining traction is the world of industrial design, slowly but surely. It is a noble sustainable design strategy and it always makes me think of the lyrics to Buck 65’s song Craftsmenship.
It ain’t about the dollar or trying to go fast
Unless you take pride in what you’re doing, it won’t last
Craftsmanship is a quality that some lack
You got to give people a reason for them to come backThe world’s a different place than what I was introduced to
They don’t wear shineable shoes like they used to
Casual clothes in the office, what is this
The villain in sneakers is killing my business.
There have been a few products / projects that have come across my radar recently which fall into this arena though at different access points – Yves Behar’s Aesir cellphone ($8500), (concept) and recently my good friend purchased a new pair of beautiful 1000 mile Wolverine boots ($400).
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- ‘Steam Iron’ is part of a conceptual product range called ‘Repair-Ware’ which comprises of a series of domestic products redesigned with the affordance of repair.
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- 125 year-old American bootmaker Wolverine is re-releasing its classic 1,000 Mile Boot for Fall 2009; first produced in the early 1900s, it was reputed to give owners 1k miles of wear.
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- America’s reigning industrial-design star Yves Béhar has unveiled a sleek new cell phone, which does something unheard of in the electronics industry today: It’s designed to last.
Almost always buying the product that was built to last will be an upfront investment, requiring long term thinking over instant gratification. This is not always easy. In fact it’s almost never easy! But as we see in The SHIFT Report research, products that are designed to last rank highest among product design characteristics. Of the 60% of North Americans who say product design and lifecycle is an important sustainability sign post, 82% rank durability as important over material characteristics (toxin free, plastic free, compostable, etc.). North Americans want their material possessions to last. This is a huge insight and opportunity for industrial designers, producers and investors.
To learn more about which signposts consumers look to in determining whether a product or service is socially responsible, consider investing in our special innovation report “Defining and Telling Your Brand’s Sustainability Story“. We like to think of it as both incredibly timely and durable research.
