IPV6 - Manifesto of a Blanked Generation

Project

267831

Status

Submitted

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NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS RISING STARS : concepts or ideas submitted by young talents (aged 30 or less)

Project title

IPV6 - Manifesto of a Blanked Generation

Full concept/idea title

Description

ipv6.net is a digital platform for young activists to become aware about what is going on in society. It encourages blanked generations to speak out and make their voice heard through the digital co-creation of virtual fashion collections, addressing the four pillars of sustainability: environmental, human, social and economic. It avoids fashion overproduction and overconsumption and it allows free interaction in a safe digital space which offers social inclusivity and equitable reach of info.

Where is your concept/idea being developed or intended to be implemented in the EU?

Please provide a summary of your concept/ idea

The Covid-19 pandemic has proven the increasing need for community bonds and more sustainable lifestyles. Together with rising distrust in government and institutions, people feel the need to stay together and make their voices heard. Ipv6.net was born in order to address these global issues and to contribute to a more sustainable, attractive and inclusive lifestyle for its users. It is an open-source virtual platform of free information and discussion, where digital activism, co-design and fashion are the means of communication and self-expression in a distinctive aesthetic. The idea aims to tackle the four pillars of sustainability. Avoiding fashion overproduction and overconsumption, promoting social sustainability and inclusivity on all levels, democratizing information and being entirely digital; it is in fact respectively environmentally, socially, culturally and economically sustainable. With activism, design and fashion as vehicles of information, on ipv6.net, serious issues are addressed in a more creative, poetic and well-moderated way. Its mission is to help people to become aware about what is going on in society and to encourage blanked generations to speak out and make their voice heard. On the platform, individuals will find a safe place to be part of a community where they could share their thoughts and ideas through discussions and design. Providing an unique user experience, the project competes in the growing service/experience design market, as does for example Carlings.com, but instead ipv6.net uses fashion co-design and creative data manipulation as means of expression, with the purpose of building communities and free interaction on a safe digital space. Consumers, in fact, will use fashion and aesthetic as a means of expression, being able to virtually customize blank canvas garments, by adding manifesto visual prints and written statements representing different themes, in order to make their voices heard in a totally sustainable way.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of sustainability and how these would be met

The project is designed to be sustainable on all four pillars: environmental, social, human and economic and is built on a circular model. Moreover, it goes hand with the following Sustainable Development Goals: 5. Gender equality and 10. Reduced inequalities: by promoting a genderless inclusive concept as well as equitable reach of information. 12. Responsible consumption and production: by providing digital garments only and fighting fashion overproduction and overconsumption. 13. Climate action: by providing a virtual platform for online activism, by sharing knowledge and free information about the current issues. 17. Partnerships for the goals: by working with brands and organisations to promote goodwill actions. By presenting topics via visual manifestos and letting people co-create virtual fashion designs as well as sharing their outputs on social media, awareness and knowledge about sustainability, environment and society issues could be raised to a wider public in a more consistent way. Besides, it is created a sense of emotional connection between user and product. In addition, by educating about the circularity of textiles such as their lifecycle, production and recycling process as well as their impact on the environment, together with introducing innovative sustainable materials on the platform, will be promoted responsible consumption and raised awareness about circularity in textile. No physical products are sold, but it is offered an alternative to garments for people to express themselves. In this way, not only does it generate much less to zero waste compared to the traditional fashion business but also inspires users to consume fashion in a different and more responsible and inclusive way. Last but not least, partnerships with external brands and companies will be carefully considered. Brands or companies who are active in circular textile, clean energy, climate action, gender equality and inclusivity scopes are interesting for ipv6 to work with.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience beyond functionality and how these would be met

In order to define the identity of the project, different cultures were analyzed: open-source and bottom-up appeared to be the main focuses for the target generation which was born digital but that can already feel nostalgic for the early digital aesthetic. Particularly, this kind of influence refers to a very clean yet brutal style, as can be seen in the project's video. Generally speaking, it can be described as whatever one can easily do with CSS to go back to this idea of people intervening freely on the platform in a bottom up process that goes from a multitude of voices to a well defined tool of amplification. To do so it was needed to keep the whole identity very simple and affordable, B/W, with a specific effort on typography. Boldness: the entire concept of the project focuses on giving the right tool to express oneself to a generation that has always been considered too young to take a side in this kind of debate. But researching and doing some interviews it is found that the Z generation are extremely interested in current affairs and international debate, on one side because they are used to be constantly informed through the internet on the latest news and on the other side because they grew up in a much more globalized world and they feel much closer to citizens of the world that of citizens of their own countries. This generation is only starting to use its powerful voice, this is why ipv6.net identity had to be extremely vocal: strong visuals and powerful captions, to amplify as many voices as possible. Here the whole aesthetic of the project. One challenge faced during the development of the project was to understand how to include the digital garments and the avatar construction, avoiding them to look not realistic or grotesque. To avoid this kind of feeling the avatars and their poses were designed to be as artificial and somehow dystopian as possible and therefore the “open-source” aesthetic really came in hand to counterbalance it.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of inclusion and how these would be been met

In the ipv6.net project, the inclusion topic begins with the social sustainability and inclusivity of silenced generations as well as equitable reach of information. Therefore, the aim is for the platform to reach all generations, but in the first stage it is seen the Z generation as the main target. As already briefly introduced, the Z generation is not yet considered in the international debate because too young and somehow sometimes too idealistic. Well, that needs to change. The Z generation has been crushing many tabs but at the same time has felt excluded and isolated because of its perspective. It is time to give this generation a platform to exchange ideas and information, while at the same time making it a safe place for either younger or older people to join and tap into this shared knowledge. Moreover ‘inclusivity’ is also a very important piece of the themes that users are encouraged to discuss on the platform. For instance, one of the topic/manifesto launched is about the Refugees camp Moria. In this case of course a lot of questions are raised: is it right to talk about inclusion without the people to include? In a perspective of millions and millions of climate migrants in the next few years, what are the limits if there’s any? The answers to all these questions are openly left to the users. Lastly, in this project, inclusivity is tackled with the design of the avatar and the virtual garments themselves. No gender, no size, no race, not any kind of choice is made to showcase both the avatars and the garments. The user feels free to pick genderless garments and personalize them on a virtual body that only embodies statements, opinions and concepts, not any other toxic discrimination that too often is seen in the fashion industry.

Please explain the innovative character of your concept/ idea

The business concept is a combination of design and activism that takes on serious issues in a more creative, poetic and well-moderated way with minimum impact on the environment. Moreover, by utilizing the 3D virtual design in fashion, modeled with the CLO3D fashion design software, and the capability of young talented artists, ipv6.net offers users a well-built, open-source platform with two main focuses: information sharing and co-creating of digital garments, through strong aesthetics and visual manifestos as well as written powerful statements. Fashion comes in place as an excellent and beautiful means to express oneself. By offering digital clothing, people are encouraged to express themselves without sacrificing other resources. The purpose is to guarantee a safe space where people can acquire knowledge and express themselves freely without being judged. In this virtual world, the raincoat for example, inspired by the Greta Thunberg one, which is usually used during protests as a protection from the surrounding environment, becomes a safe space to express oneself through colours, materials, prints and texts. In this way the sense of freedom, safety, inclusivity and community grows through the promotion of digital activism.

Please detail the plans you have for the further development, promotion and/or implementation of your concept/idea, with a particular attention to the initiatives to be taken before May 2022

The further development of the concept is settled on three levels running parallel (here the reference). The project schedule is visually shown through the Gantt chart accessible here. First level: Dissemination, consisting of two main actions: Jun. - Nov. 2021: full implementation and development of the ipv6.net platform by the ipv6 team. Nov. 2021: first beta testing. The outputs of virtually co-designed fashion garments will be shared in a showcase organized by ipv6 team on the platform. Audience will be invited to download high quality images of the designed garments to share on social media. The reactions will be analyzed for improvement of the platform and co-design process. Second level: Communication Jun. - Nov. 2021: social media ads and communication on home page will be run to build awareness and slowly reach a wider audience, starting from Gen-Z to older generations. From Nov. 2021, after the full implementation of the platform: weekly digital events, in which new topics and manifestos as well as new designs will be launched to solidify the user trust and make the user experience more powerful. From Jan. 2022: newsletters to share about platform updates and knowledge about advancements in terms of inclusivity, sustainability and fashion-tech . From Mar. 2022: partnership with other brands, with the aim to address purposes of inclusivity and sustainability in a more consistent way and to reach a wider audience. Third level: Exploitation Nov. 2021 to May 2022: beta testing. The first trial will be delivered to Gen-Z only, starting from 50 users in order to collect relevant feedback and data, running from Nov. to Dec. 2021. After the better implementation of the platform by Dec. 2021, more beta tests will be delivered to a wider audience of 100 people from Jan. 2022 and successively to a broader audience and target of 1000 by May 2022, thanks to the sharing of the outputs on social media and the partnerships with other brands.

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that the proposed concept/idea has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Rising Stars Awards more than once in the same category.