Patagonia Worn Wear Experience

Designed a new digital experience of Worn Wear that enables consumers to better discover quality used Patagonia products and alleviate consumers' hesitations of shopping used items online.

Context: A five weeks experience design project
Project Type: Academic
Time: Winter 2021
Role: Project Management, Content Strategy, UX Research, UX Design
Tools: Figma, Google Surveys, Interviews, Journey Maps, Questionnaires, User Testings
Team: Garry Grewal, Amy Liao, Nathan Tanciangco, Andrew Tsui

Introduction

Worn Wear is a Patagonia program that sells used products online and in selected stores that benefit our environment by making the most used of old gears to help reduce the need on buying new products.

The program offers trade-in credit for used Patagonia items, provides self-repair and product care knowledge, and recycles damaged garments into materials.

However, it is hard for the customer to discover the Worn Wear program from the current website. They can either navigate to Worn Wear by scrolling down to the end of the site or through the navigation menu that accommodates an extensive catalogue of items.

Discover Worn Wear through navigation menu.

Research and Insights

We conducted two surveys through our primary and secondary research: the Patagonia Outdoor Brand survey and the Second-hand shopping survey, which were posted on Reddit, LinkedIn, and other social media and resulted in a total of 200 respondents (127 respondents answered the Patagonia survey and 73 respondents answered the Second-hand shopping survey).

Through the research, our team identified these 4 insights:

Consumers can not justify the high price point of certain Patagonia products. “...It caters to the white upper-middle-class that can afford to drop $100 on a sweater, or $500 on a wetsuit.” - The Outdoor Journal, 2020
Consumers are unaware that Patagonia has a program that offers pre-owned items at a lower price point. 77% of survey respondents from our Patagonia Outdoor Brand Survey said that quality is one of the most critical factors when shopping for their outdoor products.
Shoppers require more information when purchasing pre-owned items than buying new. 88% of survey respondents from Patagonia Outdoor Brand Survey who have heard about Patagonia, do not know about Patagonia’s Worn Wear program.
Quality is the most important factor for customers when purchasing outdoor products. “I would like to know how long the product was used, and if it's in good condition.” - Second-hand shopper, Age 18-24

Which helps us narrow down our design focus:

How might we create a trustworthy journey that results in confidence for customers to shop from Worn Wear?

Process

We designed a persona based on our insights, a person interested in Patagonia's environmental missions, willing to invest in quality sports apparel but does not want to go over the budget.

Proposal

In order to increase customers' confidence to purchase pre-owned items, we proposed a pre and post-purchase experience to surface the underutilized Worn Wear program.

Feature Breakdown

Combining Two Sites into One

Since customers are unaware of Worn Wear, surfacing the program on Patagonia's site can help reach out to more audiences. Customers can also compare the new products and Worn Wear products right away.

Customers can find Worn Wear through the home page or product detail page.

Being Transparent on Cleaning and Repairing Process

The product detail page shows the renewal process to help reduce customers' hygiene and quality concerns on pre-owned items. The repaired sections are highlighted; customers can hover on the areas to see the close-up details.

Hover on highlighted areas to see close-up details.

Inform customers about the sanitation process.

Show how the pre-owned item has been repaired.

Offering Repair Instructions and Trade-In

To help extend the product's life, customers can find related product knowledge on the product detail page. Another way to access repair instructions is through the customers' accounts, where customers can also submit their trade-in requests.

Customers can click on the videos to learn how to fix their products.

Customers can find the trade-in button under their purchase history.

Reflection

The experience intends to introduce this program to more consumers, offer quality Patagonia products with lower prices, and strengthen the trust in the brand and its environmental missions. I enjoy working on this project because it makes me understand that individuals' impact can lead to a significant change. Treasuring and reusing the apparel we already have can bring down the need to buy new items and reduce consumption during the manufacturing process.