Our Solution

The optimal solution to the problem of overconsumption by teenage girls lies in our educational game app, Wardrobe Witch, where a player's progress is determined by their shopping habits. We aim to achieve the following learning objectives through usage of our app:

Learning Objectives

Purchase a small number of high quality items instead of a large number of low quality items.
Shop at sustainable and ethical brands instead of fast fashion brands.
Only purchase what you need and will actually wear instead of shopping based on whims and short-lived trends.
Dispose of clothes properly through methods such as recycling, upcycling and donations.

How it works

When signing up for the game, players must enter data about their existing wardrobe and connect their i-banking/e-wallet applications.

Every time the player makes a purchase, the game will take note of these transactions and update the player's account accordingly.

The player's spending habits directly affect their points:

If they make a responsible purchase (e.g. buying a jacket from a sustainable brand), they will receive points.
If they make an irresponsible purchase (e.g. buying pairs of jeans from a fast fashion brand), they will receive demerits.
Additionally, points can be earned through special events and proper disposal of existing clothing items.

Points are accumulated in order level up and unlock special rewards. Meanwhile, accumulating demerits results in a temporary freeze on certain actions in the game, thereby encouraging users to refrain from making unsustainable purchases that accrue demerits.

Gameplay

Customisable Witchy Avatars

Players will be able to create and customise an avatar to represent them in mini-games and special events, while points can be used to unlock clothes, hair accessories, backgrounds, pets etc. for players to customise their avatar.

Demerits will temporarily lock the avatar customisation feature, preventing users from being able to make custom changes to their avatar.

Educational Mini-games

Players can play 2 types of mini-games:

Mini-games that bring awareness to certain issues and highlight the importance of adopting responsible consumption habits

Topsy Turvy Thrift Flip is designed to highlight the importance of making upstream efforts (buying only what you need) rather than downstream efforts (donating clothes rather than throwing them away). In the game, players will have to sort out clothing items donated to a thrift shop. As players group and clear the clothes, more and more clothes will appear on screen. In order to win, they will have to clear the levels within a time limit and without letting their clothes pile up too much.

Mini-games that teach players skills that will addressing their reckless shopping habits

Snip and Sew is designed to encourage upcycling of clothing items rather than disposal. In the game, players will run a business that upcycles discarded clothing into new clothing pieces. They will have to deconstruct, cut out patterns and sew clothes.

The games under each of these categories will be updated seasonally.

Desirability

In Singapore, mobile games are now taking up two-thirds of the market and among them, 72% are members of Gen Z (Ko D, 2020). Furthermore, 68% of female gamers in the ASEAN region play mobile games (Ko D, 2020). The overall strength of the gaming industry in the region and the growing popularity of mobile gaming amongst females and Gen Z make it ideal for our gaming solution to launch.

Additionally, there has been growing interest in cute, childish characters by Gen Z (YPULSE, 2022). Especially with the growing popularity of these characters from Japan and South Korea, such as Sanrio characters, LINE Friends and Kakao Friends, having attractive app art and the option to create custom avatars will appeal to this segment of consumers.

Feasibility

The first step would be engaging i-banking and e-wallet service providers to partner with us. The upper hand is that such businesses in Singapore are already interested in our goals related to sustainable and responsible consumption. For example, Singapore DBS Bank's "Live More, Trash Less" campaign showed that 7 out of 10 Singaporeans buy new clothes at least once every six months (DBS, 2019). DBS therefore created an augmented reality game 'Fashion Slowdown' to show people that everyone can contribute to a more sustainable future, even if it is just by buying less (DBS, 2019). A 'Conscious Fashion' survey was also conducted to gauge consumer attitudes towards sustainable fashion (DBS, 2019). Meanwhile, GrabPay has been working with Money Smart to educate consumers on whether they should 'buy now, pay later', in order to prevent overspending and encourage responsible spending habits.

Furthermore, it is also important to maintain audience engagement. We plan to achieve this through running seasonal/special events, incentives such as sign-up bonuses, continually updating visuals/art of play, engaging larger sustainable businesses (e.g. Patagonia, Adidas), and other features. In addition, we will regularly generate TikTok and Instagram content to engage the target audience to change their attitudes towards sustainable fashion. Data shows that more than half of Gen Z shoppers in Singapore say they consciously support businesses that give back to the community when they shop online (Amazon, 2021).

Finally, ensuring that our game continues to grow and develop over time is an important long-term goal for us. We plan to do so by eventually expanding in three key aspects:

Other areas of sustainable consumption

Currently we are only focusing on clothing and apparel but we plan to expand into other areas such as technology and furniture and homeware.

Other demographics

While Wardrobe Witch was designed with young teenage girls in mind, we believe that it can be enjoyed by everyone regardless of age and gender! We hope to introduce more features that appeal to other demographics, as well as engage in marketing efforts to reach out to these other groups.

Other locations

Singapore is our starting point and we will look towards expanding within the Indo-Pacific region to include Indonesia, India, and Australia.

References:

About Amazon Staff. (2021). New study shows shoppers in Singapore are keen to support local businesses. About Amazon Singapore. https://www.aboutamazon.sg/news/company-news/new-study-shows-shoppers-in-singapore-are-keen-to-support-local-businesses

DBS. (2019). Singaporeans open to sustainable fashion but won’t pay more: DBS survey. DBS. https://www.dbs.com/newsroom/Singaporeans_open_to_sustainable_fashion_but_wont_pay_more__DBS_survey

Ko, D. (2020). Full send: How is Gen Z changing the future of gaming and esports?. Think with Google. https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-apac/consumer-insights/consumer-trends/full-send-how-gen-z-changing-future-gaming-and-esports/

YPulse. (2022). How brands are using anime to reach gen z & millennials. YPulse. https://www.ypulse.com/article/2022/02/22/how-brands-are-using-anime-to-reach-gen-z-millennials/

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