Going green: Making app delivers sustainable design

Portland, Oregon – Sustainability is one focus area for Nike’s in-house design development team, and now the sports brand is opening up its Materials Sustainability Index benchmarking tool in the form of its new Making app.

‘It’s the start of a conversation,’ Lee Holman, vice-president of global apparel design, tells LS:N Global. ‘It comes off the back of our collaboration with students at London College of Fashion and encourages new designers to think about the materials they use and the impact they have on the environment,’ says Holman.

The new app is an extension of Nike’s Materials Sustainability Index, developed by its researchers from a huge database of scientific research and analysis of product lifecycles.

Using the Making app, designers can sort through 22 product materials – from cotton and silk to leather and rayon-viscose. Each is analysed across four environmental impacts: water usage, energy use, chemistry and waste production. To further aid the design process, the app rates materials for performance and aesthetic needs.

The app is a Brandstanding statement that brings sustainable practice to the forefront for a new generation of designers, and is available in the iTunes store. For more, see our We Commerce report.