The Future of Sustainability and Circular Fashion in Contributing to the Improvement of Better Life Conditions in Communities. An Approach with Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

Currently, the evolution of design has shifted its focus from solely the user to the human being and, more recently, to communities, to address societal problems, to which design itself has contributed (Papanek, 1971; Manzini, 2015; Norman, 2023). This evolution stems from the emergence of new challenges, such as climate and environmental change, social inequalities, high consumption, and the loss of a sense of community. Similarly, fashion design should evolve towards sustainable, regenerative, and circular models, where social innovation, creative communities, co-design, and community circularity are present in design practice with the aid of AI (Fletcher & Tham, 2019; Manzini, 2022; Wiegand & Wynn, 2025; Cianfanelli, 2025). The objective of this research is to analyze the contribution of AI to a sustainable and circular fashion design that serves the living conditions of communities. As a methodology, a literature review was combined with an embedded case study of the integrated project be@t, with as primary sources the Sustainability Reports of T&C (2024 and 2025) and the European statistics on AI adoption in companies. It is concluded that the twin transition of the Portuguese T&C is asymmetrical, Ecodesign accelerates (11% to 19% between 2019 and 2024) while digitalization stagnates (21%), and that AI is primarily a contribution to efficiency, productivity, and resource management, with its energy and water costs remaining to be measured: a trade-off between the use of new technologies and the improvement of living conditions in communities conceptualizes and proposes to operationalize through double accounting.

Keywords: Eco Design practices, Eco Engineering, Sustainability, Artificial Intelligence, Circular Economy

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1008193