227. What Waste Free Product Design Actually Looks Like with Ruffwear

In 2024, the world generated an estimated 120 million metric tons of textile waste.

That's the equivalent of every person on Earth throwing away about 33 pounds of clothing and other textiles in a single year.

If it’s easier to picture, 33 pounds- that's equivalent to roughly 30 to 50 pieces of clothing per person in a single year.

And the vast majority of those textiles will never become new textiles. Most ultimately end up in landfills or are incinerated.

But, like I just did a few moments ago, we often talk about textile waste through the lens of fashion. Strictly the clothes we wear every day.

The problem is that this textile problem extends far beyond our closets. It includes textiles used in furniture, carpets, cars, footwear—and yes, that includes outdoor gear and even our pet products like our dog’s harness.

It's easy to hear this and think the solution is simply to buy less.

And while our purchasing decisions do matter, the bigger issue is one of design and production. If products are built to fail, impossible to repair, or quickly replaced by new versions, waste is baked into the system from the start.

So what happens when a company takes the opposite approach?

What if, when designing a product, it isn't just about selling more of it, but about keeping it in use for years?

In episode 227 of the Outdoor Minimalist podcast, I sat down with Monica Broder, Product Design Manager, and Pete Kearns, Head of Product at Ruffwear. The brand we know and love for designing equipment to help us and our dogs explore the outdoors together.

Together, we discuss how they designed their Front Range Flex Harness for performance, to reduce manufacturing waste, and to extend its post-consumer life.

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Ruffwear

Website: https://ruffwear.com/products/front-range-flex-harness

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruffwear/

Episode Sources:

https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/publications/management-of-used-and-waste-textiles-in-europes-circular-economy

https://www.unep.org/technical-highlight/sustainable-fashion-take-centre-stage-zero-waste-day