Embracing products: prolonging lifetime through product care activities by repair enthusiasts

People tend to give more attention to the products they feel attached to and exhibit preservative behaviours to keep them for a longer time (Mugge et al., 2008). Maintenance and repair, named as product care behaviours by Ackermann (2018), are examples of the user’s preservation method that strengthens the user-product relationship and eventually leads to a longer usage period. That is why these activities require a closer look of the researchers in the design for sustainability area, since the pile of prematurely thrown away products is getting bigger every day while resources are constantly depleting. Therefore, in this paper, findings from and insights into a graduate research will be presented, focusing on the implications of product care activities for strengthening the emotional attachment (Hernandez et al., 2020) between people and objects, and empowering people in possible ways in the process of enabling product longevity. To do so, first, the motivations behind product care activities and what is worthy for individuals to preserve are examined through semi-structured interviews conducted with repair enthusiasts that are also the members of repair-related initiatives. Afterwards, the techniques and skills involved in the process of maintenance and repair are explored. Key findings from the graduate research are as follows: the more people are engaged with product care activities, the more the transition of people’s role from passive consumers to active users is eased. The change in user attitudes towards their product strengthens their emotional attachment and eventually serves for product longevity. While the user-product relationship is evolving, formerly obscure objects are transformed to be more open and transparent for their users. Lastly, repair-related initiatives are significant actors in encouraging and helping people to conduct product care behaviours