Tao Xiao 肖润韬 Runtao Xiao
Strategic Designer, Multimedia Artist, Interdisciplinary Researcher
Contact: runtaoxiao@gmail.com
EDUCATION
2024–2026 (Expected)
Master of Science in Sustainability Management
Columbia Climate School-Columbia University, New York City, NY, United States of America
2020–2024
Bachelor of Business Administration with Honors in Strategic Design & Management; Minor in Fashion Communication
Parsons School of Design-The New School, New York City, NY, United States of America
AWARDS
2020-2024 Merit Scholarship Award, Dean’s List, Parsons School of Design
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Systemic marginalization of fashion in academia; cultural discourse and consumer behavior in secondhand markets; aesthetic hegemony and institutional power in sustainable fashion; fashion as a site of climate governance.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
2025–Present “From Survival to Overconsumption: How Secondhand Fashion May Evolve into the Next Fast Fashion”
Qualitative research on secondhand platform hegemony, functional transformation, and green consumer identity.
2024 “Impact of California’s SB 253 & SB 261 on ESG Reporting in the Automotive Industry”
Group-led case study on ESG regulatory evolution, climate disclosure frameworks, and narrative shifts.
2024 “Sustainability & Innovation Performance Index (SIPI)”
Composite index development across 38 OECD countries assessing environmental and innovation capacity.
Focus: Policy benchmarking, index modeling, sensitivity analysis
2024 “Evaluating China’s Guidelines for Sustainable Development – Implications for the Fashion Industry”
Critical analysis of China’s ESG policy structure and its application in fashion governance and brand responses.
2023 “Sustainable Fashion Carbon and Social Credit Integration System for China Payment Platform”
A carbon-tracking system embedded in mobile payment platforms to incentivize eco-behavior.
2023 “Communication Between Brand and Customer for Sustainable Fashion Future”
Brand–consumer dialogue framework, community engagement models, and participatory education tools.
2023 “Fast Fashion Action in Secondhand Market: The Sustainable Future or the Next Fast Fashion”
Exploration of secondhand fashion’s replication of fast fashion production and behavioral cycles.
2022 “A Cultural Revolution of Mask”
Cross-disciplinary investigation into mask culture as both protection and performance in historical and fashion contexts.
ARTISTIC PRACTICE
2021–Present “Tao’s Choice Ltd.”
Ongoing conceptual brand-based platform using speculative campaigns, fictional products, and installation to critique consumer logic and sustainability narratives.
2024 “The Answer of Fashion”
Immersive multimedia installation reflecting on the failure of sustainability in fashion education through participatory structure, object deconstruction, and institutional critique.
2021 “Tritiated Life”
A speculative installation and visual deisgn reflecting on the blurred boundaries between technological contamination, bodily vulnerability, and material decay. Drawing from the case of tritium wastewater discharge, the work interrogates how invisible toxicity parallels the normalization of fashion’s long-term environmental harms.
2021 “Tao’s Choice Ltd. 2021 Global Campaign”
A fictional global campaign staged under the persona of a corporate entity, critiquing brand authoritarianism, digital obedience, and performative sustainability. The project employs visual language from global fashion campaigns to parody systems of surveillance capitalism, crisis marketing, and blind consumerism. By constructing a hyper-controlled narrative of “choice,” the work questions the illusion of agency in corporate-driven sustainability and identity politics.
2020 “The 2020”
A photographic and spatial narrative reflecting the psychological and emotional dissonance of life during the COVID-19 pandemic. The project juxtaposes the artist’s lived experience with staged scenes of dolls, drawing inspiration from Bernard Faucon’s symbolic use of mannequins. Using props such as gloves, masks, and injectors, the work contrasts internal isolation with imagined joy, exploring themes of repetition, containment, and longing during quarantine.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2023 Brand Research & Strategy Intern – HUGO BOSS (Virtual)
Consumer insight reporting, Gen Z market alignment strategy, product-category ESG evaluation.
2023 Marketing & PR Intern – 5TO9 WINE, New York
Campaign direction, influencer strategy, and consumer demographic repositioning.
2021 Product Operation Intern – Sohu New Media, Shenzhen
Cultural trend research and UX data personalization.
2021 New Retail Operation – Albatross InfoTech, Shenzhen
O2O systems management, store development, market segmentation, and visual marketing.
