Refashioner & Resale
Refashioner was an early clothes redistribution site....
In 2009, I had the idea for a curated digital clothes swap, with stories. Refashioner v.1.0 launched the following year >
Here's the home page >
And the general vibe (illustrations by the great Peter Arkle) >
Refashioner v.2.0. added buying and selling to the swap. Still all organized in personal closets >
Thousands of members stalked each other. That's what we called it when they linked closets >
Gorgeous things flowed through (with their stories of course) >
And occasional insanity >
We had a Manifesto (it still stands) >
But, frankly, we had developer issues >
And in 2014 I walked away from the whole thing. Of course, we were early, but by then we were far from alone. What drove this digital feeding frenzy in your closet was cash* >
Refashioner 2013
* The chart is from 2020. It grew faster than that. Also, online resale is not financially robust
What drove me was a dream of a giant shared closet. I think fashion is personal and should be traded that way.
Business of Fashion 2022
Resale at scale is both good and bad: the churn is real, but so is the need to care for your investments.
I still have way too many clothes but now I just lend them to people for free.
