Refashioner & Resale
Refashioner was the first online clothes redistribution engine....
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 may have been the first, but by then we were far from alone! What drove this feeding frenzy in your closet was hard cash >
Refashioner 2013
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
Now resale is massive. This is 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.
