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 >

 

New York Times Style Magazine Refashioner launch story, Feb 2010

Here's the home page >

Original swap version 1.0 Refashioner landing page, 2010

And the general vibe (illustrations by the great Peter Arkle) > 

Original refashioner mission curated swapping for fashion bitchesOriginal refashioner mission Sample Sale Mistake come out of the closetOriginal refashioner mission Screw Ebay we have fashion police

 

Refashioner v.2.0. added buying and selling to the swap. Still all organized in personal closets >

Refashioner 2.0 home page fall winter 2012

 

  

Thousands of members stalked each other. That's what we called it when they linked closets >

  

Refashioner V2.0 member closet

 

 

 

Gorgeous things flowed through (with their stories of course) >

Refashioner V2.0 typical garment details

 

And occasional insanity >

Refashioner V2.0 ridiculous versace jacket page

 

 

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*   >

 

  Fashion resale statistics Business of Fashion
 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 Resale data 2022
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.

Me, I turned to mending, IRL, online, on Instagram, in print, and academia.

I still have way too many clothes but now I just lend them to people for free.

 

Read MEND Book

Read about Kate

Read about Fashion