An international fashion research project exploring the 'craft of use'

Shared Use

Sharing clothes saves resources if it means fewer pieces are bought. For garments to have multiple users, fit matters; but they also have to be shared with the right people. Sharing works when a bond and joint identity is reinforced by common use; when a memory is re-lived; and when access is gained not just to more and different pieces but also to the values, taste and sensibilities of the owner.

Pocket politics

“This is a traditional ski jacket that I bought second hand. We use it in the family, me and my seventeen-year-old daughter… when she uses it I find all her things in the pockets… some notes from school, letters, tampons. Today I found her bracelet.

I feel like I have to empty [the pockets] to begin a new day. But I take [the contents] out only if I notice them while I’m still at home. It’s a little bit private I think… because they belong to her.”


Oslo - March 2012
Photograph by Kristin von Hirsch