Blockchain, IoT, Resale

How might a fashion future dominated by the resale of garments already in circulation come into being?

This project is funded by TRACE (TRAnsition Towards Circular Economy). In collaboration with Copenhagen Business School, the Alexandra Institute, Lifestyle & Design Cluster, and 19 companies from the Danish fashion and textile industries, it examines potentials for scaling the resale market for pre-owned clothing.

Responding to the TRACE key challenge that ”clothing is underutilised”, KLOTHING aims to deepen the understanding of how a fashion resale economy that effectively increases the use and lifetime of textile products might be realised. Building on the vision that 80 to 90 pct. of revenue streams in the fashion sector will come from designs already in circulation by 2050, the research explores how the circular economy may emerge as a replacement economy.

Anchored in industry partners, KLOTHING contributes with qualitative insights into the existing landscape of resale business models in Denmark, wardrobe studies focusing on circular wardrobe practitioners (i.e., resellers), and (n)ethnographic follow-the-garment explorations that illustrate how garments circulate on the contemporary resale market. Examining three domains - businesses, users, and design objects - these inquiries offer empirical insights that could spark new directions in business model development, user engagement, and design strategies for circular transitions - both as individual and collective levers of change.

Findings from the project are part of Mette Dalgaard Nielsen’s paper-based PhD dissertation Fashion Worth Circulating, which was submitted on August 31, 2025. The photos are captured during her wardrobe studies with Copenhagen-based resellers in the winter of 2023 and 2024.