🏆 2014 Summer/Fall URP (Achievement Award)

2for3

Sang-Gyun An

Toward remixing unused clothing for a broad audience

Many people fill their wardrobes with clothing, yet still complain they seem to have nothing to wear. One possible explanation for this phenomenon is that a small number of giant fashion retailers are predominant in the fashion industry. Because retailers have shortened the cycles of styling trend, individuals tend to purchase more clothing and are tired of it sooner. On the other hand, independent designers, in competition with big retailers, hardly get an opportunity to propose their own design. In this work, we suggest 2for3, an online community for a broad audience, in which a clothing owner and a designer remix two pieces of clothing from three outdated ones. After an owner picks one of remixed clothing, a designer sells the other one on auction. A formative study showed that remixing outdated clothing was feasible, and individuals with unused clothing had interest in remixing it. We then simulated 2for3: owners could obtain unique clothing, designers freely created designs, and an auction-mimicking survey valued result clothing high. We conclude with implications to promote effective remixing, support communication, and sustain motivation to participate.