ABSTRACT
Even though clothing is so intimately tied to personal identity, and has become cheap and easily available in western Europe over recent decades, this article will examine the collective use of clothing beyond families and friendship circles. To this end, two case studies in Hamburg will be investigated using ethnographic methods. The projects studied facilitate the consumption of clothes outside of conventional retail shops and thus of the prices set by the industry and trade. Whilst the Kleiderkammer Wilhelmsburg continues to uphold society’s economic order through its anonymous donations, Die Kleiderei, in its collective consumerism transcends social barriers at first glance. Through their work, both models create alternative spaces of consumption and extend the life cycle of clothing that might otherwise be discarded as trash.
