Informal Sharing and Heritage

What?

Users that share products in a self-driven and un-systematised manner.

Why?

This approach taps into the current sharing paradigm that focuses on prolonging the lifespan of a product. Sharing and heritage can be:

• An economic advantage.
• A way of passing on/creating emotional value in a product.

Challenges

• Products may not fit new users.
• Unwanted traces of time and use in product may occur such as i.e. smell and stains.

Examples

People tend to share products that possess value; emotionally, economically or both such as garments made of fur or baby clothes that are frequently shared due to the short use time and thereby lack of wear and tear. Swapping ‘parties’ are similarly seen as a growing phenomenon. See for example Copenhagen Fashion Exchange (www.globalfashionexchange.org).

Further Reading

Fletcher (2016). Craft of Use. Routledge.
Skjold & Ræbild (2016). Fur Design as Mediator of Sustainability. Nordcode Conference, Kolding.