Fashion statement

How I joined the collaborative economy.

What does this shared, collaborative economy mean for us all?

In the machine age of mass production, we crave for human touch.

The other day I pull out an old cardigan which has some rips, so I brought out the needle and thread to patch them up. Despite the amateurish sewing or perhaps because of it, it somehow adds character and style, far more than its original state.

And we can see this trend going from op-shopping to handmade or vintage items on Etsy. It’s a reaction to modernity, it’s a reaction to mass production. Being a hipsters aside, I see a lot of sameness in the world where everything’s brand-new and cut from the same cloth, we crave for something different, something got a bit of historicity, personality and evidence of life.

Because we want to care. Somehow it feels we can form a human connection through those worn out scratches and stitches, they allows us to relate, to care for something otherwise so ordinary, inanimate, and replaceable.

The way we consume becoming more about the human touch.

More than just fashion

Not just in fashion do we have this crave for personality, but in food where people would prefer indie cafe or bakery over the homogeneous food chain; and preference local farm’s market over supermarket giants. Increasingly we find ourselves saying no to mass factory consumerism and yes to a more localised, community-focused economy.

So what does this idea lead to?

Everything starts small

Garage sale trail is an Aussie nonprofit that organises a day of simultaneous garage sales around Australia. It started in 2010 with two Bondi locals set out to do something about illegal dumping, now it’s a massively successful event connecting communities, keeping stuff out of landfill and raising fund for charities.

Every year people go around communities of their own and others, in family or on their own moving from house to house, some for bargain hunting, some for a discovering vintage items, and some for a unique day out with mates. And with the things they buy from a neighbour, they are also getting that the story, the connection, the human touch.

What started small in a garage it’s now a movement. It mobilised 300,000 individuals into action, getting people excited about sustainability by making it fun and creative.

Garage sale trail

It’s a movement & it’s everywhere.

Status quo

Taking this idea of care and human touch to scale, invite us to re-imagine what we want and how we want to interact with those who provides the product and services.

Challenging the status quo of traditional business model, many new businesses and even an industry sprung up — from music streaming to city bike sharing, what previously entrenched now a passé.

What my parent’s generation would considered the ultimate status symbol — to own a car and a house; I have little desire of but rather asking the question what resources are available to me when I need it, from good public transport to car sharing and using airbnb or couchsurfing when I travel.

Ownership vs Access

Even you haven’t heard of the term Collaborative Consumption, likely you've already engaged in it if you happen to have used ebay, gumtree, airbnb, carnextdoor or uber, to name but a few these are the services/platform that are part of the phenomenon where it’s shifting away from individual ownership, towards share access and participation.

Here’s Rachel Botsman excellent TED talk on Collaborative Consumption, animated:

Rachel Botsman: The case for collaborative consumption

We’re already using services that prize access over ownership.

The Global Village

The “End game” as the CEO of airbnb boldly predicted the future is a village filled with micro-entrepreneurs sharing their assets to make a living. The internet has enabled us to pull in other people and resources on demand, ownership suddenly turn out to be a burden when ultimately access is all we need; as we’re growing more comfortable with consuming services this way we’re also seeking to contribute back, by opening access to what we own, not only do we personal gain from the small fee we may be able charge for use, but it gives us space to connect with others.

“The community is the first recourse, the platform is the second recourse, and the government is third recourse, rather than the reverse.” Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky

This tectonic shift in our economy not only will change the way we consume and work but bringing back the very human element into the heart of the system. As Chesky puts it the world would be like village of the old where everyone has some kind of trade, in this case I guess it’s never too late then to learn how to sew a hem, patch a hole or mend a seam.