Lisa Ingeborg Gerner

Clothing is everywhere. So are fast and ultra-fast fashion. The consequences of these industries have been known for years, yet production continues to grow. The Circle of (Used) Clothes exposes the chaos hidden behind overwhelming quantities of clothing and questions the promise of second-hand shopping as a sustainable solution. The installation is made of a ‘surprise bag’ of donated used clothes, purchased at a second-hand store in Vienna. The garments are carefully folded, sorted by color, and arranged to fit exactly into a rectangular shape. The processing and sewing techniques applied in the project create a double-sided effect that hints at the discrepancy between image and reality of the second-hand promise.