Collaborative fashion consumption in the sharing economy: Philosophical and aesthetic perspectives

Abstract

ABSTRACT The sharing economy is becoming more important due to the development of reasonable consumption and environmental recognition, and diverse business models are attempting to describe and predict how to apply the sharing economy. In this context, collaborative fashion consumption (CFC) is a part of the sharing economy trend to temporarily use fashion products in various ways. Few studies attempt to understand the CFC as a part of the contemporary social and cultural trends. In this context, the major objective in the present study is to describe the current situation of CFC, based on several philosophical and aesthetic dimensions regarded as macroscopic perspectives, and to understand the contemporary social and cultural trends. This study examines prior research to understand the concept of the sharing economy. In this process, applying three major perspectives can boost the development of the sharing economy: Walter Benjamin (deconstruction of aura), Nicoloa Bourriaud (relational aesthetic), and Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari (rhizome).An online platform, communal relationship, and interchangeable values, are selected to link the related philosophical and aesthetic dimensions. The study analyses 41 CFC services from 7 countries via the content analysis method using3 philosophical and aesthetic dimensions to understand the current trends of CFC in the sharing economy.