USED clothing is a project based on a concept by martin mairinger and the winner of the 2005 prix ars electronica in [the next idea] category. more about the competition here. a prototype was realized in cooperation with ars electronica futurelab during an artist-in-residence program and presented at the ars electronica festival 2005 in linz , austria . for future locations, see announcements.

USED clothing extends the function of clothes as storage medium by a virtual component: in a "second-hand shop", each article is provided with a RFID tag. through RFID- and web technology, the respective owners can store and read digital information on the individual garment. further, a "virtual library" develops e.g. to each t-shirt, into which owners can add arbitrary information and multimedia contents. thus the "history" of each single garment can be visualized. by exaggerating the identity component, USED Clothing brings up inputs for a discussion concerning future developments within virtual communities.

USED clothing is a technical prototype for what i call open source branding. the outcome of this process is a new form of brand image. for more information the idea of open source branding, click here.

the current state of the prototype can be viewed here. there is a faq section as well.