More than enough clothes: a social practice-oriented study of gender and clothing accumulation

Author: Vilde Haugrønning

Abstract

Despite the growing volumes of clothing in wardrobes, the drivers of accumulation remain poorly understood and are often explained through fashion cycles or replacement needs. This article explores clothing accumulation from a practice-oriented perspective, examining how demand emerges through the interrelation of materials and social practices, with particular attention to gender dynamics. Drawing on a wardrobe study with 15 women and 15 men in Norway, it analyses how garments are acquired and disposed of in response to shifting practice demands, ideals of being well-dressed, and everyday dressing negotiations. Findings show that, on average, women acquired more garments than they disposed of, reflecting accumulation dynamics, while men typically maintained or reduced their wardrobe size. Using Shove et al’s (2007) framework on having and doing, the analysis identifies four modes in the wardrobe that impact acquisition and disposal: balance, missing materials, unrealised practices and excessive having. These modes illustrate how clothing accumulation results not from irrational overconsumption but from responses to the challenges of aligning materials in the wardrobe with being dressed for occasions in everyday life. Understanding gender as a social practice, the findings demonstrate how the ongoing work of doing gender shapes clothing accumulation dynamics. Performing femininity has material consequences – more extensive wardrobes, more acquisitions and difficulties in disposal – linking gender performance to excessive consumption. By employing a practice-oriented perspective, this study offers a critical lens for feminist critique of sustainability approaches in the context of clothing consumption.

Keywords: clothing accumulation; social practices; gender; occasions; wardrobe study

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1332/27528499Y2026D000000070

International research seminar: Living together for a sustainable common future

Seminar 8th – 9th June 2026, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen

At the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences there is a strong research interest in perspectives on nature preservation, sustainability, circular economy, ecocriticism, the human – nature/environment and sensing relations, embodied knowledge and the role and consequences of consumption in outdoor life traditions. These are fields that often compete for influence.

At this seminar we will take a step back to basic questions about our future living conditions and take the concept of conviviality, our way of living together, as a starting point and steppingstone. This starting point critically reverses the individualistic search for wellbeing and increases the focus to solidarity and living together. Even if so called green spaces and time spent on outdoor activities are proved beneficial for health, using nature as a remedy and searching for wellbeing in nature have been criticized for being individualistic and related to overconsumption and the risk of destroying parts of the natural world.

Keynote speakers:

  • Thomas Fuchs, Professor at Heidelberg University, Germany
  • Helga Synnevåg, Professor at Volda University College, Norway
  • Ingun Grimstad Klepp, Professor at Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway

Read more about the seminar and sign up by clicking here (hvl.no).

Foredrag om skogfinske perspektiver i norsk kulturliv

Balansekunst inviterer medlemmer til seks digitale foredrag om samer og nasjonale minoriteters perspektiver i kulturlivet

I 2026 utvikler Balansekunst et nettkurs om samer og nasjonale minoriteter i kulturlivet, og arrangerer i den forbindelse seks digitale foredrag.

Når? Torsdag 26. februar 2026, kl. 10.00–11.30.

Hvor? Digitalt på Google Meet. Lenke sendes etter påmelding.


Om foredragsholder:
Vårhild Bakke Berntzen er utdanna klede- og kostymedesignar ved Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo. Ho bur og arbeider på Finnskogen med skogfinsk kulturarv gjennom kunst, klededesign og frivillig organisasjonsarbeid. Med klede og performance som utgangspunkt og uttrykk, har Vårhild som føremål å utvikle og utvide kunnskap om skogfinnar, samt undersøkje skogfinsk identitet på tvers av generasjonar og tid. Ho sit også i styret i ungdomsorganisasjonen Unge Skogfinner i Norge, som ho var med på å stifte i 2024.

Les mer og meld deg på her (balansekunst.no).

Disputas: Anna Schytte Sigaard

Den 9. februar vil SIFO-forsker Anna Schytte Sigaard forsvare sin avhandling “Want Not, Waste Not. A Practice-Theoretical Study of Textile Disposal in Everyday Life” for doktorgraden i innovasjon for bærekraft!

Disputasen vil finne sted på OsloMet og det vil også være mulig å følge via Zoom.

Les mer om arrangementet og hvordan du kan delta på OsloMet sine nettsider her: https://www.oslomet.no/en/about/events/public-defence-sigaard

Repairability of clothing and textiles: Consumer practices and policy implications

Authors: Anna Schytte Sigaard and Kirsi Laitala

Abstract

Extending product lifetimes through repair is a central strategy in sustainable consumption and circular economy initiatives. This article examines how consumers evaluate textile damages and potential to repair, drawing on wardrobe interviews with 28 Norwegian households. Over a six-month period, we tracked 3211 clothing and household textile items going out of use, of which only 107 (3.3 per cent) had been repaired or altered prior to disposal, almost exclusively as home repairs. Based on participant evaluations, we developed a three-level repair scale that reflects perceived repair complexity and feasibility. This scale, combined with item-level damage data, reveals both practical and conceptual challenges in promoting textile repair. Repairability in textiles is more complex than in other product groups, such as electronics, because many common damages fall outside the scope of conventional repair schemes. We argue for a practice-based understanding of repairability that accounts for the interaction between damage types, consumer competences, cultural meanings and systems of provision. Our policy recommendations highlight the need to go beyond product design and service provision to also support social learning, cultural normalization and the integration of repair into everyday life, recognizing its social and cultural significance as essential for effectively extending clothing lifespans.

Click here to read the article in full (intellectdiscover.com)

Avoiding synthetic fibres by choice: Strategies employed by businesses and their policy recommendations

Authors: Irene Maldini, Ingun Grimstad Klepp and Kate Fletcher

Abstract

Clothing and textiles are increasingly made of synthetic (fossils-based) fibres, enabling rapid growth in overall production volumes in this sector, with significant environmental impact. This research aims at understanding the strategies of companies that are actively working to confront this trend by trying to avoid or reduce synthetic content in their products. Fifteen companies are interviewed to gather their strategies in resisting synthetic fibres. These include four companies born with a plastic-free mindset, five companies that define themselves as a wool or cotton company despite using other materials, and six companies that aim at reducing synthetic use as part of a broader approach to sustainability and the quality of the products offered. The study analyses the barriers and enablers that affect their endeavours and proposes a series of policy recommendations to counter current developments. Barriers experienced by companies include synthetics’ low price, their physical characteristics enabling elasticity, durability and impermeability, the narrative of plastic recycling as a questionable sustainable solution, the bias of sustainability indicators and production technologies, and specific fashion trends calling for the material characteristics mentioned above. Some enablers mentioned are concerns from the company leadership about the growth of synthetics and associated microplastic release, the role of public policy and procurement in driving the change, resistance to synthetics by users in specific products (e.g. childrenswear), efforts to produce with the company’s own recycled materials, and to achieve a more intensive use of their products. The study concludes with policy recommendations such as stopping subsidizing petrochemicals, sanctioning overproduction practices, promoting true pricing and discriminating tax rates, improving sustainability metrics, targeted R&D support for natural and local materials and a fibre-to-fibre focus for recycling policy, so that the overall volume of textile production and the content of synthetics in it can be reduced.

Click here to read the article in full (intellectdiscover.com)

Dialog som punktum

En hutrende torsdagskveld i november samlet Fibershed Norge ca. 20 interesserte til en samtale om hva norske tekstiler bør koste, et dialogmøte som satte punktum for Tekstilbønder og motelandbruk prosjektet finansiert av Landbruksmidlene for jordbruk og matindustri (FFL/JA).

Vi hadde lagt opp til et uformelt møte, hvor det ikke skulle være noen konkrete presentasjoner, men i stedet en samtale – løst og ledig. Det gikk veldig bra! Vi var også positivt overrasket over at i alt fire menn dukket opp, denne typen samlinger pleier å være kvinnedominerte. I den senere tien har vi opplevd dette to ganger… at noen innfallsvinkler fanger et mer kjønnsblandet publikum. Mulig penge-aspektet gjorde at flere menn ville diskutere problemstillingen?

Arenaen var Spillbaren på Kulturhuset, invitasjonen oppfordret til å ta med håndarbeid, noe flere gjorde, og det var mulig å kjøpe drikke. Siden det var en utrolig herlig sammenblanding av folk med bakgrunn fra alt fra modellbransjen, konfeksjon, akademia, museum, naturvern, landbruk, design, produksjon av tekstiler og folk som bare ønsket å snakke om tekstiler, prising og bærekraft – ble det aldri kjedelig!

Flere viktige ting ble diskutert, også hvordan vi igjen skal få klær og tekstiler til å være mer verdifulle, for eksempel kunne man tenke mer slik som parfymebransjen, hvor billig er et skjellsord? Ingen vil si at de bruker billig-duft… Og hva med å gi forbrukere mer styring, for eksempel med målsøm og mer lokal produksjon? Det er et mulighetsrom mellom masseprodusert konfeksjon og skreddersøm, som var mer tilgjengelig før og som åpner for bedre tilpasning av klærne til forbruker, siden passform er en såpass viktig faktor for at vi bruker klær mye og lenge, og som dermed gir dem verdi. Hvis vi regner på pris per bruk, for eksempel.

Ekstremt billig… og noe som antagelig får et kort liv i skapet.

At klær må opp i ‘bunadspriser’ for å få ned volumene blir fort et ‘demokratisk problem’ i de fleste debatter. Det er en diskusjon som går like mye i sirkel som sirkulærøkonomien, men som ofte også ender opp med å peke på at det da er noen andre som betaler for vår ‘demokratiske’ rett til billigmote, nemlig produsentene i det globale syd. Hvis alle hadde fått betalt det de skulle, ville klærne selvsagt bli dyrere, og det kan hende dette må synliggjøres enda tydeligere.

Som Tor Jacob Solberg fra Bonde- og småbrukarlaget bragte til torgs: Hvis man synes prisen er for høy, så kan man jo gjøre det selv! «Hvis du synes prisen på melk er for høy, kjøp en ku og se om du fikser å få melk billigere!»

Ny rapport med kunnskapsoppsummering om miljøutfordringene knyttet til tekstilavfall

Hele rapporten finner du her: Textile waste as an environmental challenge – A Knowledge Base for What Now?

Rapporten, som er skrevet av Kirsi Laitala, diskuterer de betydelige miljøutfordringene knyttet til tekstilavfall og gir en kunnskapsbase for den norske læringsplattformen Hva nå? Endringslaben, som har som mål å styrke barn og unges kunnskap, engasjement og handlingskompetanse innen bærekraft. Den fremhever den økende tekstilproduksjonen samt den tilsvarende økningen i tekstilavfall, med omtrent 92 millioner tonn som kastes globalt hvert år. Dokumentet understreker de miljømessige konsekvensene av dette avfallet, inkludert forurensning, ressursutarming og virkninger på klimaendringer. I tillegg skisserer rapporten behovet for forbedrede reguleringer, nye forretningspraksiser og endringer i forbrukeratferd for å dempe disse utfordringene, og oppfordrer til utdanningsinitiativer som Endringslaben for å inspirere unge generasjoner til å ta mer bærekraftige valg.

I prosjektperioden med Forskningsrådet vil det bli satt opp to utstillinger, en på Kongsvinger i mars og en i Arendal i april 2026. Les mere om Endringslaben her: https://endringslaben.no/

Hva er norske tekstiler verdt?

Vi avslutter prosjektet Tekstilbønder og Motelandbruk med en hyggelig og uformell samling der vi inviterer til åpen dialog rundt tematikken Hva er norske tekstiler verdt? Vi møtes på Kulturhuset i Oslo den 20. november kl 18.

Ingen påmelding, ta med håndarbeid og kom til en uformell samtale rundt tematikken: Hva burde klær koste for at alle skal få betalt i verdikjeden for jobben de gjør?

‘Creating’ variety without waste: Pre-industrial dress practices as inspiration for updating the sustainability discourse

Authors: Ingun Grimstad Klepp, Bjørn Sverre Hol Haugen, Marie Ulväng, Pernilla Rasmussen, Ingrid Haugsrud

This study explores how ideas of variety were created and practised among women and men of different social strata in Norway and Sweden before the big changes in the second half of the nineteenth century. Three researchers with in-depth knowledge of clothing during that period look at their material through questions they developed based on current clothing and sustainability discourse. The material consists of both written (diaries, inventories, etc.) and oral sources and clothes. We look at acquisition and use of clothes in the period of 1780–1850 to understand how variety was achieved to discuss whether historical research can inform today’s debate on clothing and the environment. Despite strong limitations in terms of regulations for trade, strict dressing codes, expensive textiles and a restricted economy, variety was achieved. An important prerequisite was that the fabrics themselves were seen as valuable and durable, while the shape, trimmings, accessories and the like could be varied. Buying new ready-made clothes was not yet an option. Access to clothes and accessories was an intricate web involving both caring, sharing (lending, renting, inheritance and shared access) and alterations done by amateurs and professionals. The wardrobe was a well-planned system with movement between occasions and over time, consisting of clothes with different functions and temporalities. The present debate with an emphasis on circular economy solutions and the industry as the main stakeholder overlook clothing as a complex cultural and historical phenomenon. Variety in clothes can be achieved in much less resource-intensive ways by focusing on more valuable fabrics.

Reference

Klepp, Ingun Grimstad ; Haugen, Bjørn Sverre Hol; Ulväng, Marie; Rasmussen, Pernilla; Haugsrud, Ingrid (2024). ‘Creating’ variety without waste: Pre-industrial dress practices as inspiration for updating the sustainability discourse. Clothing Cultures. Vol. 11.
https://doi.org/10.1386/cc_00088_1