The Future Is Circular

What it's about

In the «fast fashion» age, clothing has become disposable: Buy cheap, wear briefly or not at all, and toss. Today’s trends are tomorrow’s trash —every year millions of tons of textiles are thrown away— and the fashion industry is one of the most wasteful and environmentally damaging industries on the planet.



We launched S H I R C L E to counteract this «disposable culture» and to offer sustainable shopping alternatives. 
Our aim is to show that the circular economy can be both good for the environment and for the pocketbook and that affordable high-quality pre-loved items can compete directly with cheap new imports. We want to make it attractive, easy and fun to do the right thing.

S H I R C L E is a

• Fashion-Library (Borrowing)
• Luxus Secondhand Shop with «Brocki» prices (Buying)
• Flea Market (Selling)

and also a «Walk-in Community Closet» (Self-Checkin/-Checkout).

Goodbye Disposable — Hello Circular!

The first S H I R C L E is located in Meilen ZH. 
Here you can

• Borrow high-quality pieces for the price of a coffee e.g. Pianoforte Max Mara ball gown or a pair of Jimmy Choo heels for 5.-/week
• Try Before You Buy: try on and borrow (max. 5.-/week), buy later if it brings joy
• Buy pre-loved and new items at affordable prices (everything under 100.- including brands such as Max Mara, Tom Ford, Patagonia)
• Use the «Community Marketplace»: Bring your things, set your price (max. 80.-), and if an item is purchased, your price will be credited to you and available for borrowing / buying / gifting
• Experience the circular economy in action

Upcycling workshops and free «bring-and-take days» are also planned.

Why our project is special

In general, the «Community Marketplace» will be unattended: Members enter via Mobile Access (Dormakaba) and pay with Twint at self-checkout. For this unique infrastructure service we developed our own S H I R C L E app with which members can keep track of all their different transaction types, search for items, give feedback and share problems / concerns with all members.



The unique thing about our project is that we enable members to participate in all phases of the circular economy at a P H Y S I C A L location

• Buy: High quality at a low price
• Sell: Community Marketplace
• Borrow: Event? Interview? Life-Change? Try Before You Buy!

• Share: Pregnancy? Extended Trip? Minimalizing? Share without selling and recall at any time
• «Bring-and-take» days: Non-members can also participate free of charge
• Upcycle: Making something new out of something old

Memberships are available from 20.-/year. 



Our platform is scalable and can be launched for all kinds of items —sports or camping equipment, electronics, tools— at any fixed location in Switzerland.

We see the pioneering «Mobility Car Sharing» as a role model, and it would be cool to one day make S H I R C L E conveniently accessible to anyone!

How we'll use your support

For more than two years, we tinkered with our platform (renovations, airport-style entrance gate, RFID, self-checkout, S H I R C L E app, >1’000 high-quality items) and neglected one extremely important aspect: Marketing.

We —naively— thought: Build it and they will come! 



Although this first location is centrally located (4 min walk from the train station), it’s set back from the street which has few pedestrians. 
After spending a 4-digit sum on marketing (Instagram, local newspaper, flyers, post, local businesses and organizations, high-schools, communities) we have gained a lot of interest but few new members (the most-asked question has been: How can we donate nice things?). 



Now we’ve realized that it will likely take a 5-digit amount to publicize our «peculiar offering» and gain members.

We’re turning to wemakeit to ask whether we are on the right track and whether S H I R C L E will maybe be well-received in other parts of Switzerland…? Your support sends us a small signal that we should keep going and not give up.

The funding will be used as follows:

• up to 10’000.- marketing
• from 10’000.- marketing + expansion of our very simple upcycling and bring-and-take day infrastructure (Bernina, Laura Star, logistics etc)
• from 30’000.- we’ll plan a 2nd location (technical infrastructure per location costs ca. 60k)
• from 60’000.- we’ll plan a 3rd location… etc

If you have suggestions for improvement or know of a suitable location or would like to donate nice things or otherwise partner with us: Contact us!

And if you’re in the area, please feel free to drop by without an appointment during our «Open House» hours and have a look inside (hours can be found on our website) — and don’t forget to ring the cowbell (it’s our doorbell) :)

Drop by and discover the circular offering at S H I R C L E !