In the past years there has been an increase in interest regarding the environment and this combined with the technological advancement has resulted in new opportunities to secondhand consume. The stigmatisation regarding second-hand consumption is in present day often considered something of the past. The aim of this study is to contribute to the understanding of second-hand consumption as a phenomenon. Questions asked are how second-hand consumption interacts with the ideals of the consumer society, as well as what second-hand consumers can consider to buy or not buy second-hand and why this is. Previous research shows that the second-hand commodity is chosen for its value relative to its price, how second-hand consumption can contribute to overconsumption as well as how the perceived threat of the previous owner affects the second-hand commodity. This study, based on qualitative interviews with second-hand consuming students, indicates that second-hand consumption enables inadequate consumers to become adequate. The result also shows that second-hand consumption enables environmentally conscious consumers to follow the ideals of the consumer society with good conscience and that there is still some stigmatisation regarding second-hand consumption. However this stigma seems to be undergoing a revaluation process on both an individual and societal level. / Under de senaste åren har det ökade intresset för miljön och den tekniska utvecklingen öppnat upp nya möjligheter att andrahandskonsumera. Stigmat kring andrahandskonsumtion beskrivs numera som något förgånget. Syftet med denna studie är att bidra till förståelsen av andrahandskonsumtion som fenomen. Detta utifrån frågeställningarna hur andrahandskonsumtion interagerar med konsumtionssamhällets ideal samt vad andrahandskonsumenter kan tänka sig att köpa respektive inte köpa begagnat och vad detta kan bero på. Tidigare forskning har visat hur andrahandsvaran väljs för sitt värde i förhållande till varans pris, hur andrahandskonsumtion kan bidra till överkonsumtion samt hur det upplevda hotet från den tidigare ägaren påverkar andrahandsvaran. Denna studie, som baseras på kvalitativa intervjuer med andrahandskonsumerande studenter, visar hur andrahandskonsumtion möjliggör för fattiga konsumenter att konsumera enligt normen. Resultatet visar även att andrahandskonsumtion möjliggör för miljömedvetna konsumenter att med gott samvete följa konsumtionssamhällets ideal samt att det ännu finns ett stigma kring andrahandskonsumtion. Detta stigma tycks dock befinna sig i en omvärderingsprocess på både individ och samhällsnivå.

Sharing Economy as a concept is based on providing a space for individuals that brings them together on a platform providing access to goods/services to both parties. It has grown in popularity since the 2010s due to digitalization and social media. The reason why the sharing economy is growing is due to different stakeholders involved in this concept. For example, it can be said that companies try to boost their brand by incorporating sharing economy in their portfolio or in academics where lots of resources are used in researching this concept as sustainability is trending these days. The consumer plays a role in growing interest in this concept through active participation in this economy. Now with many people involved in sharing economy, it is certain that there are different desires and needs. These desires and needs are known as motivation. Naturally, there are different types of motivations seen in sharing economy. They are economic, critical, and recreational motivation that has been researched extensively by other authors in this domain. This thesis looks at social motivation and in more specific term ‘fashionability’. Fashionability is the motivation that consumers use to ‘be unique’, ‘stand out in a crowd’, and keep up with the trends specifically to second-hand clothes. But to be unique and to stand out, there are activities that are carried out by the consumer in a second-hand store/platform. These activities are known as practices. To understand these practices, a theoretical framework known as Social Practice Theory is used. The aim of the thesis is to understand fashionability in sharing economy and to see how fashionability affects the sharing practices in second-hand consumption. To do this, the researchers have used a qualitative research method to interview active participants of sharing economy. There were ten interviewees sampled, and a semi-structure interview guide was used to understand the interviewees. The findings were that second-hand fashion was seen through different perspectives amongst consumers. Some of them were able to express themselves to enhance their identity. The researchers also analyzed that fashionability was indeed a motivator since this was seen as a starting point towards the consumption of second-hand clothes. There were seven practices found through the results in this thesis. The researchers analyzed these seven practices and theorized the links between these practices needed to be sustained.