What’s in a haircut?
 of Sustainable Fashion Giftcard](https://micrio.thingsthattalk.net/IaBna/views/max/1321x640.jpg)
Fig.1 Capsel in three phases – On website of Sustainable Fashion Giftcard
At first sight this is just your classic, knit one, purl one, winter hat with a folded brim to protect the ears and forehead from the freezing cold.
This hat is part of the CAPSEL project. CAPSEL is a play on the Dutch word ‘kapsel’: hairdo, or the way in which you wear your hair. With this title Meike Fleskens has united the materiality and identity of hair.
On the one hand, hair is simply a product, such as sheep wool, leather, silk or fur. Human hair can be treated in a similar manner to sheep wool: it can be spun into yarn threads and knit together to make clothing. On the other hand, hair encapsulates identity. It can translate to which (sub-)culture a person belongs, what a person deems beautiful, how a person wishes to be seen. But even more literally, hair contains someone’s DNA. Would you wear a piece of clothing made out of a stranger’s hair? Does your answer change if the item was made of the hair of a loved one?
In the long read you will find more on CAPSEL. The text is based on a conversation with the maker.