Bitter & Twisted Vintage Clothing!

Hey everyone, Alice here!

Just to keep stuff ticking over - because nobody likes a blog that never gets updated, it just looks unloved like a used condom in the gutter or something - I've decided to tell you why exactly wearing second hand clothes, whether they're used or brand new, vintage or from this decade, is the way to go.

Firstly, the high street is gradually turning into a homogenous blend of the same clothes sourced from the same sweatshops in Cambodia with the same styles, and you can find all your New Looks and your Primarks in every town and city from Clackmannan to Cardiff* .
My point? you're massively unlikely to have something that's truly one off and unique, or a piece that was made with love by someone who knew what they were doing, who put their heart and soul into making a garment, for an affordable price; instead you get about 6000 of the same floral playsuit or leather biker boots which, nice as they are, won't be around in a years' time, and will also be sported by pretty much everyone aged 18-25 with any shopping savvy.
If you have a good eye for buying second hand and vintage clothes you can pick up something that was made expertly from good quality fabric for about a tenner, and hopefully not a lot of people will be copying you but instead sex weeing over your outfit from afar.

Secondly, as much as we all love capitalism for making the world go round and giving us excess money to spend on our leisurely pursuits and in general being a pretty damn stable economic model, the back end of it sucks like a Dyson, and someone somewhere in a sweatshop in Taiwan or wherever suffered in horrific conditions for extremely low pay with no healthcare or job stability or anything had to bust their hump to make that primark handbag you're sporting. And after spending the last twenty odd years burying our heads in the sand, we're starting to wake up to this fact. The sudden shift in consciousness has been reinforced by many high street shops, such as Monsoon, joining the Ethical trading Initiative to ensure that those making the clothes and fabrics sold in store weren't made entirely at the expense of their human rights.
Progress on the high street is still slow and far from ideal; apart from Monsoon, previously mentioned, who have a fantastic history of charity work with vulnerable people, and Marks & Spencer, who make full use of fairtrade cotton in their garments, many places on the high street still inhabit an ethical grey area.
Want to make sure your money doesn't go to a corporation who potentially employ underage children or who may abuse their workers by underpaying them and denying them their rights as workers? Well if you buy second hand you cut them out entirely and your money goes to the seller, who may be just selling clothes like us, or who may be raising money to make someone's life a little better, like Oxfam or the Sally army.

Thirdly, come on guys, it's recession time, who has loadsa moneys to spend on decent clothes? And where the hell is the sense in buying a top for £2 that's gunna fall apart in the wash? Common sense, if you wanna save money and look wicked, you gotta go second hand. Don't trust those hustlers who put an insane markup on their "vintage" wares and try to make you pay £20 for a tee shirt from 1995. I appreciate you've got to make a profit but you can't take the mickey with your customers' wallets!!
Most second hand shops in London are NOTORIOUS for making a huge markup on their items, but big cities like Birmingham or leicester are immense for finding vintage clothes that aren't ridiculously expensive. Plus obviously looking at the little Age Concern and Heart Foundation branches in your nearest local town will yield some gems if you take the time to look through everything.

And my final point won't worry everyone, but it regards animal ethics. Most people are in agreement that wearing real fur is simply wrong, but many people may also find it unfair to wear other animal by-products such as leather or suede, in the belief that buying an animal product from a certain brand will contriute to the demand for more animal products, leading to more animals being used for their skins. Well, logically, by wearing second hand leather or real fur, your money is only going to the seller of the second hand item and not to the original retailer, and thus you're not adding to any demand !

We have some more rad items to come including a pair of vintage Raybans and various pairs of name brand jeans.

Catch you on the flip flop!

Alice xoxo