10 reasons you should be shopping vintage
Imagine this. You’re looking for a gorgeous new dress to wear out on your birthday. So you go to your favourite online shop that always has thousands of dresses to choose from. You find a sherbert blue bodycon dress. It costs just £14.99, so you purchase it.
A few days later, you clap with glee as the parcel arrives. You try it on and it fits. Viola, your outfit is complete. You wear it on your night out and then fling it in the bottom of your wardrobe.
It sits in there for a while, unworn and cold. Until two years later you peel it from the bottom of your wardrobe while doing a spring clean. You’d forgotten about the bodycon dress. You stare at it and begin to wonder why you bought it. It was a bargain and everyone was wearing that style at the time. But you don’t love it and you probably wouldn’t wear it again.
So you decide it has to go. You can’t sell it, because it’s made with cheap fabrics and some of the stitching is coming apart. Surely nobody would buy that for more than £2? Not worth it. So, you throw it in the bin.
What a sad story for a dress. But does it sound familiar to you? If you’re thinking about shopping more sustainably and need a little motivation, here are 10 reasons to shop vintage and ditch fast fashion.
1. Quality Darling – Vintage clothes tend to be made from better quality fabrics and are better crafted. Before the throwaway fashion industry took over and massproduced everything, clothes were made to last and to be loved for a long time.
2. It Will Develop Your Personal Style – Most throwaway fashion is produced to reflect the latest trends. Can your personal style stretch beyond what everyone else is wearing? Vintage shopping forces us to think beyond what’s currently popular and wear something that no one else is wearing. Set the trends, don’t follow them.
3. You’ll Own A Piece Of History – Can you say that a flimsy pair of leggings from Primark has a back story? No. But a vintage 1960s mini skirt may have plenty. When we buy vintage we are literally buying a piece of fashion history. It may have been a kaftan previously cared after by a teenage hippie in the sixties or a leather jacket customised by a seventies punk.
4. You’ll Be Doing Your Bit For The Environment – Every year over 350,000 tonnes of used clothing goes to landfill in the UK. For perspective, that’s about 34 Eifell Towers. By opting for vintage, you’re literally recycling clothes and not adding to the waste.
5. You’ll Spend Less – Cashmere jumpers, 100% cotton tops and silk dresses comes with a high price tag when you’re buying new. But with vintage, all these great quality fabrics and well crafted pieces come at a fraction of the cost.
6. You’ll Never Show Up Wearing The Same Dress As Someone Else– If you want to find a dress that no one else has, then look no further than vintage clothing. It would be extremely rare for someone to turn up at your local bar in the same sixties shift dress as you. And if it does happen, there must be a glitch in the matrix.
7. It’s A Great Investment – When you want to make space in your wardrobe and it comes to getting rid of a vintage piece, it’s highly likely someone will buy it off you. Shoppers on sites like Ebay and Depop are hungry for vintage. If your piece is in good condition, it’ll probably sell and maybe make a profit!
8. Designer Clothes Are On The Menu – Chanel, Valentino, Dior. These are designers that have been around for more than 50 years, and can you imagine how many collections they’ve had? You can find vintage designer hiding in the racks of many vintage shops for under £100.
9. You’ll prevent pollution – Fast fashion causes a LOT of industrial pollution. By shopping vintage, you’ll be causing no pollution at all (apart from the shipping which is a tiny compared to the production of throwaway fashion).
10. It’s Like Finding Treasure– For a while I was on the look out for the perfect burgnady, suede mini skirt. I searched online and set an alert on Ebay, but nada. Then one rainy day, I poked my head inside a charity shop. And there, for £2, I found the perfect burgandy genuine suede skirt. It was like finding gold. I don’t think I’ll ever chuck it away and I’ve worn it more times that I probably should. It’s my precious.
If you want to start building your collection, have a look at what’s in stock on my boutique. I always curate quality ready-to-wear vintage because you deserve to have great quality clothes that reflect your personal style.
Do you have a favourite item of clothing that you could never let go? Your mum’s jumper or a dress you bought for a special occasion? Let me know in the comments below.
P.S. If you’re looking for some tips, I’ve written a blog post on five things you need to know before shopping vintage.
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