Owners of vintage and thrift stores in local areas report that customers are turning away from fast-fashion and purchasing more used clothes.
“Not only are the clothes unique and irresistible. There are many who are not into fast fashion and looking for a sustainable option,” the owner of the Sliema TaylorMaid Vintage outlet said.
Laura Taylor said that the absence of unique clothes in Malta was also one factor.
In April, her store on Sliema’s busy front was opened and it has been a hit with customers of every age.
“A lot of people say ‘thank you, we needed this’ when they enter the store. The thing with vintage clothing is that you will always find something unique.”
And it’s not only Taylor who has seen a growing interest in pre-loved and vintage shops.
Abigail Mamo said, the Chamber of SMEs CEO, that demand for local thrift stores and repair shops has grown.
This also represents the circular economy concept, which involves reusing or recycling existing consumer goods.
There aren’t any statistics about how many thrift stores have been opened. However, there is anecdotal evidence that a few businesses have adopted the idea of recycling and reducing goods.
“This is also linked to culture. There is more awareness of sustainability and reducing waste, and this reflects on the demand and growing interest from Maltese consumers for such businesses.”
Social media is flooded by people who are thrifting clothing. Times of Malta spoke to the people who have made the motto “one man’s trash is another person’s treasure” their business.
TaylorMaid Vintage has a wide range of vibrant and colourful vintage clothing that will turn heads. Laura TaylorChildren’s memories of thrift
Taylor used to spend countless hours in Doncaster with her mom, South Yorkshire, searching for treasure at car boots sales.
The idea to open a retro shop came only after her mom died in December of 2020. Trying to cope with her mother’s loss, she began to clear out her wardrobe, and a friend suggested that she tries to sell some of her more unique pieces.
After creating a site, she created a large online community who all shared the same love of unique vintage items. Her colourful Sliema store sells various clothes.
“It feels like a little gift from my mum. If she were here, I’m sure that Taylor would love my store. I named it after her, Taylor is her maiden name and I picked the sunflower logo because it is her favourite flower.”
Knowing what you want takes years of expertise
Taylor collects every piece of clothing she can find on the racks. The clothes are from various countries.
“It takes years of knowledge to know what you are looking for and where to find it and, to be honest, it’s not always easy finding great quality vintage.”
Taylor looks for high-quality pieces that have a unique style. Brands like Laura Ashely, Gunne Saxe, and Yves Saint Laurent are among the brands she is most interested in.
She said that the process is long and expensive, but it’s worth it.
What is the ugly side of excessive consumption?
The brains and curator of thrift.mt, Christian Bartolo Burlò, was first introduced to the world of thrifting last year while studying in Copenhagen, Denmark.
“Copenhagen is known as the capital of thrifting and every Sunday I used to visit this massive warehouse which would have never-ending rows of rails full of second-hand clothes, people talking and socialising.”
When he returned to Malta earlier this year, he knew he wanted to create a community of people interested in thrifting and being “more unique”.
He set up the website, and started to contact locals to exchange and sell clothes. Three months ago, he opened Thrift.mt at The Mad Culture concept store in Żabbar.
Christian Bartolo Burlò wants Malta to become a thrifting haven like Copenhagen. Photo: Christian Bartolo BurlòYet, Burlò began to see a large number of clothes hailing from fast-fashion brands.
Fast fashion is cheap clothing that copies recent trends from catwalks and designers of high-fashion and which are manufactured at low costs.
Research has revealed the negative side to fast fashion. While the lower prices may entice customers into buying more, they are also attracted by its cheapness.
“Our fashion culture revolves around big names like Zara, Bershka and Shein, and I didn’t want these brands in my shop, so I did my homework and started to search for suppliers abroad where I could find different clothing brands which are hard to find locally.”
Just like Taylor, Burlò takes the time, effort and expense to hunt for specific garments that end up hanging on his railings.
It’s become cool to buy sustainable
Apart from selling pre-owned clothes, Burlò is also working on an upcycling project that focuses on creating new clothes with previously used materials.
“It’s become cool to buy sustainable. People may not be realising they are doing a good thing for the environment by not buying new clothes,” he said, pointing out that the majority of clients are aged 16 to 20.
Both Taylor and Burlò said their outlets have been mistaken as charity shops.
“People would say ‘but it’s been worn before, so it’s secondhand’, it’s true but not all second-hand clothes are vintage,” Taylor said.
A garment must have been worn for at least 20 years to qualify as vintage.
“The age of the item and the rarity reflects the pricing. Clothing made 50 years ago is still around today because it was not mass-produced like many clothes today, and most likely it will last another 50 years if you treat it well.”
Play that tells you the story of what’s really behind your clothes
The During The City of Science Three theatre practitioners and actors produced What We Wear at the festival in the month of April. The show explored the origins, uses and stories behind the clothing we wear.
The minds behind the play – Maria Agius Muscat, Zofia Stelmaszczyk and Alex Weenink – collaborated with Lorraine Portelli, a lecturer in fashion studies, and Tonya Lehtinen, the owner behind Gozitan second-hand shop Vogue Xchange, to fully understand what it means when we speak about sustainable fashion and how we can adopt small practices which can have a big impact on our environment.
“On a local scale, we see that tailors and seamstresses are still very popular, and we don’t give them enough credit,” Agius Muscat said.
“There are also loads of charity shops and thrift shops. More and more shops we discovered the more we looked. Local initiatives exist to help you dispose of unwanted textiles. When you begin to search and look, you will find so many options.”
“Clothes are also a tool of expression, a tool of being fun and creative,” Weenink added.
“Clothes are special and have a history. Fast fashion makes us look at clothes as mere objects of consumption – we buy, we use and then we throw away.
When in reality they are objects that identify who we are and can also be very special when passed down through our family.”