How can you find something no-one else has?
Charli met with Bella McFadden, aka Internet Girl, who has made a career out of finding items in dusty vintage shops and reselling them online. Bella is a businesswoman and a stylist whose bespoke vintage clothing bundles have their own unboxing hashtag on YouTube.
And Bella had some tips for those looking to unearth that perfect piece. She advises going to the stores no one else visits and spending as much time in them as you can. “Go through every single item on the racks,” she says. “Usually I’ll find my most rare pieces in the most unexpected places.”
But what is the difference between vintage and thrift?
“I would say thrifting is when you’re like actually going out and hunting the items while buying vintage is more going to a boutique and buying from a curated collection,” explained Bella. “But you could acquire things when thrifting that obviously is from a different era, which is the classical definition of vintage.”
And what is 'deadstock'?
Deadstock is slightly different – it is clothes that were never bought in the first place. It’s not second hand, but it’s not new either. “Deadstock is ‘new’ old stock from another era,” as Bella puts it. “It’s like when it’s brand new, from another decade. Whenever I unearth some deadstock I freak out!”
Bella isn’t the only high profile fan of deadstock. When they’re not making music with teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, British band The 1975 are now giving used and deadstock T-shirts a make-over, instead of creating new tour merchandise.
Are there problems with vintage clothing?
It’s not all good news. The Textile Recycling Association estimates that only about 30% of the clothes we donate to charity get sold in the UK. The rest are exported to other countries, which some say is having a negative impact on their garment industries by putting local makers out of business.
However, buying vintage means you’re not using up more resources and creating more pollution to make something new, so most would argue that the positives outweigh the negatives!
