It was already apparent to me that a real bargainous charity shop where you’re fighting with penny pinching biddies is becoming something obselete in London but when Westbourne Grove, where yummy mummies are aplenty and boho trustafarians ‘slum’ it in their ‘poky inherited’ little flat in Notting Hill, opened up Oxfam’s first new ’boutique’ on 10th May (World Fair Trade Day) well, I’m sort of flummoxed and all for it, all at the same time.
Jane Shepherdson who exited Topshop with a lot of trumpets and fanfare has now decided to lend Oxfam a hand and give them a makeover and we now have a shiny black exteriored store that is as far as away from my local Oxfam as can be and inside, there’s more and more shininess. To up the surreality factor, this is an Oxfam store whose opening was celebrated by an after party at Bungalow 8. Curious stuff.
Just to recap, Oxfam is a type of thrift store in the UK and whilst they have dabbled in the high-fashion stakes before by having the Traid off-shoot stores, this chain of boutiques (they hope to have 250 in the UK…) is an entirely different kettle of fish altogether. Whilst it still sells donated goods, we’re talking designer threads that are have been ¬£¬£¬£ racked up (Miu Miu skirt at ¬£50, Stella McCartney Jacket at ¬£90…). In addition, you have Fair Trade labels like People Tree and Kazuri, and labels that specialise in fabric recycling like Junky Styling and Kitty Cooper Shoes. Continuing, the recyling theme, London School of Fashion students and other up and coming designers have been asked to use unsold Oxfam stock to make some unique one-off pieces for sale in the boutique and even the volunteers at Oxfam are getting stuck in and making clothes too for sale. So all in all, not your average charity shop and naturally those prices reflect that.
Here’s where I get flummoxed I guess. I get it. It’s a chi-chi area where the money is rolling around, and better for an organisation like Oxfam to make a buck or two than someone else. If these people can easily afford a ¬£260 dress from a charity shop then so be it. I’m also all for up and coming designers and fashion students getting their hands on unused Oxfam stock and making amazing clothes. It’s like being able to buy the products of a Project Runway/Catwalk challenge…. nothing wrong with that and as modelled by Alexa Chung (Overexposed, much? Bored by her? I am…), this Gabrielle Miller patchwork dress is lovely and probably worth the pretty penny they have tacked onto it…
BUT… and I guess it’s the old biddy in me emerging as I have just returned from a weekend of South East coast charity shop browsing where the prices are still low low low (no finds for me though…) and therefore, I’m still in the frame of mind whereby I want to walk into an Oxfam and find a pair of Miu Miu shoes for ¬£10 and feel very chuffed with myself coming out of there with my charity shop steal. Designer names aside, I like my ¬£2 skirts and ¬£3 cashmere cardis. Perhaps the value of fashion and what it SHOULD be worth is all out in the open now and those sort of bargains just aren’t possible anymore in the savvy chi-chi parts of London but I know they still exist elsewhere. So in a non-conclusive ending, the concept of the store itself is fine by me but the Oxfam name attached to it is somewhat confusing for simple folk like me…
It does make it worse that I do like what some of the designers, who were roped into help launch the boutique by making garms made out of stuff they found at Oxfam (you might have seen it in the Grazia spread last week), have done… it’s all up on eBay now save for a crystal-encrusted black flapper dress that Christopher Kane has done. I’m thinking that’s their star piece that will go sky-high in bids…
Giles Deacon took some floral curtains and reworked it into a dress shape taken from his SS08 collection…this is getting a lot of bids at the mo even though I think similar dresses can be found for a lot less..
Henry Holland used an old bridesmaid dress as the base sillhouette for some Spongebob action and some 70’s curtains to make this reversible puffball dress… I’ll sit out on the Spongebob but I do like the triangular geo print…
Richard Sorger’s dotty dress got a ‘hand’ with a dusting of Swarovski pearls and a hand print from his AW08 collection… love the way it messed up the primness of polka dots….
I’m going to have a go at bidding for this but purely because of the amazing print on the skirto f this dress….not so keen on the dots and ruffle blouse at the top though…
This is so recognisable as Jonathan Saunders that this is actually a pretty good steal for anyone who gets it for under ¬£100…
I want to know how Stephen Jones found a A-Z map pillowcase but in any case, he has made it into a madhatter hat…
even up here i avoid oxfam because for one, they colour code everything (why?!) and they slap on high prices. they seem to choose newish things too, rather than stuff that’s really decades old. i can’t believe they’re opening a boutique, i guess if it’s in aid of charity then they should do what makes them the most money, but i’ll be sticking to my settlement shop and barnardos where everything is 99p!
That hat is amazing!
wendy b has a point…
theres been an oxfam boutique in Durham for a while now, why is London claiming to be the first?!
I totally agree with you about Oxfam!! and that spongebob skirt is really really nice…i don’t really like the spongebob top either but the print is lovellyyyy!
gros connard 😀
I actually work in a charity shop and I totally agree getting 2 quid skirts in charity shops are now quite rare, I reckon its because more people now know they can find great designer pieces for lower prices in charity shops, for example the other day we got some designer coats, christian dior and channel, we had to price them for about 80 sommin, I bet few years back it would had been for nothing more than ¬£40 but because more people want vintage or designer pieces, the charity shops see there’s a demand then they raise the prices. It also probably depends on the area, like the area oxfam boutique is situated seems like a well off area so they asumme people would be willing to spend more. I think charity shops are more expensive in London though, than here in Bristol cos you can still get vintage designer pieces for about a tenner and If your’e a good talker/ negotiator you could even get it reduced to about 8.99, if you find some silly fault like theirs a wee stain it probably wouldnt wash off (one I often use… sad, I know) or the pin on the buckle looks weak can I get a discount.
My fav of those outfits however is that of Gabrielle Miller, richard sorger dress and Jonathan Saunders.
Sorry about the long comment, I should get to bed now, dear oh dear!!!
the Jonathan Saunders dress is gorgeous!!!
hmm…raising the prices def defeats the purpose of having “thrift” stores, I reckon.
I totally know what you mean: the whole point of thrifting is to buy a ridiculously high valued item at a ridiculously low price.
I am just waiting to find a shop that sells beautiful vintage couture dresses for like ¬£2.50…a girl can dream right?
Is it just me or is Jane Shepardson just saving the chi chi brigade from slumming it in Topshop Oxford Circus.
I love the fact she is making a mark but agree with all you’ve said Susie – given your love of thrifting it is a shame some of the pleasure has gone and also the joy of an item that doesn’t leave a hole in your purse.
I love Gabrielle Miller and think her injection is worth the money and some of the handbags really do represent value for money.
All I can say is if you want a bargin then TK Maxx. I spent last week trying on lots of designer pieces that were down from ¬£675 to ¬£39.99 – and had I won the lottery there was a Valention top with sequins and bows I’d have bought for you!
Is it just me or is Jane Shepardson just saving the chi chi brigade from slumming it in Topshop Oxford Circus.
I love the fact she is making a mark but agree with all you’ve said Susie – given your love of thrifting it is a shame some of the pleasure has gone and also the joy of an item that doesn’t leave a hole in your purse.
I love Gabrielle Miller and think her injection is worth the money and some of the handbags really do represent value for money.
All I can say is if you want a bargin then TK Maxx. I spent last week trying on lots of designer pieces that were down from ¬£675 to ¬£39.99 – and had I won the lottery there was a Valention top with sequins and bows I’d have bought for you!
The thing is, Oxfam never was a ‘thrift’ shop, it’s always been a charity shop.
It’s never been specified anywhere that charity shops should be cheap!
The only way they used to be able to attract any customers was through low low prices, since there was a stigma attached to buying second hand, so they needed something to balance it out.
But now that ‘vintage’ shopping is cool, the charity shops know that they can get away with hiking up their prices, and make more money for charity.
Sad for the likes of us, yes (I’m in LOVE with the Jonathan Saunders dress) but in my opinion, not a bad thing at all.
As someone who only got into “thrifting” about a year ago I was starting to believe that finding gems in charity shops was a myth. Now I know that all the good stuff has just been moved to the swanky areas in London so the “chi chi brigade” [thats a new one on me, thanks!] can snap them up and do the usual “it’s vintage dahhhhling”.
What about those people who genuinely rely on Charity shops to buy clothes? I suppose they should just be happy with the stained polo shirts and moth eaten BHS skirts?
Im starting to believe this whole green movement is just to make the middle classes feel better about themselves. It would seem that with the hiked up prices and exclusivity everything about fair trade and eco friendly is geared towards those with money. These people don’t genuinely care about the impact on the environment or fair trade for third world countries. It’s all about fashion and “keeping up with the Joneses”.
As soon as “green living” isnt quite the hot topic it is now, all their clothes will go straight to the land fill and they’ll go back to driving their gas guzzling 4X4’s to pick up their precious fat kids.
it all gives me a big head ache (or is that my summer sunday hang over creeping into mid monday blues?)i guess we now know where all the vintage “finds” end up in bloody W11. alexa chung – cant deal with either today, shes nice to look at but thats where it ends. ps Susie, do you know where Style Bytes has gone? No posts for 3 weeks, can you shed any light?
I agree with Pretty face, the whole point of Oxfam is to raise money for people who really need it. I don’t think Jane Shepherdson is selling to those of us who love to find Miu Miu shoes for a tenner. She’s selling to those who can afford ¬£260 for a dress. That new Oxfam is not for us thrifters, we just need to use our resourcefulness and keep finding new ways to rock our low-priced fashion! A lot of the people that Oxfam raise money for don’t get to worry about cheap fashion finds.
Minor quibble – Traid doesn’t have anything to do with Oxfam, it was actually originally run by Humana… Actually the Traid shop in Westbourne Grove is pretty expensive for the same reason that the Oxfam boutique is – it just makes sense for charities to know the area and their market if they want to make money, which is kinda the whole point. When I worked for Traid it sometimes annoyed me how the managers from the swankier outposts like WBG and Shepherd’s Bush would speak witheringly of lower-end high street clothing, but I guess basically they just didn’t want it to wind up in their shop, where they wouldn’t be able to shift it. Although people have the expectation that charity shops ought to be dirt cheap, I’m sure anyone who er ‘thrifts’ regularly knows that the clientele are pretty picky – even in the shittiest part of town, even to the extent of trying to haggle down the price of something from BHS on the grounds of microscopic holes in its surface. Seems like the Brits have an ambivalent relationship with secondhand clothing – they want it to be cheap AND beautiful AND they may or may not be open about where they got it…
oh dear, now this stuff is available online… lord help me.
Great post and comments. I agree with Pretty Face, the charities don’t care about us getting a bargain they just want to raise as much money as poss for their charities. However, I am also with the guys moaning that we don’t have enough bargains at our disposal anymore now that charity shops have become ‘cool’. I wrote an article on this years ago and interviewed one of those girls from Cheap Date (forget which one, Kira Joliffe I think) who was quite scathing in her disagreement with me and insisted that charity shops shouldn’t be cheap, they should be about raising money for their charities. My bugbear was always with the Oxfam in World’s End that sells Prada boots for ¬£100. A hundred pounds!
Also, when I read about this in Sunday Times Style yesterday I did feel a bit deja vu-ish and though, hasn’t Traid been doing this customising thing for ages? Seems I was right. I think the danger is that people like me will avoid shops like Oxfam because they know they can’t get bargains there and so when the trend for thrift/vintage/eco/ethical dies out, they’ll find that they’ve lost the posh customers AND the poor customers.
I don’t think any of those pieces are that special either apart from the Stephen Jones hat and the Jonathan Saunders dress but that’s just me. Phew, sorry for the long comment!
I can understand how you feel about this- on one hand it’s winnings all around for everyone (the posh people who can afford dresses for 260, the store itself, and the fashion students who are in on the project), but yeah, the thrifters lose a bit. Considering that thrifting, for me, mainly consists of finding cut-price H&M and Topshop in export reject markets, I’d say your scene is pretty good. I mean, at least the good clothes are there somewhere and can be found for less money- something that just doesn’t happen in India.
Woohoo people are in agreement with me! I think all the Londoners are just a tad jealous of the marvellous finds that bloggers outside the capital and in America are coming up with, but we’ve got other things to make up for it 😉
PS susie are you able to change my url in the last post, I still haven’t got the hang of typing out my ridiculously long URL.
The problem with this sort of store is that it prevents these designer pieces being distributed equally across the nation. There’s a rating scale used in charity shops, if an item comes in to a small scale charity shop that’s a designer piece it is moved on to another shop where they can price it up. There wasn’t always this system in place and most charity shops didn’t have internet access so they had no system for correctly valuing items. I live in a small town and have worked at Cancer Research and we had to send any designer pieces that were donated to shops in London and Manchester. So if more and more shops like this open up there will definately won’t be so many bargains to be had! I don’t necessarily think that is a bad thing and I think it’s right that charities now have the facilities to ensure they’re pricing items to their correct value! But I think it should be distributed more evenly. The only other thing about this that concerns me is that surely people will stop donating these items if they know they’re selling for ¬£100 and being put into a ‘ boutique’ and will probably start selling them on ebay themselves.
Pretty Face: Changed!
Jess: You sure it’s the same kind of boutique because the one in Westbourne Grove sells all the fashion student altered stuff, the Fair Trade stuff as well as old designer stuff….
See what I mean when I said that I’m in two minds aboud this…. I think ppl who have commented here also have some ambivalency about the whole thing…
It’s true that Oxfam isn’t exactly bargainous heaven and charity shops in general were never about providing us thrify ppl with wicked steals…. at the end of the day, the more money the better as they are duh…’charities’…. I guess that it has resulted in thrify ppl getting cool fashionable finds is a positive by product…. so something like an Oxfam Boutique isn’t for people like me but is still likely to be puzzling for peeps wandering in there thinking it’s a normal Oxfam…
Ack… no conclusive thoughts still and the sun is making me ever so drowsy…
I think my issue with this idea is the same as others have highlighted above, that nicer pieces are sent to more ‘up-market’ branches and those of us who are deemed to live in less fashionable places don’t get a look in, at any price. I used to work in an Oxfam shop some years ago and they were already sending the best stuff to the shops in the big towns and cities. They were also very blinkered about what they considered suitable to sell. They were so desperate to be rid of the musty image that anything that looked more than 5 years old had to be put straight in the fabric recycling bins, losing them a whole potential market of retro fans. I would hope that the recent popularity of vintage clothing has filtered through to these people and that this policy has changed, but I see little evidence of it in my local charity shops. Maybe they’re sending all the older stuff to London as well?
I don’t like it, but in a rotten way, it makes sense. We’re overrun with secondhand stores that cover every base from classic cheap’n’chic [Pop Boutique] and eye-catching jolie-laide [Mint and a lot of Brick Lane’s shops] to serious 30s and 40s vintage, and on that level Oxfam compare badly. I hate that I think that, but I do. The fact that it’s for a good cause should lead us to buy there… but does it? Many of us are savvy about second-hand clothes, we know what we’re looking for and where to get it, and Oxfam often isn’t that destination. It seems Oxfam are doing what they need to do, if they want to stay afloat in the current fashion climate, and appealing to people with spare cash. It’s a bit gimmicky but if Jane Shepherdson can’t make it work, who can?
But I would rather go out of town to places where there aren’t a million 2nd-hand places, and where thrifting still feels like thrifting.
Love the Sorger dotty dress.
for those who remember the glory days of thrifting, it’s hard to pay a lot for second-hand clothes.
I do tire of Alexa Chung….
Are marketing tactics and Oxfam a contradiction in terms? DAT is Da Scaree question? Thrift Stores are a London-NYC ethos, but in a similar style… I prefer what Paris-based Sakina M’sa did – having a bunch of ordinary ladies from a Northern suburb make haute couture out of second hand clothing. The result was shown in an expo at the newly restored Petit Palais. Terrific!!!
i work in an oxfam originals in manchester and people always complain about the prices, it’s completely selfish, its a charity shop, we’re simply selling clothes for what they are worth, not trying to make lots of money for ourselves like vintage shops do.
Georgina: Thanks for alerting me… I knew about Sakina M’Sa but not about this project….really inspiring….
Thanks to those who highlighted another issue with charity shops sending the good stuff into busier areas… I had no idea about that….that said, in out of town charity shops, I still found a lot of great things, designer or not so I’m guessing this doesn’t apply to all chains of charity shops….
Well Oxfam has never been the cheapest charity-thrift store and it’s hard to get used to the idea of an Oxfam Boutique! To me, it just feels like a strange concept but it will no doubt work. It’s just not Oxfam as we have always known it.
I Love the patchwork dress and the Giles Deacon curtain dress, but you’re right there are plenty of cheaper copies out there! Oh and yes, that skirt you want to bid on is lovely!
Well if it’s raising money and giving a chance to up-and-coming designers then I think it’s cool…
Also, check out http://www.revampfashion.co.uk … uk designer collective who have got their hands on Cancer Research donations and transformed them into some fabulous pieces, on sale at the Marelybone high street branch. And not too pricey either…
this does seem like a kinda weird idea…but yeah, good if it’s raising money for a charity!
there’s an oxfam in brighton that sells reworked clothes too…they’re pretty cool!
Ahhh! I have that very A-Z pillowcase! It cost me 10p in a charity shop (in the north, obviously at that price) a few months back… I was wondering where the other of the pair had gone… Its pretty high on my top ten charity shop list- friends have even tried to buy it off my bed!
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This makes me annoyed, not because “Oh, no, now I won’t get my John Rocha pants for 6.50” but because THEY’RE TAKING IT AWAY FROM ME (US)!
These “yummy mummies” as you call them, thinking they’re being so very common by shopping in Oxfam, that’s really not the point, is it? I love the fact that people don’t have to throw out their clothes, that someone else will be so glad to have them; I am a firm believer in “one man’s trash is another’s treasure”…
I also really like being able to find really nice, interesting clothes (not necessarily designer… in fact, not at all, I’m not a big brands girl myself) … clothes that someone else didn’t want! Every time I go in there I see something great.
I know what Selina meant though, where I live Enable Ireland (an Irish charity shop) is just like that. It has newish stuff, which you just saw downtown in another shop, but second-hand. Not a big fan, but you can get nice skirts.
Oh, yeah, hopefully this won’t hit Ireland. I know I frequent them, and now my friends are starting to look in charity shops too, but must keep it away from those people.
That is really not the message of Oxfam, anyways, is it? Like these people are hardly doing all of this out of the sheer goodness of their hearts. Hah!
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I love the idea of the boutique.. In fact i love Oxfam and the fact that we can buy amazing one off pieces and the money goes to a very good cause! I am a 4th yr promotion student and i am doing a campaign for Oxfam..
My idea is to make a website for oxfam where New Designers can have their own profile page and upload images, tips, trends and more! Do you think this would work for Oxfam? Would students that are graduating think to go to Oxfam to sign up? I would really appreciate all your comments.
Thank you Vittoria
That dress is absolutely stunning. Kudos to the designer and model.
http://ilcorvo.us/
Firstly, I wanted to clarify that Oxfam is a development organisation which uses ‘thrift’ stores to generate income, it is not a type of thrift store. I worked in one of the (many) Brighton stores and never once packed anything, designer, retro, vintage or otherwise, off to a London store. Nor did we only put out new things. Things are only put into the recycling if they are unwearable – dirty, full of holes etc. and even then, if it’s cool we keep it. In Brighton we def still cater to those who rely on Oxfam for cheap clothing too.
I think Oxfam opened their boutiques to show that ‘ethical’ fashion can actually be fashionable and also to generate more income to fund developmental projects they do around the world.
Anyway, orgs like Oxfam need to make money at the end of the day …. if you want really good thrift store without jacked up prices, go to Australia – best second hand stores in the world!
I absolutely agree about OxFam, although there are still some good charity shops out there (smaller, local charities tend to be particularly good).
And I love the hat. It’s awesome.
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