What’s been your best-ever vintage find?
I once found a Chanel handbag at a thrift store in New York being sold as a bootleg item. I have sold many Chanel handbags in the past, and we continue to stock them through our webstore and Portobello Road shop, so I have a keen eye when authenticating them. When I saw the bag, I was convinced the item was real. After buying the bag for $40, it later transpired, after being sent to a company that authenticates bags, that my initial assessment was correct, and the bag had a retail value of over £2000.
What are your top tips for first-time vintage shoppers?
Online shopping is great for people who live outside of major cities and might not have the opportunity to access so many vintage stores. It also offers a safe and easy alternative during the pandemic. Being able to look through an online archive at your own pace from home is also a massive benefit.
However, in my view, first-time vintage shoppers must get out there onto the high street and visit vintage stores first-hand. You can’t beat the atmosphere, touching the garments, chatting to enthusiastic staff and being able to try items on and style yourself in the fitting room. Being on the high street, you can also learn so much just by watching people’s style and trends. Through this, you can inspire your own looks and have greater confidence in ways to wear and explore vintage.
Where would you like to see the vintage industry in five years’ time?
I think the vintage industry has the opportunity to be one of the biggest authentic exponents of environmental protection in the fashion industry and can lead the existing fashion industry to become more environmentally conscious. Through buying vintage, you are supporting the recycling industry and rejecting unethical fast fashion and the throwaway landfill culture that surrounds so much of the clothing industry today. I think in five years’ time, vintage fashion can continue to position itself as an ethical and environmentally friendly way of buying fashion and protecting the environment through your everyday.
Scroll down to see and shop my exclusive Goldsmith Vintage edit, which goes live today.
