Fair Fashion Week: Second Hand

"Every purchase is a ballot!"

The second-hand clothes market is booming and yet the acceptance and share in the clothing industrie is still too low. To be honest, I'm not a second-hand fan: stuffed shops with musty smell, badly divided and too high prices. In between, there are also a few pearls with special concepts that we would wish for more. One of them is a small shop in St.Pauli, fux vintage, which specializes in children's clothing and with whom we will be working closer together in the future. We asked Chandra, the owner some questions about the topic, here are her answers:

In the first instance, did you open the store to cope with the amount of children's clothing or does the environmental aspect play an equally important role for you?

-I worked for years on the film industry - a very family unfriendly industry. As a mother I had to rethink job-technically! When there was a shop free opposite my apartment, I got the idea for a child's second hand – I never had too much for my son and fortunately I got a lot from friends from the beginning or got it from the flea market, but most othe clothes he got where tip top okay ... in addition there was no second-hand shop for children in my district, St. Pauli.It was, so to speak, a very selfish idea Being able to pass on clothes by myself and to get new clothes for the child. The fact that Second-hand is good for the environment was a positive side effect of which I was aware but with every year has gained of greater importance!

How do you rate the subject of Second Hand and what are the hurdles you face yourself and the consumer?

-Usually, the term second-hand is rather pejorative ... but it is more important than ever to maintain and use the already used resources. Even a fair & organic T-shirt consumes new resources - for a second-hand shirt work & water has already flowed ... It is important to me to change this outdated look on used clothes and it is very important to me that people come out of my shop with a nice shopping experience. This also enhances the whole idea tremendously.

Has your view of the fashion industry changed since you got your store?

-Rather on the consumption behavior of me and my customers ... the fashion world is ticking like all industries - profit is the number one goal. But we customers need to change our buying habits, and make more informed purchasing decisions. Keyword: every purchase is a ballot!

Cycle management and reprocessing: What do you think the industry might hold for you and / or ready for you in the future?

- think the term ‚second hand’ is about to discard its dusty associations. There are many ideas and concepts that propagate a recycling / reuse of clothing and that helps the second-hand market to reinvent itself. I hope that’s be possible, because the market is now flooded by fast fashion. Not all customers are willing to pay more for quality and fairly produced clothes. I also hope that mixed concepts, as ours, with new and used articles will be seen more often in the future. I think it's a great way to engage and interact with customers.

Thanks Chandra!

In general, one should consider the topic Second Hand a little more differentiated: Things that you order from friends, relatives or the flea market, Ebay, etc. of course make the most sense. From experience, however, I can say that you are already inclined to spend little money and then to treat the things accordingly, namely to store them relatively far back in the closet. Second Hand shops often source their goods from sorting companies that have not always attracted attention as a good alternative to new clothes, as some research has shown. Above all, the intransparent origin, the business with donations of clothes and unfair conditions in the sorting companies are criticized.

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