The thing about being vintage… it never goes out of fashion.
Before we truly begin, I think it’s probably important to understand exactly what vintage clothing is. It’s a word that gets thrown around a lot these days, whether correctly or not. By “dictionary” definition, vintage clothing is a piece that is more than twenty years old, but less than a hundred years old. Anything older than a hundred years would be considered an antique as, by its very nature, is likely to be a lot rarer. As such, what classes as vintage moves… it breathes… it’s not static, and as each year passes more items will be added to the vintage category whilst much older items fall off the other end into the realms of antique.
I love vintage clothing, and delight in spending an hour or two rummaging through a good vintage shop to see what treasures I can find. There are three major reasons why I am so excited by vintage clothing:
- Style – When you find a really cool vintage piece that appeals to your sense of style, you can be relatively sure that, the next time you go out, you’re not going to see five other people wearing the same thing. It helps you build a unique look that is all your own, and also aids in building image confidence. It’s very easy to become comfortable living in generic clothing (and if that’s your bag, there’s nothing wrong with it), but it is amazing what a difference a few unique pieces can make in transforming your wardrobe. I have a vintage suede jacket, and I always feel a little more confident when I put it on because it’s a little bit different, it’s comfortable, it’s well-made, and it goes with a lot of things I already own.
- Durability – There’s no arguing with it; clothes were better made in the past (although as the vintage window creeps into the late 00s and 10s, vintage collectors are going to have to start being more savvy about how items were manufactured), compared to clothes that are made today and churned out by fast fashion giants (shudder). If you know anything about how clothes are made and compare a pair of jeans from the 90s to ones made today, the difference in fabric density, the stitching on the zipper, the hemming etc. etc. will be obvious to see. Some would argue that this general decline in quality is to help keep prices low, and perhaps that is true, but that leads directly to the next point…
- Environment – Vintage clothing is better for the environment. Obviously. By not making new clothing and recycling old, you’re not using new carbon to create anything, you’re keeping fabric out of the waste pipeline, and you’re saving clothing from landfill. This is so important to me – we have so much wonderful clothing out there, available to us, and it’s just waiting to be discovered and loved again…
Of course, that is where Gayle Foster and her shop Vintage At The Tower in Corbridge comes in. I sat down with Gayle a couple of weeks ago to ask her some questions about owning a small business, sustainability, vintage clothing, and why it should be the future of fashion, as well as its past.
How long have you been at Vintage At The Tower, and what was it that inspired you to open a Vintage shop?
Vintage at the Tower was first established in 2013 as a pop-up shop by myself and two other vintage sellers, as we sought to share the costs of running the shop together. By 2022 the other two dealers had moved on from the shop, and I decided to take over the shop solo.
What exactly can someone find at Vintage At The Tower? You have clothing and jewellery, but there are other treasures to find as well…?
Yes, we sell all sorts of clothing and jewellery that I personally source. I specialise and focus on natural fabrics, but also on promoting and preserving British Brands such as Liberty, Barbour, Jaeger, Burberry… and many others! These clothing brands are to be found alongside gorgeous vintage costume jewellery, handbags, and accessories.
We have got a wide range of jewellery; both costume and antique jewellery, handmade with care and consideration, and selected for their style and uniqueness. They go well with any outfit, even your everyday, to elevate and add some style or whimsy, depending on your taste and what you can find! They also make great gifts, because they’re so unique. People aren’t going to have seen it anywhere else, and it means that you can find something that really speaks to an individual for a gift.
They’re thoughtful, stunning and personal, the sort of thing that says, “I saw this and just knew it was made just for you.”
My ethos is to elevate the every day, so I also stock a range of vintage homewares includes crystal glass, tableware, and kitchen paraphernalia. Plates and glasses don’t need to be boring, any more than a pair of trousers does. I want to enhance people’s every day lives by providing individual, stylish, and sustainable items that they will be able to use for many years to come.
Bryony: I am a huge fan of this ethos because, in my mind, life is meant to be lived. It’s meant to be fun and beautiful, cosy, and charming, and whatever other adjective you want to put on it. Wear the perfume just because, light the nice candles, put the fancy skirt on just to pop to the shops… why not?! I think if we consciously try to bring joy into our every day, rather than worrying that we perhaps shouldn’t do that, we would probably have a much more fun experience when simply going about our lives.
Where does your stock come from? (Or is that a trade secret?!)
The stock for Vintage At The Tower is found in a wide variety of places, from fairs to markets, to selected online sellers, as well as other dealers who have items that appeal to my style. Here in the shop we also repair and restore old clothing and jewellery, and everything that comes in is cleaned, polished, and restored to a high quality, to ensure that it gets the new lease of life that it deserves. Sometimes all an item needs is some new buttons, or the lining of a jacket repairing, before it can be worn for many years to come!
I source a lot of my beautiful costume jewellery from Butler and Wilson, and have built up quite the range and collection over the years. I’ve also got some antique pieces of jewellery that are tiny works of art in their own right – made in the early 20th century, and of exquisite detail.
Bryony: I especially love the range of clip-on earrings to be found in the shop. As someone who can’t wear “regular” earrings, no matter what metal I’ve tried, it was amazing to find a shop with such a wide range of beautiful clip-ons to peruse. I think I’ve got at least six pairs!
What drew you to vintage in the first place, and what is your favourite era for vintage clothing? Are you a 70s officiando? Or is the current Y2K clothing movement floating your boat?
I have always had an interest in vintage and pre-loved items, which probably began when I was young – dressing up in my grandma’s gorgeous clothes, and delving into her jewellery box. She was one of the major influences for me becoming a fashion student in the 1980s! My favourite decades for vintage clothing have got to be the Hollywood glamour of the late 40s and early 50s, when things like the Dior “New Look” came into it’s own, and stars like Hedy Lemarr and Audrey Hepburn were shining.
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Is any of the stock not vintage? If so, where does it come from? Do you try and use local suppliers and artisans?
We produce our own range of handknitted accessories made from pure alpaca wool, that are knitted by a team of local ladies. I also make a point of upcycling and reusing old fabrics to make new items, such as lampshades, or customised denim jackets. It’s really important to me to do this, as it keeps old textiles out of the waste stream and out of landfill.
Bryony: Shockingly, each year, we Brits throw away 300,000 tonnes of clothing into landfill. If it doesn’t end up in landfill, it is also burned, another option which is terrible for the environment. This is a cost-cutting approach to disposing of clothes, at the expense of releasing toxic fumes to our environment on a mass scale.
Why is vintage clothing important to you? What do you wish the general public knew about sustainability when purchasing clothing?
I have always been passionate about recycling and reusing as a way to protect the environment, and I see vintage as a great opportunity to achieve this. It has never been more important to be sustainable in our habits, and with enough clothing currently on this planet to clothe the next six generations, encouraging people to buy preloved and vintage clothing is essential.
You’ve worked to make the shop more sustainable; how have you gone about that? What changes have been made, and what changes would you like to make in the future?
The Green Growth Programme, run by Small Business Britain, that I completed last year, was very interesting for me, even though I run a very sustainable business already, I have been able to implement even more changes to make things better. This has included switching energy supplier, changing up our packaging to be more sustainable, and being more aware of how we recycle the minimal waste that is created in store. I have also implemented a sustainability strategy to ensure that every area of the business is sustainable, and caring for a community and planet. Future plans for the shop involve installing solar panels, which is being looked into at the moment.
Something very interesting that we have started recently is our rental service on handbags, designer fashion, and Butler and Wilson statement jewellery. This works really well for our customers who want unique pieces for special events like prom, a wedding, or an anniversary event, and then it can come back and be used and loved by someone else. It’s a brilliant way of making sure that items go back into circulation and the environmental footprint is further reduced!
The European Union recently passed a law that companies can no longer destroy unsold clothing. Is this something you would like to see replicated in the UK? What sort of a difference do you think that it would make?
The recent law change in the EU is a huge leap forward towards a more sustainable fashion industry, and I hope our government takes notice of the changes and acts accordingly. Next to the oil and gas industry, the fashion industry is the second highest polluter on the planet. One piece of vintage clothing purchased has seventy times less the environmental impact compared to a new piece of clothing. I want to encourage everyone to think about where their clothes are coming from, how and by whom they are made, and then seriously consider preloved when deciding where to purchase.
As you can tell, Vintage is very important to Gayle, and I can’t wait to see how she further develops Vintage At The Tower, it’s offering, and the sustainability of the shop. I know that I will be back, again and again, to see what’s new and find my newest piece!