Live95 Limerick Today Podcasts

Sustainable fashion - Young people in Limerick say thrifting is the way to go

Joe is joined by Lucky Lane's David Irwin, owner of Whack Vintage Oisin Fahy and Live95’s Kate Kennedy to discuss young people's love for "Thrifting".

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Duration:: 16m
Broadcast on:: 06 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

You're views, your news, your limerick today with Jonet online 95. Secondhand shopping is certainly not a new idea but it has had a significant resurgence with young people by rebranding it as drifting. Shopping secondhand is no longer looked down on but now viewed as a favourite pastime for many. I mean I would tell us a bit more about this phenomenon is Locky Lane's David Erwin, owner of Wack Vintage, Ushin Fahi and live 95's Kate Kennedy who is a shopper in this sphere as they say and you're all welcome. Good morning to you. So Kate, well as the customer, let's begin with you. So what? 20 somethings are looking secondhand and it's been called drifting. I mean, not a new word in love itself. Yeah, absolutely, I mean like, it's really a, maybe I just like to pretend that I'm a good person because I go to charity shops and I spend all my money and I say it was very good cause but it's really just for me so I can get new clothes. But it's become a massive thing like it, like everyone my age and it's almost like a cool thing. If someone compliments you, it's actually thrifted, I got this secondhand, like it's almost like, okay, go to a person now. And what sort of range are we dealing with in these places? Like price range or clothes range? There's honestly everything because it's people, my age dropping clothes that they won't use again and it's people in their 90s that are like, I should have to lovely never drop that in there. So like you can get a bit of everything in the shops, like there's really no, there's no limit. And then the price range, if you're going to charity shops, they can be really, really, you can get brilliant prices, like it's all, they know what's secondhand so they try and charge them down. But then also there's some places that will say like vintage on them and then they can charge a bit more for vintage, but it really depends where you're going. But all in all, I think it's brilliant. I don't know why people wouldn't do it. I know I think there's a bit of a thing with older generations. They look at secondhand and they're like, "Sha someone else, why would you want to wear that?" It's been worn a million times, but it's perfectly good. And I think it's something that young people, it's sustainable, it's good. I think it's brilliant. I don't see any problems with it. So is it a bit like that limerick thing where someone compliments an outfit and the response occasionally will be pennies, hon. So it's drifting, hon. Yeah, exactly. Trifted. I actually got this, I got this invincible. I actually got it there. Like it's almost like, "Geez, look how unreal I am. I can get it in different places." Yeah. It's definitely that thing. It's like a take. Right. So Ashin, tell us about whack of vintage and how you got involved in this area. So I was in the University of Limerick, studying sports science at the time and I was living in Christ. And so me and one of my other friends actually had a friend that was up in drama that started a brand called Silly Sids. So they were selling clothes at EP because they're from Slane, the Salty Dog area. They get a slap in there every year. That electric picnic. That electric picnic. Sorry. It's okay. And one of the stages there to let you paint it. But I went to work with them for a day and then me and Keene decided that it would definitely be a really good thing to bring to UL because just as Kate said there, when you're kind of wearing something vintage and when you're walking around campus, people will ask you, where did you get that? And one of the really good things and one of it's a kind of double edged sword of vintage is that if you get something, someone else can't get it because it's really individual to you because it's very rare that you will get something that someone else has because it's old and because it's hard to get something it won't repeat really within the stock. So it's very individual to you. So we kind of, as we moved throughout college, we were kind of noticing that this was kind of happening and so we said that there was definitely a market for it there in UL. So then while COVID happened, there was a new student president and I knew him through one of the lads. So I reached out to him and during this time, during COVID, we were selling online and then uploading to DeepUp. We kind of got our Shopify store up and running and then we went back to college after COVID. We were given the opportunity to do a pop up store in the university. We actually have another pop up store in UL next Monday and we do them in all the colleges across Ireland. We're in NUIG in two weeks, but that gave us a really good springboard to see, you know, is this a viable option for a business? And we obviously really, really enjoyed it at the time. So it was, it was really good and that was kind of how it kicked off. And then progressing on from there, I suppose, over the last two years, I've moved into a pop up store in the milk market, so we're there Friday Saturday. Sunday. And that's really where we're at at the minute. We're still kind of doing pop up stores around Limerick around in the universities. And where in UL is the pop up store on Monday? So it's going to be in the courtyard. So just in the courtyard there, the student life courtyard, we're kind of going to be in between there and the courtyard meeting room, because as you know, the rain in Ireland tends to interrupt things. Sure. Sure. Absolutely. David Erwin from Lucky Lane is with us as well. Hi, David. How are you? I do pretty well. Thanks, Joe. How are you keeping? Right. So talk just a bit about your background and Lucky Lane and all of that. Well, Lucky Lane's been going about 10 years, just over 10 years. We had our 10th anniversary last Christmas. And when we opened, it was the depth of the depression, I would say, and it was opened by myself and Marcchi and two musicians looking for something to do during the day. And just saw an opportunity, but it's interesting listening to this as a trending topic. I'm sure you remember modesty in Fox's bow, you know, 30, 40 years ago, students buying their stuff there and the same conversations sort of happening. I think it's always been around and I doubt it's going anywhere soon because I think the uniqueness, as it was mentioned, is one point that I'm purchasing items in bulk, but they're all one offs, in a sense. If the jacket is there and you like it, there's only one size. That's it. You get it. And I think that because of the trend towards environmentalism now, a lot of people are thrifting and seeing fast fashion as being a waste of money and a waste of environmental resources. So it's not just economic or fashion. There's a sort of social consciousness to it these days, but it's not just clothes that we do. I mean, my focus is more on books these days. I know there's a huge trend towards e-books, electronic books, but there's something about having the physical item in your hand, especially if it's maybe more than 30, 40, 50 or 100 years old. Some of the books that we have, there's a collection aspect to it. There's a curation aspect to it. Those people want something that may be a first edition or signed or something as a special present. You can't really do that with e-books and electronic media. And for listeners who aren't aware of Locky Lane, tell us a bit more about it, where it is, all of that. Well, I was hoping a lot of people will be fairly aware of it at this stage. As I say, 10 years on Catherine Street, it's sort of an old lane between buildings. We have second-hand books, as I mentioned, clothing, LPs, furniture, retro-vintage items, that sort of thing. And I would say that our clientele skews younger for the most part. And then there's a huge skip to the older generation who come in for nostalgia reasons. And Kate, I mean, like yourself in your 20s, a lot of your friends are looking at places like this. Yeah, definitely. I'm sorry. I've been into Locky Lane and I take countless times. We have a saying in my group that we're like, it'd be rude not to, like, I don't know. It's something that we pass. We have to go in. But even the pop-up shops are new out and everything, there's almost a pause on campus when something like that were like, even if we were planning on staying in the library for the day, we're like, oh, back vintage is in the courtyard, we'd better go. It's always just like, it's always just fun to see. And there is that kind of thing like you were saying about the individuality, like, there's a bit of a buzz to thrifting because what you know, no one else will have it. So if you find something that you really like, you're like, oh, my God, what are the chances? So like, it's almost a fun thing to do with people because you're all looking. And then you're like, I stumbled upon this great thing. So it's a really fun thing to do in a group, but it's great to do by yourself as well. And what's the favourite that you've bought? I'm not just saying this because of Current Company, but I actually bought it. It was like a fleece jacket from Mac Vintage inside Newell, and I'd say I've worn it 100 times and every single time that someone's complimented it, I've gone straight away. I drifted it. I actually drifted it. Could you believe it? No one else has this in the world. Right. And what's the price point? Oh, I can't remember now. But in general, like what type of money are we talking about? I mean, it's definitely, it's a really good thing for your students because they are a lot cheaper. They get the same fleece for you, get them for like hundreds, like over a hundred euro. When it's second hand, when it's vintage, all those things, it's probably 25, 30, 40, you're talking that price range, but it's brilliant for students because you can get these lovely, lovely pieces for so much cheaper in such a discounted rate. It's brilliant. Is there an environmental dimension to this for younger people? Definitely. I think that it kind of started as a, like, companies like Sheen and like Priscilla thing and those fast fashion companies, you're always going to have people who use those and who think they're a great means because you can get so much for so cheap, but they're not sustainable. They're terrible quality. Like you don't, you can't use them for long. And so there's this kind of thing of, I think there was a mindset change. I better say I'm sure those companies would deny all of the above. Yeah, sorry. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I think we're in COVID. There is a bit of a mindset change where people are like, yeah, I could buy a hundred tops for 25 or I could get like three staple pieces that are so much better quality. So I do think that there is an environmental thing where people are a bit disgusted at like this year volume of clothes that's being produced, but then at the same time, it's like, it's so good. It's just to be clear that it's not always cheaper per item, but, uh, no, I would. No, that's okay. It's just, it's just to understand it. That's all I'm trying to get at, but, and, and, and Ocean from, uh, your perspective, where are you sourcing all of, uh, your clothes, et cetera? Well, if I said that I'd have to kill you, but, uh, no, we'll be the same answer. We get the same answer when people ask us. Good. Good. We never reveal our sources. Give me, give me some sense then. I mean, they don't just appear like via, you know, um, space shuttle. So the majority of our clothes, we actually get in Italy. So I sometimes I go over there, um, or sometimes I just get them sent over and then we get them from varying places across Europe, um, Germany sometimes used to get it in England, and obviously Brexit cutting the way, um, but we get them from a varying much places, do a mixture of hand picking and just buying per the kilo as well, um, mostly hand picking, but it's the best when you can go over there and actually see the clothes yourself. So that's kind of how we source them, um, it's an uphill battle, I would say for vintage clothes places to consistently get, um, good stock and good quality consistently all the time, because if you think about the way that the wholesalers work and the way that, you know, the ecosystem works, they're taking in recycled clothes, you're getting a certain percentage of those that are good quality that people will buy again. And then there's a certain amount that aren't going to be fit for use that are going to have holes, et cetera, which do get reworked and stuff as well. But, you know, there's, there's only a certain amount of percentage there that you can actually buy. So David. Yeah, well, I found that to be the main problem of sourcing, um, not just clothing, but all the second hand stuff that you find something grace, uh, you sell it for a good price. And sort of that's it. You can't go online and buy another one. It's done. You've got to start from scratch for every single item you sell in a sense. But we also buy, buy the kilo or we buy books by the kilo as well, uh, from various sources. Brexit actually has, has killed a lot of our sources, especially for books, because there's no point in buying books in German or in Dutch or something, it had, they have to be in English. Yeah. Do people ever come into you with product and say we take this? Well, we don't, we don't buy things off the public in general. We have suppliers, we source things ourselves. So I don't think there's anywhere in town that will buy second hand goods from you. So I think that's why the charity stores are doing so well, because you have to drop it into them, um, which is great. It's, uh, again, another reason, the circular economy they call it, you know, people wear something that goes into a charity shop and somebody makes money off it for a good cause or a local business and it goes around again. And what's the favorite item that you've ever worn? Well, I have this lovely jacket here. Oh, it's a nice one. Yeah. It's a nice leather one. The quality is, is excellent on this. And I think it's because it's probably 20, 25 years old. You look at it and say, well, it's obviously used, but everything about it's perfect. And it's kind of like natural selection for clothing. I don't think a lot of the products from the companies you mentioned will be around in 25 years. Oh, sheen, the same question. Yeah. And this jumper that I'm wearing, it's an Adidas equipment jumper. So as Kate, I'll probably know that these numbers are very, very sought after. They're like a line, a range, the Adidas made in the 90s. So this jumper is like 30 years old, which is mental. Yeah. Yeah, you see, I knew we were going to get to that at some point what the definition of vintage is. So the 90s is vintage. Well, it's somewhere around 20 to 25 years, usually is what they say of vintage, but as it kind of, it's kind of melded into second hand and vintage. So vintage would be classified as because I can remember every second person wearing one of those in the 90s, so that's vintage. So do you suspect that post college you will continue to do this sort of thrifting, Kate? Yeah, definitely. I have all all their siblings and they do it all the time. My brother, he's just, we'll try his hand at everything, but he actually tried to get into it and try, he bought a big kilo, a big box of things, tried to start selling and everything. He just doesn't have a business brand, so he didn't work out for him, so we just got a bunch of free jumpers. But like, it's all ages are doing it, like it's brilliant. I even know my, as you were saying about the good quality and things are 20 years old, things are 30 years old, my aunt is probably 60 and 70, I should know that, but she was going on about some piece that she thrifted and she was like, yeah, she was like, God, I remember what these are being made, but like, they just don't make the quality like this anymore. So like, there's such a thing that people want to keep buying these second hand pieces because they're not, you don't get the same quality unless you're paying massive prices at the moment. Yeah. This is my daughter, whereas two wool jumpers from the 90s, they were mine and I kept them and now they look unique and she gets lots of compliments that she came on one day and said, oh, someone said they love my vintage jumper, they, she was delighted. So was I, they'd be very expensive today, pure wool, great colors, wash, well says Marion and Marion. Thank you very much for telling us about that. Well, let's hear from others too. If you've got similar stories of clothes that you've picked up in this way or other products, as well as fascinating to hear that thrifting, particularly among younger people, is so much in vogue and we thank you very much, three of you, for telling us all about us. This Friday morning, lucky lanes, David Irwin, owner of WAC, vintage, Oshin Fahy and our own Kate Kennedy. Thank you. Your views, your news, your limerick today with Joe Netch on live 95. (upbeat music) You