Early on a wintry Friday, customers are already browsing at Shoreditch vintage boutique, Paper Dress. Clothes are everywhere; 1920s flapper dresses fight for space with vibrant 1960s prints and full-skirted 1950s gowns.
It is unlikely shoppers won’t find what they’re looking for, but with an increasing number of vintage retailers in Hackney they won’t have to look far for an alternative boutique.
Hannah Turner Voakes, who set up Paper Dress in September 2007 on a “shoestring budget” of £55,000, says “people here are definitely warming to the idea. In the last three years loads of shops have opened. It’s been flourishing.”
With another, Vintroville, newly opened, Ali Macdowall, who works in Casino in Stoke Newington’s vintage heavy Church Street, says Hackney is replacing the now “ridiculously overpriced” Brick Lane as the destination area for vintage fashion.
Welcoming the new competition as a way of attracting more customers, she says people come in for the bargains. With prices starting at just £5 for revamped and recycled versions of classic fashions, “it’s not as expensive as the high street.”
Macdowall thinks vintage is thriving because it is greener and the antithesis of the disposable Primark culture. “People want things that are good, not rubbish for no money.”
Turner Voakes, who sells labels like Ossie Clark and counts Florence Welch and Keira Knightley among her customers, agrees value for money has made vintage popular especially during the credit crunch.
“You get high end couture, nice tailoring and fabrics without having to pay for it,” she says. Although her prices reach up to £200 she says people are willing to spend more for clothes that will last.
Within five years she anticipated a turnover of £260,000, with profits of £60,000. In its first year, the shop beat projections to turn over about £16,000 a month. “That was at the boom,” she says. “The recession really hit us. There’s been a massive difference in spending habits.”
To compensate she’s started evening events, including a Valentines soiree with burlesque dancers and cocktails, as well as opened a coffee shop in store, to create a “lifestyley” feel and “because the markup on coffee is great”.
Markups on vintage are good generally. Turner Voakes might spend £8 on a dress and, factoring in petrol – vintage often comes from recycling mills in the north of England – repairs and washing, sell it for £30.
Sue Taylor, an old hand who started out selling at Portobello market before setting up Ribbons & Taylor in Stoke Newington 20 years ago, agrees. “I aim to make three times what I paid for something,” she says.
Taylor, like everyone in the vintage industry, works long hours and opens every day. She says the job is hard work for the money.
“You have to love clothes and get excited when you find something great.”
She says great finds are getting rarer, as people turn to eBay and suppliers move business to Eastern Europe. “The recession was no problem in terms of customer level,” she explains. “But lots of places I used to buy from closed”.
“People want vintage now more than ever,” she says. “But it’s more difficult to get the stuff.”
Taylor knows many of her customers and enjoys now selling to their children. “It’s a community atmosphere,” she says. Macdowall agrees, saying Casino suffered less economically than the high street because of loyal customers. Ultimately, she says, “the shop is for the locals.”
And in Hackney, the locals like vintage. Taylor thinks the boom in vintage couldn’t happen elsewhere in London.
“Young people in Hackney want to look edgy,” she says, recalling the boutique shop opposite Ribbons & Taylor that closed down recently “because it was too straight”.
“People here love to look different, almost to a ridiculous extent, which vintage allows,” smiles Turner Voakes. Her backer chose Shoreditch because of its natural clientele of “creatives” – stylists, designers, photographers, and students from nearby London College of Fashion.
The prospect of a new shop competing with hers doesn’t worry Turner Voakes, who is optimistic about the future.
“I think vintage is going to become more accepted,” she says. “Vintage isn’t a specific style so I can’t see it ever not being fashionable. It’s always going to be on trend.”
That’s good news for everyone in the business, although Taylor says it might be time for her to retire.
“I might give it up,” she laughs. “But I could never fully leave it.”
