Vintage clothes in Dublin

Geraldong, spamming the forum is a bannable offence. Add to the discussion rather then just advertise.


Vice, thing about vintage/second hand/charity shops is that you have to visit on a regular basis. Good pieces rarely hang around, they get snapped up by people like me who'll buy anything nice and keep it to give to friends that it will suit.
We have a drawer full of stuff, clothes, hats, bags, jewlery, books, music - anything that we think someone else might get a kick out of. It's stuff we've picked up at various places that we use to keep 'gifts and presents' in for birthdays or whatever.

So you gotta go in on a regular basis. You'll learn the stock and quickly learn to spot anything new. Or, better yet, the staff will get to know you and put stuff aside for ya.

Offense was not the intention.
Spamming of the forum is a constant headache here and more often then not spamming is done by first time posters. As your post was a tad ambiguous I didn't handle it in the usual way, rather I issued an inline warning about spamming but I left your post in place. The usual method of handling spammers is to remove the posts and issue a perma-ban.
Hope this examination goes someway to assuage any hurt feelings.

Hey, I think its very hard to come across a good vintage shop in Ireland. I know that Oxfam in Dublin have a shop deciated to vintage. My true love for vintage lies with handbags. I love to buy them and mostly find them in charity shops. But does anyone have vintage handbags that they would like to sell at a reasonable rate.

Maigh Eo wrote: »

Hey, I think its very hard to come across a good vintage shop in Ireland. I know that Oxfam in Dublin have a shop deciated to vintage. My true love for vintage lies with handbags. I love to buy them and mostly find them in charity shops. But does anyone have vintage handbags that they would like to sell at a reasonable rate.

You're thinking of Oxfam on Georges St.? I wouldn't say its dedicated to vintage, it has a decent enough vintage section at the back, I've never bought anything there but its worth knowing about.

I love the idea of vintage clothes, that an item of clothing has a history and a story, the vast vast majority of what is sold in the Irish shops is just junk and absurdly expensive. I was in a vintage shop in Cork yesterday and it was so obvious they were selling off their own old clothes and trying to pass it off as vintage which p*ss's me off. Also just because something is old the people running most of the shops seem to think they can put any manky frumpy old christmas jumper or other half mouldy piece of crap up and slap a 4O euro price tag on it. I think is people weren't trying to rip us off and actually made an effort to hand select their items (most vintage shops buy in huge bulk from Europe and don't even know what they're getting till they get home) and kept the shops more boutique like then people would be more interested. I buy mine online because it's cheaper than buying new clothes and there is a much much better selection, I never spend a penny in Irish vintage shops barr one that hand selects their pieces from the States and is very reasonably priced.

I mainly use etsy: http://www.etsy.com/ as that has hundreds/thousands of vintage sellers listing there and I also use ebay.com sometimes.

This crowd are good too: http://www.sydneysvintageclothing.com/
although their website is a disaster.

I'd say try opening an online shop or getting a market permit first and see how you get on, the rent is a nightmare for most vintage shops and that's why they have to charge such extortionate prices. There's a good reason why most of them close down within a few years of opening. I knew a girl running a lovely one in Cork a few years ago and her rent was phenomenal, can't remember off hand the figure but I remember not being able to figure out how they could possibly make it back off the clothes and her spot wasn't great either. They a few years or so before they went under.

If I were to get into dealing myself I would specialise in one area, I know a girl who only sells dresses (and a small few accessories), and she really knows her stuff. she knows the history behind different pieces/styles/designers etc and so can price each piece accordingly and she goes to great lengths to pick her pieces herself so her selection is always fabulous and in great nick, with prices ranging from 20euros up to hundreds for designer pieces. Other people online specialise in one designer, like there's a girl on etsy who's shop I visit that only sells Gunne Sax dresses. I would say the country has enough sub-standard vintage shops, so if I were to do it myself I'd be trying to think of how I could do something a bit different and a lot better to the others to attract the people who are really into it and to make a name for myself as having a very high standard of excellent quality/condition, stylish and affordable items.

I know one girl that selects clothes herself, but she doesn't have a website yet. She's mentioned a few others, so there's definitely a few out there, but I think their problems are actually waiting for markets with stalls availible.

The last vintage fair I was at was the one in south Dublin a few months ago, it was quite good for womenswear, but tbh, it was damn pricey. If folks were interested in buying vintage, I really do think a weekend in London is the way to go. Fly over early on a Saturday morning, hit Portobello Rd, have a nice meal and a few drinks in town, hit up Brick Lane and Spitalfields on the Sunday morning, a quick tour around some of the newer retro shops in Soho and back home on the Sunday night. Chances are it'll still be cheaper than buying here in Ireland.

Anyways, I have my vintage Burberry trench, too many old satchels and more old cameras than I can shake a stick at, so I'm barring myself from markets until at least Christmas. Maybe Autumn...

How annoying was that. Yip Ive heard of more rural clothes shop's in Ireland shopping in the likes of Dunnes and Pennys and removing and or replaceing tags to suit there own shop and of course major price hikes!:mad:

fillefatale wrote: »

And its up to people like you to warn us about them. Like you've mentioned people who actually care about what they sell - I have a feeling that they'll build up a lot of bad karma by trying to screw customers over and eventually they won't be getting any business at all. The Penney's and and Dunnes thing had my mouth gaping in shock. Like UO 'vintage' is ridiculously overpriced and not worth it but at least its in someway genuine 'vintage'.

I used to buy vintage because it was the only way I could afford to get something different and of good quality at reasonable prices but now "vintage":rolleyes: is often more expensive than something comparable that's brand new in a fairly upmarket boutique!:eek:

There's very little genuine vintage stuff available now compared to 10 years ago or more. I got a 1970s green leather jacket in Harlequin with tags attached for £50 in 1999, but there's no way you'd get anything like that in there now. I don't know if Jenny Vander is still around now but it used to be good when it was in the Georges Street arcade. eBay is probably your best bet for genuine vintage now but I personally don't like buying vintage I can't see or touch first.

Charity shops used to be good but I don't think the better donations make it to the shelves at all now and what I've seen in Oxfam on Georges Street is tatty, again you'd get something comparable brand new for less. The Cancer Society shop in Rathmines can be good if you're lucky but I found that the staff there have a really bad attitude. I heard that staff go through the stuff, pick out the good designer stuff and flog it on eBay.:mad:

Maigh Eo wrote: »

Well that last piece really takes the biscuit....popping up items on Ebay to make a killing, who gaines the profit. That terrible. :mad:

I don't mean the staff of one particular charity shop, but the staff of charity shops who take in bags. I heard that they go through the stuff and weed out the best for their own personal use or to sell on eBay. Maybe it applies to one or two people who worked in charity shops, but that's not to say all people who work in charity shops are like that.

Emme wrote: »

I used to buy vintage because it was the only way I could afford to get something different and of good quality at reasonable prices but now "vintage":rolleyes: is often more expensive than something comparable that's brand new in a fairly upmarket boutique!:eek:

There's very little genuine vintage stuff available now compared to 10 years ago or more. I got a 1970s green leather jacket in Harlequin with tags attached for £50 in 1999, but there's no way you'd get anything like that in there now. I don't know if Jenny Vander is still around now but it used to be good when it was in the Georges Street arcade. eBay is probably your best bet for genuine vintage now but I personally don't like buying vintage I can't see or touch first.

Charity shops used to be good but I don't think the better donations make it to the shelves at all now and what I've seen in Oxfam on Georges Street is tatty, again you'd get something comparable brand new for less. The Cancer Society shop in Rathmines can be good if you're lucky but I found that the staff there have a really bad attitude. I heard that staff go through the stuff, pick out the good designer stuff and flog it on eBay.:mad:

Wow, I guess its because vintage is somewhat desirable now, stuff we see celebrities wearing now and because in the noughties we set no real styles, only re-hashed previous decades every year and so people grew more accustomed to the vintage look.

I couldn't agree more about Oxfam on Georges st., the last three occasions I was there all the stuff was absolute tat, I couldn't imagine anyone buying it. I know from working in a charity shop that we get dibs on stuff we'd come across and I've seen some lovely designer bits in the store, but fair is fair, I'd only the odd time pick up something and certainly not buy it just to sell on ebay. There really should be a policy in stores where this sort of thing is going on, such as a limit on the amount of items someone can buy per shift/week/etc.

crayolastereo wrote: »

I have never seen anything really worth buying in any of these shops. I have seen stuff I've bought in Pennys resold at three times the price, and in terms of charity shops, maybe they're different in America or London or whatever, but here they're just depressing and full of tat.

Im not sure that Id say all charity shops are full of tat?? It may depend what charity shops you have been to. If you are ever in Mayo, there is a huge selection and some are well worth the time spent in them.