Reduce, reuse, recycle: the three rules of green living. Thrift, second-hand, and vintage shopping all follow all three.
- Firstly you’re reducing the need for new products to be manufactured.
- Secondly you’re reusing things that have been through lord knows what.
- And lastly, by putting things that you don’t want or need any more back into the cycle of reusing you’re recycling.
Vintage shopping is a big buzz word of our times, suddenly we’re realising not only the green aspect of all of these clothes that are hanging around.
We’re also realising the style value of not only wearing something that’s a little bit worn, but of the fact that no one else owns an identical garment, and even if they do it’s rare!
I run a blog about vintage shopping in Tel-Aviv and thought I’d share a few tips on first of all where to go shopping, and secondly what to look for when shopping.
Wizo Bigdia
There’s one of these shops in every town, in the Tel-Aviv area there’s quite a few. And not only are you recycling, you’re helping a good cause. All of the money raised from sales goes to helping women and children in danger of abuse. The prices are really good, NIS 150 is the highest I’ve seen for a leather coat.
Ahava LeShnia – Rechov Rashi/King George
This shop is my favourite vintage shop that I’ve found so far. The owner and shop assistants are all so friendly and kind, and they all love vintage too. They have a good range of menswear, woman’s wear and home wares for sale, from all periods. The prices are decent and you can be sure you’re getting something of very good quality when shopping there.
Once Upon A Time – Ben Yehuda
The first vintage/second hand shop I found in Israel and it’s stuck with me ever since. It’s a small shop that’s stocked to the brim with every possible thing you can think of: crockery, clothing, jewellery, accessories and random other things. They are all beautiful and I can’t wait to finally get enough time to go rummaging through to see what I can find.
Tips for buying vintage clothes
1)When trying on expect to be at least one or two sizes bigger than you expect.
2) Check all of the seams and hardware – a broken seam might just cost you to fix it, unless you can do it yourself.
3) Make sure that if it does need tailoring that it’s not going to cost the earth, or potentially damage the material.
4) Make sure it suits your style
5) Make sure it’s not costumey – The whole point of vintage now is to take something old and make it look modern.
This guest post is written by Angel Cutsforth. She blogs at Vintage Angel.
More on clothing:
Green Prophets Tackle the Wardrobe
Strategic Stickies For Stained Clothing
A Global Warming Skirt That Can Save Your Life
Hi, I am from Hungary, collecting vintage leather bags. I decided to sell some of them, if you are interested in, I can send pictures.
My husband is israeli so we often visiting.
Best regards: Klára
great article and information, however do you have any information on Jerusalem?
and places that are more than just clothes, like places with reused bedding, furniture, appliances, etc?
thanks