Photo: Kajsa Svensson
Model: Vania Kadir

Based in: Stockholm, Sweden

Founded in: 2018 ( the shop was opened in 2019 )

Founded by: Karin Hagestam

Shop at: I truly enjoy meeting my customers on site in our showroom/shop in Stockholm! We encourage pick up in shop whenever possible, but also offer a flat rate for shipping within Sweden and gladly ship to anywhere in the world.

www.revolv.se / @revolv.se / Upplandsgatan 25 / +4670- 5572583 /

Price range: Mid to high, 300SEK - 5000SEK

Why we love them: REVOLV’s owner Karin really creates a high value for her products by putting so much effort and passion in finding them around the world. You can really tell this is her passion project, very inspiring to follow people who dare to take big steps out of their comfort zones in order to pursue their dreams, Karin is without any doubts one of them.

Enjoy a 10% discount with code “A Sustainable Closet” valid until 31st of December 2021.

What is REVOLV and when did you start your business?

REVOLV is a slow fashion brand offering high quality garments from various decades, found at hidden charity shops and markets around the world, primarily in Europe. We strive to inspire and encourage our customers to find their own personal style rather than to follow ever changing fashion trends. Our garments are available to purchase or rent online as well as a in our cosy shop located at the heart of Stockholm.

My private hair salon is co-located as well as a small photo studio, allowing me to combine all of my professions and passions in one place.

What is the main idea behind the concept?

The idea that slowly ended up as REVOLV was born about five years ago, after living too fast for many years. I felt an urgent need to slow down, in order to find my own pace and also to choose a new direction in life. I felt I wanted to play my part in caring for mother earth, while finding a better life for myself. Slowing down consumption in the way that felt most natural to me, working with reuse. Inviting others to enjoy pre-loved garments as much as I do by presenting carefully handpicked gems in an inspiring way. Using my well trained eye to pick out the good pieces for those who don’t have the time, skill or patience to do so, felt like the perfect job for me.

From where do you source your products?

My love for traveling has taken me to many various cities and smaller villages around the world and I have become aware of the abundance of treasures out there just waiting to be found and shared with others. Now I get to bring them home, clean them and present them to my customers in the cosy atmosphere of our shop as well as on our website. REVOLV has become a useful tool in sharing my life long passion for recycling high quality garments with others. Just imagine! Now I can travel the world in search of all the local markets and charity shops hidden somewhere in the backstreets that I have always loved to browse, with a brand new mission. I love not knowing what I will find there, and then bringing something really special home for one of my customers to enjoy.

Where do you find inspiration?

Ever since my early school years, expressing myself by the way I dress has been a natural way of life for me. Waking up in the mornings I usually don’t know if that freshly started day is to become a feminine and flowery, black suited or perhaps an all leatherwear day. I think this is true for many of us garment lovers out there.

In my teens with a limited budget, I explored my creative skills to keep a varied wardrobe. Using my mothers old sewing machine I started experimenting with left over scraps of fabric and handed down garments. I challenged the more stereotypical dress code of my friends, to explore the joy of expressing myself through finding my own language by the way I chose to dress. It was fun to stand out and make an impact by dressing with my personal style and a lot easier in the small village where I grew up, then if it would have been in a bigger city. Mom, I’m forever thankful for lending me your machine!

Since then I have continued collecting, changing and wearing preloved garments, truly appreciating the vast versatility they offer me. They often give that extra sparkle to any plain outfit and a personal touch that limited selections of large clothing chains cannot offer.

I always find other people's ways of interpreting fashion more interesting than the fashion trends themselves. I love to use the impulses I get just from walking around in a new neighborhood or in a different country. It is also really inspiring meeting all our interesting customers of varying ages that walk through the door of the shop. Looking at the playful ways the younger generations wear and combine colors, cuts and materials also inspires me to rethink, restyle and recombine garments.

What has been the biggest challenge so far?

It was a true challenge to question the way I had previously lived and to find a new and better life without the security of a steady income. I needed to find a lot of courage to sign the contract for my little shop less than two years ago, knowing the difficulty of covering the costs of a new venture. Luckily I was already used to reuse and recycling everything over and over again and now I had to figure out other ways of cutting costs. Ingenuity is a good muscle to strengthen! I had to be brave and try new things like renting out my home or sharing it with others. Fortunately I love the process of constantly needing to master new skills, in the way that running a small business forces you to do. I see it as constant development that is very invigorating.

Of course Covid 19 became a real setback right after I had opened the shop. Luckily I do enjoy being a hairdresser as well, so - while the shop was deep into it’s beauty sleep - I could get additional income to support it’s survival by tending to hair clients in my private hair salon at the back of the shop.

What has been the largest gain up until now?

I must say it felt like a sweet dream when I realized that my lifelong hobby could become the tool to support my new slower lifestyle, as well as offering me the joy of continuously exploring new places. I have chosen to lower my income for the benefit of living life fully and I am certainly not going back!

Imagine a Monday morning in October while I’m in Spain - beginning my day by taking a long walk barefoot along the ocean in a warm breeze. After breakfast I start exploring local charity shops and markets, collecting rare garments at my own peaceful pace that I now know I can share with our lovely customers both in Stockholm and around the world. Making a few new choices in my life has really given me access to a new source of energy in life. I have once again found the joy of my creative energy flowing freely and it has added precious quality to my life in so many ways.

What do you think needs to change in the fashion industry in order to make it more sustainable?

As in every industry, I have learned that consumers have the strongest power to change patterns of production and distribution. While working in the hair business we were stunned by the impact when the customers themselves started to choose more environmentally friendly products. Stylists had tried fruitlessly for years. But when consumers shifted it all changed in an instance! Also, just look at the amount of vegetarian alternatives available now when consumers demand them.

Don’t underestimate the power we all carry in creating change. If we all choose to buy second hand, vintage or environmentally friendly products, the fashion industry simply has to react. Let’s all love, reuse and share all the beautiful garments that are already here! And while doing so, it is important that we speak to those around us about our choices and values in life. An interesting subject to start such a conversation with is the fact that we already have enough garments on this beautiful planet of ours to last for six generations.

Where do you consume your clothes from?

Since I have collected and changed garments around for as long as I can remember and hardly ever see a reason to part from a beloved piece, I presume my closet is larger than average.

Some people encourage you to find your style and stick to it with a few basic colors and styles to keep your closet as small as possible, to become more climate friendly. When always using vintage like I do, I see no reason to and I myself would find it extremely boring. I refuse to choose a certain style and stick to it, since I constantly need variation when expressing myself by the way I dress. I definitely want my garments to have character in one way or another, and this you can see by the garments you find when entering the shop as well. I have never been blinded by fancy brands when choosing what to wear myself or to offer in my shop, since I think that kind of focus can become both limiting and unnecessarily expensive. Clothes should be a fun expressional tool according to me!

What are your top 4 tips to fashion consumers out there who seek to create a sustainable closet and lifestyle?

1. For those of you who feel that you have gotten stuck in a style that is no longer yours, and feeling a need to dress in a more exploring way without buying new garments all the time, dig deeper into your closet and try wearing your favorite straight dress with a wider belt of a different color or texture. Perhaps wearing only one of your earrings would be fun or try tying your neck scarf in your hair instead and see how your wardrobe grows larger right in front of your eyes.

2. When sharing closets with your friends, you all of a sudden have a much larger variety to choose from while saving your money AND the assets of our world. PLUS you’ll all have fun interchanging garments with each other and inspiring each other with everyones new ways of styling them.

3. My best tip though is to let your older garments come alive again and again by combining them in new ways or changing them to your liking. Your wardrobe needs to contain garments you actually used to be truly sustainable! In that same spirit - Don’t be afraid to try redoing and restyling a garment that you like but find you don’t use. Cut the sleeves off of your old hoodie or salvage the skirt of your old dress and give the top part to your friend. In my case, I always cut out and save the beautiful buttons of a ripped blouse or the pretty buckle of a sun bleached bikini for future needs, before recycling the old garment. These ”spare parts” become valuable when ”saving” another garment that needs fixing. To keep your ”saviors” organized you might want to keep them in a toolbox or organizer of some kind. The joy is then great when bringing them out later to save another one of your favorites from being recycled.

If you don’t own a sewing machine or know how to use one - ask your grandmother. I bet she’ll enjoy teaching you, and treat yourself to a good pair of scissors for fabric cutting. Good tools make it so much easier.

4. I also have a valuable tip for all of us still wanting a flexible closet with us when traveling with a light luggage. Simplify!!! Aim for a simple color scale of perhaps three colors that are easy to combine.

If you had to name one icon who inspires you with their style, who would that be?

Since my own style is very varied I don’t really have a special person that inspires me. I more or less always keep my search engine activated and I notice and pick up new impulses continuously instead , anywhere I walk, travel or look I see new ways of combining materials and styles. There is so very much inspiration out there!

However, I do think that the tip of getting to know your own body and what makes your own best assets work for you is a really good one, even if it might not be high fashion at the moment. Knowing that almost all garments fit better and ”come to life” when they fit your body perfectly, I encourage you to learn what small changes you can do to them to make them fit you perfectly instead of ”almost right”. Over the years I have become a master of what I call ”quick-fixes” for that one reason. As I grow older, I also notice how my body is changing and therefore I need to rethink what I feel comfortable in, which can be inspiring and that forces me to dig further back in my closet once again and to redo or change a garment or two!

Together with A Sustainable Closet, REVOLV is offering its clients a 10% discount, valid in store and online until the 31st of December. Code: A Sustainable Closet

INTERVIEW #36 REVOLV

INTERVIEW #37 THE VINTAGE BAR

INTERVIEW #35 LAURAS UNIVERS