INTERVIEW #37 THE VINTAGE BAR

Based in: Copenhagen

Founded in: 2017

Founded by: Marie Louise Schultz

Shop at: thevintagebar.com, shipping worldwide.

Price range: Everything from premium to luxury brands instead of exclusively pre-owned luxury fashion. From luxurious Chanel Flap Bag, a nice dress from Ganni to a blazer from Designers Remix for example.

Why we love them:

Curated vintage and carefully handpicked items - mmm we like it! The Vintage Bar has really made it to the top! Their tone of voice and communication make vintage way more attractive than what it already is, to not forget about the wholesome community they’ve managed to build since 2017. 

What is The Vintage bar and when did you launch? 

The Vintage Bar launched in 2017 and has become a marketplace and social hangout connecting our community of buyers and sellers of premium and luxury secondhand fashion.

What is the main idea behind the concept?

The main idea is to make fashion more circular. We want to rewrite the narrative that new is always better. We’ve created a platform that informs and inspires our community to shop secondhand by showing them that secondhand can be as cool as new. We are more than a marketplace, we’re also a community filled with inspiration that wants to change the fashion industry by putting our community front row so they can inspire their surroundings to shop more sustainably. We try to create the change, we want to see.

From where do you source the products?

As previously mentioned we’ve moved past just having our own products and representing local secondhand boutiques from all around Europe. It’s now also possible to be a private seller, who can upload and sell their own items on The Vintage Bar’s platform. We’ve experienced that a lot of our community members often sell an item to be able to or better afford the new piece they’ve been dreaming about and it made sense for us to be a platform where consumers become sellers, and sellers become consumers. That’s the vision for a zero-waste, circular future.

We do still represent secondhand boutiques from all around Europe as well as having our own team of buyers. When sourcing our pieces we pay attention to the items that are waitlisted on our website. We want to provide the pieces that our community members are interested in and the waitlist is a great way to do that. We also look at and talk to our network of early adaptors (influencers, stylists, etc.) to predict what is going to trend among our community.

What has been the largest gain up until now?

We think the greatest thing we have accomplished so far is the community. We’re very proud of the large and very dedicated following we have on Instagram. Partly because it tells us that people like what we do, share our passion for secondhand and like our products. But the best thing is seeing the community members inspire each other. So many people create amazing content and tag us in their pictures which allows other community members to see it and be inspired. We’ve been able to build a community based on a shared passion for secondhand fashion and mutual inspiration. We encourage our members to keep creating content, which is why we also often showcase the user created content on our Instagram.Our central mission is to develop a sustainable economy within the space of premium and luxury secondhand fashion, which will allow sellers and buyers to transact while knowing that they’re reducing the environmental impact of the production of luxury goods. We can’t achieve this without our community.

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

It’s no secret that the fashion industry isn’t sustainable – after oil it’s the largest polluting industry on the planet. This is in part due to overproduction and overconsumption. A good place to start would be to limit and lower the amount of collections produced by brands each year. A lot of brands do multiple collections and drops every year which tells the consumers that they need to buy new items multiple times a year. By limiting the production you would limit the consumption. You would also be able to produce better quality items that would last longer which in turn again would benefit the consumer.

What is ‘greenwashing’ according to YOU and what, in your opinion, can producers and consumers do to avoid it?

Greenwashing is when brands try to brand themselves as being sustainable and communicate this to their consumers without actually putting in the work to try and do better for the planet. This is because green and conscious production is becoming a thing that consumers look for when they shop, which is great. We believe that transparency is key and you should always be honest. Rather than just communicate about sustainability – because it’s a great ‘buzzword’ – brands should put in the work that goes towards green and sustainable production.

What is your advice to fashion consumers out there who seek to create a sustainable closet and lifestyle? Fashion is fixated on newness and this means that many pieces are left and forgotten in the back of the closet every time we buy something new. Premium and luxury pieces are made to last which is why secondhand shopping is a great way of shopping. You get a beautiful product at a great price, and you help slow down production and consumption. It’s a win-win.

If you’re trying to create a more sustainable closet the best advice is to shop quality over quantity. Look for long lasting garments, so you don’t have to replace them every season. Another advice that goes hand in hand with that is also to invest in timeless pieces – you don’t have to follow trends. Look for pieces you can mix and match with all the other pieces in your wardrobe.