What could be more fun than strolling around among things of yesteryear? From home accessories to clothing - in Dordrecht, too, there are plenty of vintage stores where you can pick up finds. And what about following a vintage shopping route?
Vintage stores are totally hot & happening!
Clothing stores full of vintage
There are all kinds of clothing stores in Dordrecht that put recycling and sustainability on a pedestal. And of course, we don't want to withhold them from you.
Do you think it's cool to wear designer clothes but prefer not to pay too much? Then Preloved Fashion By 3xM is a store for you. You can find designer clothes by Yves Saint Laurent, Natan, Victor & Rolf and others. All offered by ladies who parted with them and receive forty percent of the proceeds. Because they are designer clothes, the value is preserved. Nice for your wallet and nice with sustainability in mind!
At Preloved Fashion By 3xM everything is second-hand, and 'everything' really means everything: clothing according to the latest trends, designer clothing from expensive brands, vintage items. A nice mix. Second-hand is all the rage at the moment, but the owners of the Dordrecht store - which reopens September 21 - have been focusing on this for 25 years. Mar van Twist: "Every week there are new clothes in our cozy store. People from all over the country come to us!"
Throwing away worn children's clothes? Marlies Weeda and Margreet Boer don't even think about that! The neighboring women together invented Siep children's clothing. "It started as a hobby - we became mothers and noticed that children's clothes were often still very nice after children grew out of them. So we sold clothes second-hand. Nowadays it is very normal to buy clothes second-hand. Many buy it precisely because of the durability." Siep second-hand children's clothing has a webshop, but take note: if you want to check out beautiful second-hand clothing for your children yourself, stop by Kat in 't Bakkie. There you will find a wall full of Siep's children's clothing, mostly from sustainable brands. Clothing is thus given a second or sometimes third life. People hand in clothes to Siep and receive forty percent of the proceeds.
The demand for good used clothing continues to rise, so Again & Co thought it was time for something entirely new, a fashion store: Fashion & So. Including vintage items! If you are in the Visstraat, step into the new store. You'll find clothes for ladies and for girls aged 15 and up. The social enterprise's motto is reuse, and that means everything at Mode & Zo is second-hand. But almost indistinguishable from new, says director Marcel van Goch. ,,Visitors often only realize after a while that the clothes are second-hand. Even the furnishings have been reused: when we moved in, the building was full of baroque furniture. These were given a place in Mode & Zo and in this way the furniture gets a second life. If this store remains a success - we're assuming so - more Mode & Zo stores will follow."
The finest vintage finds
Scoring vintage stuff is really something of today. Fortunately, this is possible in Dordrecht in numerous places and at various strolling shops, all in the heart of the city center.
At Bluebirds in the Backyard the store and catering area are filled with vintage items. Clothing, furniture, home accessories: you name it, you can find it in the building on Wijnstraat. That vintage predominates at Bluebirds in the Backyard is a conscious choice, according to Claire MacNeilage. "This is the most sustainable because the products are not re-produced. There's a lot of focus on vintage, we notice." For some people, vintage is a kind of lifestyle, Claire notes. "They want to shop sustainably. And vintage is a hip topic. With us, clothes and accessories in particular are doing very well, like hats and ties. But also old crystal and grandparents' cup and saucer."
From small furniture to lamps: at Buku & Kopi you'll find a nice lot of household vintage items. From the fifties, sixties and seventies and also a bit from the eighties. "Stuff from my time that I like myself," Henry Monteiro says of his vintage store. He finds that many people, including tourists, recognize the goodies from yesteryear. "My store is often a bit of a museum for older people. Vintage is totally in, because it takes you back in time. My grandpa and grandma had that too' is a phrase often heard in my store." Then visitors talk about small cabinets, for example, an electric opener from the 1970s, pans or vases. LPs are also a hit, and if you're looking for books about the Dutch East Indies and Indonesia, this is also the place. Everything at Buku & Kopi, which means "book and coffee" in Indonesian, is second-hand and therefore sustainable!
On the Voorstraat sits a gem: JouWinkel Dordrecht. The store offers a range of products, most of which are vintage and antique. In other words: lots of stuff from the sixties and seventies. Such as floor lamps, pedal cars, wooden toys, kitchen utensils with a vintage touch such as a bread bin or cutlery from days gone by. "There is a real market for vintage items," notes Johan van Hilten. "Some customers have a house full of stuff from the 1960s and 1970s. There really is a hankering for the old days, for what was around the house back then. Many people want to go back to a quieter time and look for that time in stuff." Nostalgia and coziness: that's what it's all about for this target group. Just step back in time - let this perfectly apply to JouWinkel Dordrecht and its vintage assortment.
