Following the launch of vintage clothing giant Glass Onion’s new Notts store on Bridlesmith Gate, Fashion Editor Addie Kenogbon-Harley caught up with head of marketing Alice Leadbetter to find out more and explore how vintage clothing and retro styles have had the city in a chokehold for decades.
When it comes to Nottingham, there are some things that have always gone hand in hand. And, just as chips and mushy peas have become synonymous with Notts, so too are vintage clothing shops and retro garms with style lovers of the city.
It’s a love affair which dates back to 1984 when Hockley vintage clothes store WILD first burst onto the scene, giving fashion forward city swellers the chance to get their hands on unique pieces they couldn’t find elsewhere.
Since then, the city has played host to a plethora of vintage and preloved style haunts. Recent research shows that Notts has more charity shops than any other city in the UK, so coupled with the city’s eclectic second hand stores it makes for a perfect place to go on a thrifty shopping spree.
It’s easy to see why then, that Yorkshire vintage clothing brand Glass Onion hand picked Nottingham as its latest location, following the success of its iconic shops in Leeds and Sheffield, as well as its rise to cult-like status through its online offering and warehouse picks.
“Nottingham is a big student city and young people are such a big part of our core customer group, so that just instantly felt like a really good fit for us,” Alice said. “It’s also a really fashionable and creative city, one that really values its independent retailers and independent businesses. It felt like there was a really good community of independents. We've got that in Sheffield already, so we thought we'd feel really at home here.”
The new shop which features the eye-catching Glass Onion signature smiley face neon sign, is located on Bridlesmith Gate, a street which has a rich history dating back to 1304, having once been the main shopping street in Nottingham until the 19th century. It also used to form part of a London to Leeds coach route, marking a poetic synergy with Glass Onion’s own Yorkshire roots.
The brand began life in 2005, when founder John Hickling began selling vintage out of his Grandma’s coal shed in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Over the course of the following fifteen years, the brand mainly sold at markets and festivals. But, today Glass Onion has grown to become the UK’s leading vintage clothing company, processing up to 20,000 kilos of second hand clothing every week at its Yorkshire HQ.
“When our founder first started the business in 2005, vintage and second hand shopping was still relatively new. It wasn't very popular in the mainstream. Fast forward nearly twenty years now, and I think it's something that appeals to everyone and has become more mainstream, which is amazing.”
But what is it about Glass Onion that sets it apart? “For us, every single piece that we have in stores is hand selected. We've got a product team in South Yorkshire and they're experts in vintage. A lot of them have worked in vintage for nearly twenty years. So it's not just a case of shoving loads of stuff in the shop. Every piece is laundered before it goes to store,” Alice adds. “We've got huge industrial sized washing machines at our HQ, which means that everything's fresh and ready to wear.”
We stock everything from workwear to tech wear, boho to sportswear as well as your vintage staples like your Levi's jeans that are just never going to go out of fashion, they're just something that's going to stand the test of time.
“We've got a really good mix of trend-led pieces that are maybe a bit more fashion relevant to now, but then we also have your vintage staples as well. We've also got unique collections in store as well. We've got a rare archive section in the shop which is a collection of products that we might have built over the course of years and years, and is a real showcase of the amazing true, one-off rare pieces that are once in a lifetime finds.”
A key feature of new Notts store is its eye-catching jeans wall which dominates the left hand side of the shop, offering a haven for style hunters looking to get their denim fix, with each section broken down by size and fit such as straight, balloon, boyfriend and classic Levi’s 505s.
Alice adds, “I think sometimes shopping for Levi's can be a bit intimidating, because there are so many different styles and fits. With vintage, a lot of the time some of them have been altered by their previous owner. Even if the label isn't true to size, we tend to re-measure all the Levi's jeans on an individual basis and make sure that the leg length and the waist size is true to what is on the label even if it needs to be altered. Another thing the team is great at is that they all get trained up on the different types of Levi's such how a 505 differs from a 501, for example.”
“Our jeans area is definitely one of the most popular zones in all our stores I think, because Levi's jeans can be expensive to buy new, but we can offer a really affordable option.”
Aiming to create a friendly and inviting experience for all shoppers, whether vintage shopping experts or novices is what Alice says is what the Glass Onion experience is all about.
She adds, “We really pride ourselves on providing really good customer service. We just wanted to make our retail space really fun and exciting as well. We wanted to create an amazing high street shopping experience and really compete with those big high street giants. I think that's why our stores hopefully stand out.”
In addition to its vintage pieces, Glass Onion also has a range of pieces which have been reworked to breathe new life into them, pieces which might otherwise have ended up on landfill sites.
Explaining more about the Re:Made! range, Alice says, “At our South Yorkshire HQ, we've got an in-house factory with machinists. This is where we transform unwanted, unwearable or damaged pieces into something completely new that can be worn and loved again. An example of something that we've got in the Nottingham store is drawstring Dickies pants or jeans. So it might be ones that are damaged or maybe they're 42 plus size waist that we add a drawstring in.
“That means they can be adjusted from a forty all the way to a 28 waist and you can just have it as a baggier fit. It’s a really great way of making something wearable and appealing again and saving it from landfill. We even use off cuts for things like tote bags. We really try and work to reduce waste as much as we can, and by breathing new life into these pieces, it means that it can be worn by a lot more people.”
I think people like our customers and even me personally as a vintage shopper, just love the buzz and feeling you get from shopping vintage and second hand, and that discovery, not really knowing what you're going to find, or what gems you might discover amongst the rails.
The past decade has seen the vintage clothing industry grow at rapid pace, with recent studies revealing that 77% of Brits have purchased pre-owned clothing in the past year, with 20% of UK consumers allocating up to £100 annually on second-hand clothing. And, it’s a trend which isn’t going anywhere fast, with shoppers keen to harness the power of preloved due to its sustainable and cost-saving benefits.
“I know our customers love the fact that all our clothes are second hand,” Alice says. “They already exist in the world, so they’re not only saving them from landfill when buying second hand, they’re also reducing the environmental impact of any new clothes that might have to have been made.
“People are becoming more aware of the damaging effects of fast fashion and why shopping vintage and shopping second hand is such an amazing thing. I think a lot of vintage clothes are much better quality than modern ones that are made now too, as well as being cheaper. So the value of money that vintage can give you is amazing as well.”
Glass Onion has new stock drops every single day, meaning each time a shopper visits they’ll find fresh looks and a whole new experience.
Alice says, “I think people like our customers and even me personally as a vintage shopper, just love the buzz and feeling you get from shopping vintage and second hand, and that discovery, not really knowing what you're going to find, or what gems you might discover amongst the rails.”
“I think something that's really unique to second hand shopping is it really gives you the opportunity to find something totally unique that your friends haven't got, something that can really express your personal style that isn't a cookie cutter fast fashion style, which I think is a really amazing thing about vintage.”
In addition to its wide variety of stock, Glass Onion also offers an exciting range of events and surprises for customers. These include clothes drops where shoppers can bring in their old clothes in exchange vouchers to spend in store, a recent in-store Easter egg hunt, and a charity raffle to win a signed vintage Nottingham Forest shirt, with money raised for Barnsley Hospice.
Find Glass Onion at 40-42 Bridlesmith Gate, Nottingham NG1 2GQ
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
