Birmingham goes Vintage

Last Saturday I visited the Birmingham Vintage Festival, an intimate affair with stalls selling vintage, handmade and upcycled items, as well as arts and food stalls. The first Birmingham Vintage Festival was held in June in the Jewellery Quarter, and even though this second event was still quite a small affair, I envision it growing swiftly over the coming months.

A couple of weekends ago I also visited the well established Sutton Vintage and Arts Fair, which had an entrance queue round the block before the doors had even opened. The place was jostling with people hoping to find a vintage treasure; and with dozens of clothing and homeware stalls, visitors were truly spoilt for choice.

If you missed out on both of these events then don't fret, as there's yet another this weekend in the form of The Birmingham Vintage Fair at the Custard Factory, which will not only have stalls selling vintage and handmade goodies, but will also host a vintage tea party, vintage hair salon and live music performances.

The increasing popularity of vintage and second hand means that there are now many of these types of events across Birmingham, as well as a number of permanent vintage clothing shops, particularly in the Digbeth area of the city. This is a positive step in addressing the sustainability issues of our current consumerist culture.

Being a child of the 80's and 90's, I was brought up in the midst of a fairly throw-away culture, where fast food, cheap clothing and disposable items became the norm, leading to a particularly unsustainable and wasteful way of living. Cheap fashion now dominates our high street, with up to 90% of clothing being made and imported from other countries. Therefore, the carbon footprint not only includes the energy required in the manufacture of the item, but also transport emissions. Not to mention the separate issue of child labour and unethical working conditions abroad. Throwaway fashion and poor quality items that don't last mean that on average, each person in the UK now sends 30kg of clothing and textiles to landfill each year. Hardly sustainable living.

That's why it's great to see such a resurgence in the make do and mend mentality, with vintage and handmade becoming increasingly popular. There are even a number of groups in the city that are turning creativity into a social event, such as Stiches and Hos and A Crafty Beer.

So next time you fancy a fashion update, why not customise an item you already have in your wardrobe, source something from a vintage or charity shop, have a go at making it yourself from scratch, or even raid your mum's wardrobe - better for your pocket, and for the planet!

Written by Kathy Hopkin - a SusMo committee member