'Anything Goes'
The Trust vintage and retro clothing shop has now been open for about three years. In that time, staff and committee members have learnt a great deal about the world of retail and vintage clothes, and, of course, we are all still learning. There are a number of initiatives associated with the retail activities.
October 1st 2012 – A New Direction!
In October, 2012, it was decided to change the way the shop was run and to focus in a more business-like way on improving sales. Previously, the shop had been staff by volunteers, usually different volunteers each day and there was little consistency. As from October 1st, the shop has been the responsibility of Natasha Gibson, a recent graduate of the University of Portsmouth Fashion Department, who has been helping us from the start. She had been our “Saturday” girl and had also helped with vintage fairs. Natasha has been full time in the shop since then, and has really turned the business around, increasing sales. The shop also looks more professional, more like a boutique.
BBC Children in Need.
The shop has had a commitment from the start to combine sales with helping young people who need in-put with their retail skills and building their C.V. a grant from the Blagrave Family Trust helped us with this two years ago, and helped us to offer placements to young adults. In October, we were funded for one year by BBC Children in Need to offer the same experience to 16 – 18 year olds. Partnerships were made with Portsmouth College, and then, later, with Redwood Park School in Highbury for young people with moderate learning disabilities. The shop has now offered this experience to 7 young people and will achieve its target of 10 teenagers by October, 2013. There will be a further application to BBC Children in Need so that we can continue this project next year.
Vintage Fairs are an important sales platform and we have participated in as many as possible. The favourite venues now are Chichester Assembly Rooms, local Portsmouth fairs and Victorious Vintage in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. This year there will be a new initiative – Natasha has been accepted to run stalls at two “rock festivals” – End of the Road in August and Hop Farm in July. We will be using a refurbished vintage horse trailer, modified to sell vintage clothes, at both these venues.
Reproduction Vintage Clothes
The partnership at the Portsmouth Victory Business Centre with Linda Canning and Sandra Reinolde, two dress designers and seamstresses, has given us the opportunity to work together on reproduction vintage clothes. Examples so far have included 1940’s style dresses and play suits and jump suits. We hope to develop this further, involving the young people in the design and creation of these clothes, as well as boosting shop sales.
Address:
97 Elm Grove,
Southsea, PO5 1LH.
Tel: 02392 750518
Visit the shop website at http://www.anythinggoesvintageclothing.co.uk/