The past few weeks I’ve been so inspired by a concept called collaborative consumption. The concept is based on the idea “What’s mine is yours” and is all about sharing, lending, swapping etc. instead of buying. So often we buy something that we could as easily have borrowed from for example a neighbour a friend a colleague and so on. If you want to read more about this there is a great website where you can find the following definition of collaborative consumption.  

“Collaborative Consumption describes the rapid explosion in traditional sharing, bartering, lending, trading, renting, gifting, and swapping reinvented through network technologies on a scale and in ways never possible before.” Source: http://www.collaborativeconsumption.com/

In both Sweden and UK (and a few more countries) websites have been set up where this concept has been realised. The Swedish site is called Klädkompis and the British site is called Friendly Fashion. Click on the links to find out more. 

A growing trend at the moment is also clothes libraries where you can borrow your clothes in the same way as you borrow books in a library. In Sweden such libraries exist in Stockholm, Umeå, Malmö and Uppsala. I think this idea is brilliant, just being able to borrow your clothes without having to buy a single thing. So much better both for the environment and your wallet. 

I will soon test a new thing here at Jenny’s Retro based on this so keep an eye out on the blog to find out more.

I will be one of the shops showing my clothes at the Little Vintage Lover Fair Sunday the 6th of November in Stockholm. This will be my first fair so it’s all very exciting! Hope to see you there and please help me spread the word!

Date: 6th of November between 10am-4pm
Address: Färgfabriken Gröndal, Lövholmsbrinken 1, Stockholm. Subway station: Liljeholmen. Tvärbanan: Trekanten
Entrance Fee: 40kr
Website: http://www.littlevintageloverfair.co.uk
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=234719773216295

Don’t miss VINTAGEMÄSSAN (vintage fair) that takes place this weekend between the 24th-25th of September at Strand in Stockholm.I guess it will be crowded so be there early!

Address: Strand, Hornstulls Strand 4, Stockholm
Subway station: Hornstull
Opening hours: Saturday & Sunday: 11-5pm
Entrance fee: 60 SEK
Web: http://bakatframat.se/vintagemassan/

The other week I signed up for a year subscription of the magazine Vintage Life and just before the weekend two issues of the magazine landed on my door mat. It was lovely to finally read a magazine that is completely dedicated to vintage since I haven’t found anything like that in Swedish magazine stores.

An annual subscription includes 10 issues and you can choose between a printed or digital version. For the printed version the price is: UK: £33.00, Europe: £49.95, Rest of world: £59.95. For the digital version the price is: £14,99. To sign up for a printed version click here and for the digital version click here.

Website: www.vintagelifemagazine.com

I really hope that they will remove the stolen material as soon as possible. I will be back with more happy blog posts soon. 

If you have a passion for jars like I do the tiny second-hand store and webshop Kvalitetsloppis.se is the place for you. Here you can also find all sort of gadgets from especially the 50′s and 60′s. The store is situated in Linköping, right next to Misoui (that you can read about in an earlier blog post) and they also have a webshop where you can find furnitures, lamps, china, glass, jars etc. I got a lovely jar from my husband that he bought when we were in Linköping (see pictures of it below).

Details: Address: Drottninggatan 36, 582 27 Linköping. Ph: 013-123850. Cell: 0705-797174. E-mail: info@kvalitetsloppis.se. Hours: Wednesday: 2pm-6pm, Friday: 2pm-6pm, Saturday: 11am-3pm. www.kvalitetsloppis.se 

I found an article the other day about the book “Modemanifestet: de stilsmartas handbok” (Fashion Manifesto) written by the fashion journalist Sofia Hedström and photographer Anna Schori. The author Sofia Hedström spent a whole year without doing any shopping and found a lot of new ways on how to use her existing clothes. The book is described as a cook book with recipes on how to re-design your own clothes for trendy people who are tired of shopping and it’s impact on the environment. The idea behind the book is to help people to be able to create your own individual style which according to the authors is not anything you acquire by following current fashion trends as well as lower your negative impact on our environment. So this is a book for anyone who has an interest in fashion but is against the current shopping trends and wants to renew their wardrobe and style without having to spend a lot of money. The first part of the book covers the serious behind the fashion industry and also teaches you how to create your own style out of the clothes you already own. The second part is a collection of recipes for your clothes with a lot of creative tips for your wardrobe. In the book you will also find 50 trendy people from the U.S., Iceland and Sweden who share their personal ways on how they renew their wardrobes.

If you want to look at an interview with the authors where they show some of the recipes from the book click here. You can buy the book at several book shops and online, for example here. You can also view a sample from the book here. If you want to try a shopping detox for 30 days you can join a Facebook group created just for that purpose by clicking here.

Note: The pictures are borrowed and to find their original source click on the pictures.

Last weekend I spent in Linköping to attend some friend’s wedding. The wedding was fantastic and the bride wore a vintage dress that was lovely. Anyway, while in Linköping I took the chance to look around at some vintage shops and for vintage lovers like me I can recommend the store Misoui.

At Misoui you can find vintage clothes for both men and women and they also carry a small collection for children. Some of the clothes have also been altered in order to combine old material with new creative ideas, so called re-made. They also sell clothes, jewelry and accessories made by young local designers. If you don’t live in Linköping you can find some of their items in their webshop or keep an eye on their blog for updates.

Details: Address: Drottninggatan 36, 582 27 Linköping, Sweden. Ph: +46-(0)13-126162. E-mail: vintageclothing@misoui.se. www.misoui.se, blogg, webshop

This week we are heading to Stockholm, Sweden for the vintage shop of the week. The shop is called Beyond Retro and along with the vintage shop Judits Second Hand this is one of my favourite vintage shops in Stockholm. Beyond Retro is originally a UK store that now has three shops in Stockholm and one in Gothenburg. To see their address and opening hours click HERE or see details below.

The shop is probably one of Stockholm’s largest vintage stores and has a great variety of vintage clothes, bags and accessories for both men and women. I really hope they will open a store in Malmö or Copenhagen soon but I haven’t heard anything about that so I suppose I will have to wait. However, whenever I am in Stockholm I make sure to make sure to make them a visit. They also have a webshop that you reach by clicking HERE.

Beyond Retro’s webpage is both in English and Swedish while the English one focus on UK and the Swedish one on Sweden. 

English webpage: www.beyondretro.com
Swedish webpage: www.beyondretro.com/default.aspx

For updates check out their blogs: UK or Sweden 

STOCKHOLM

Beyond Retro Zinken: Address: Brännkyrkagatan 82, 118 23 Stockholm. Ph:+46- 8-559 136 43. Hours: Mon-Fri 11am-7pm, Sat: 11am-6pm, Sun: 11am-5pm. MAP

Beyond Retro Söder: Address: Åsögatan 144. Ph: +46-8-559 136 45. Hours: Mon-Fri 11am-7pm, Sat: 11am-6pm, Sun: 11am-5pm. MAP

Beyond Retro City – Drottninggatan: Address: Drottninggatan 77, 111 60 Stockholm. Ph: +46-8-559 136 42. Hours: Mon-Fri 11am-7pm, Sat: 11am-6pm, Sun: 11am-5pm. MAP

GOTHENBURG (Göteborg)

Beyond Retro Arkaden – c/o Topshop: Address: Södra Hamngatan 37-41, 411 07 Göteborg. Ph: +46-31-753 36 42. Hours: Mon-Sat: 10am-7pm, Sun: 12-4pm. MAP.

My favourite decade is definitely the 60′s. Not the values or the lifestyle during this time but the fashion. The style of the dresses was fabulous and I believe you cannot have to many dresses from the 60′s. Below are some pictures from this decade that inspire me.

Note: All the pictures are borrowed and to find their original source just click on them.