Vintage Kilo Sale: Is It Worth It?

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Last Saturday, I ventured down to the vintage kilo sale which conveniently was hosted in the spark building of Solent University. Being my first visit to such an event, I was optimistic and excited about the prospect of seeing vast amounts of lovely vintage clothing, something of which I am very fond of.

What Is It?

Their Story:

The Vintage Kilo Sale is the UK's first ever 'buy by weight' vintage shopping event. It was founded in 2009 and now serves multiple cities across the UK. "Revolutionising the way we shop retro, The Vintage Kilo Sale calls at over 35 cities each year bringing 8 tonnes of good quality vintage clothing from the 1970s - early 00’s. Allowing customers to pay by weight at only £15 per kilo means fashion lovers can get their fix without spending a small fortune."

When I arrived, as expected the queue snaked from the main entrance around the building and down the pavement; luckily the sun was shining and it was surprisingly warm considering the miserable weather we have endured recently. I turned up to the event just before 11 as the tickets that were on sale for 10am entry were sold out and understandably the next tickets were allowed to be purchased at the door from 11. This helped to effectively spread out the hoards of people in search for some bargains. One good thing about these events is that your hand gets stamped on your way in so you can go away and come back anytime you like throughout the day! I wouldn't suggest doing this though as you would be surprised how much of the clothing quickly vanishes.

In my opinion, the vintage kilo sale is something that you certainly have to be there as early as possible for. That being said, it certainly depends on your specific style but I believe that there would have been more that would have appealed to me individually. Personally, I had the intention of purchasing one or two oversized t-shirts; however by the time I had the chance to look around the entire venue, there were absolutely none to be found! whether they hadn't had any at all in the first place? who knows, but there were certainly plentiful amounts of dresses, denim and knitted jumpers. When walking around watching people scurry about and rummage through the eclectic collection of garments, I read the signs dotted around the place to fully allow myself to understand the pricing. One thing that impressed me was that all the jackets and coats were capped at £15 regardless of how heavy they were, as a large proportion of them were faux fur heavy weight coats; which I believe is great value for a coat! especially when that coat is preloved. Another thing that I don't think many people realise with these events is that you do not have to have a kilo of clothing and spend £15; you can buy as little or as many pieces as you like but are still priced around their weight. So you can purchase a light weight headscarf for as little as 30p if you fancy!

I was there for no longer than an hour as I had a good look around and not too many things jumped out at me. Saying this, it was positive to see so many people with armfuls of clothing accompanied with a happy and accomplished expression that they have found some clothing to be loved once again. I went away with a knitted jumper as I believe you can never have too many and it's oversized which I absolutely love! Costing me only £7, I couldn't reject such an offer.

Overall, it was a good experience and I certainly believe that it is great value for money, if I were to buy a knitted jumper from an average vintage shop, it would have cost me about £30! So I was very happy with my purchase. The only thing I would do differently next time is purchase an early bird ticket and be one of the first to get in to have a better chance of finding what I'm searching for.

The next vintage kilo sale nearest to Southampton is in Winchester on 28th March!

I hope you have enjoyed this blog post! Keep an eye out for upcoming posts an exciting developments!

Millie X

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Credit to Loren Parkhurst for this footer graphic.