12 December 2025

Vintage clothing is an increasing element of the clothing sector in retail. It is variously seen as a way to customise your own distinctive style, compared to the homogeneity of high street shops; as a cost-effective approach for consumers, compared to the spiralling costs of high street retail; and as an important contribution to the circular economy.
Second hand clothes hanging on clothes hanger

Professor Stephen Osborne, with a grant from the British Academy, is exploring the dynamics of this retail sector. It is based on the examination of the sector in both Amsterdam (which has a large and thriving for-profit vintage clothes sector) and Edinburgh (which has a similarly large and dynamic charitable and non-profit vintage clothes sector). The study will be carried out over the next eighteen months and involve interviews with owners, staff, and customers, of vintage clothing stores in Amsterdam and Edinburgh. The study will explore both the co-creation of value for customers in the sector and the processes through which this is enacted.

The results of the study will be used to inform advice to the vintage clothes sector both on effective management within the sector and on how best to engage with their customers.