Bristol’s Largest Jumble Sale

This Saturday the UK’s largest vintage wholesalers came to town to host one of their increasingly popular kilo sales. Five tonnes of second-hand stock was delivered to Bristol’s Paintworks Events Space, where shoppers could pay for their retro finds (all the fashion and accessories are sourced from the 70s onwards) according to how much the clothes weighed. The price was set at a ‘meagre’ £15 a kilo, which the event co-ordinators claimed could get you 4-5 pieces of clothing. For anyone enthusiastic about vintage clothing, or just looking to justify their student-loan-funded shopaholism, the fair sounded a dream.

Thinking that it all sounds a tad too good to be true? Unfortunately, you’re right – for many, the fair was a bit of a disappointment.

The kilo sale’s venue was far too small for the volume of cheesy 80s pop being pumped through the speakers.

Nursing a hangover, I dutifully soldiered on in the name of fashion, trekking through torrential rain and gale forces winds. Despite the estimated amount of goods for sale, the events space itself was surprisingly small, and, a couple of hours in, stock seemed to be running low. Clothes were haphazardly strewn on the floor in rather pitiful piles, and the lack of organisation seemed to induce a panicked frenzy in the shoppers (most of whom were excitable sixteen-year-old girls) as they desperately hunted for an item of clothing that wouldn’t make them look like something out of a low budget period drama or a homeless person. It was not difficult to imagine falling into – or being pushed into – one of the industrial-sized containers of clothes in the ensuing hysteria.

They could have done with a few more hangers…

They probably found someone underneath all that knitwear at the end of the day.

Although there was no mention of an entry fee on the Facebook event page, everyone had to pay a pound to get in and receive a bag for their clothes to be weighed in. This was hardly breaking the bank, but it was slightly annoying to have to pay for a bag before you even knew if you were going to buy anything. The pressure to take advantage of the low prices made it tempting to come away with a sackful of clothes, but it was rare to lay your eyes upon anything that any self-respecting, normal person would wear – a suede lace-up waistcoat anyone? Or how about a ruffled, floorlength dress in frothy pink netting? Quite often the clothes were more fancy dress than vintage.

I’ll deffs be wearing this next time I hit up the triangle.

Admittedly, it wasn’t all bad. There were several rails of beaten-up leather jackets, which are always a timeless staple in both the male and female wardrobe, a lot of vintage Levi jeans and cut-off shorts, and some very wearable authentic army jackets – unfortunately, all heavier items of clothing and thus more expensive. In addition to the clothes, there was a section selling vintage jewelry and accessories, offering a good selection of unusual rings and statement earrings (and also some slightly dubious plastic gold chains), but these were individually priced and not included in the weighing process.

Overall, the kilo sale was not worth sacrificing a lazy Saturday afternoon with my duvet and the Sex and the City box set. No matter how cheap the prices were, bulk-buying knee-length tartan kilts is in no way going to help my financial or street cred. The best value for money item I picked up all day was the £1 plastic bag, which I was at least able to wear on my head in the hailstorm on my way home.

A better way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon.