Last weekend we spent two days at Eken Market in Förbindelsehallen, Stockholm.
Throughout the weekend, Förbindelsehallen was filled with the sound of live DJs spinning records, the aroma of Neapolitan pizza, espresso being made and people moving between exhibitors with a beer or coffee in hand.
At one point, Daniel K and I sat down with a beer and watched it all.
The conversations, the discoveries and the shared enthusiasm around clothing, design and craftsmanship. The kind of energy that reminds you why physical spaces and real encounters still matter.
What stayed with us most was not how many garments changed hands, but the conversations around them.
We met people who have bought second hand for years, and others who were exploring it for the very first time.
The most enjoyable part was seeing how quickly the discussion moved away from second hand itself and towards cloth, fit, colour and style.
Because that has always been our view.
Second hand should not require you to change how you dress. It should simply be another way to find the garments you already want to wear.
Sometimes at a better price. Sometimes in a quality that is difficult to find today. And sometimes in a form that is no longer available at all.
Walking around the market also reminded us of something we think about often: the gap between retail and resale.
In traditional retail, much of the work has already been done. Someone has selected the garments, assessed the quality, considered the fit and presented everything in a way that allows the customer to focus on whether the piece belongs in their wardrobe or not.
Second hand often works differently. The customer is left to search, sort, inspect and evaluate on their own.
At Vangelis, we believe the customer should spend less time assessing a garment and more time considering whether they want to wear it.
That is why every piece we recieve is inspected, measured, photographed and carefully presented before it is offered for sale. Much of the work traditionally associated with buying second hand has already been done.
What remains is the enjoyable part: deciding whether the garment belongs in your wardrobe.
Perhaps that is why so many conversations at Eken quickly became about clothing rather than second hand.
And perhaps that is why we continue to believe that more people would buy second hand if the focus remained where it belongs: on the garments themselves.
Thank you to everyone who stopped by!
0 comments