This week, I visited The Pumping Station on Penarth Road. In case you haven’t been there, the Pumping station is a beautiful Victorian building that used to be…well…a pumping station. It has now been converted into a great indoor antiques market which covers numerous floors all bursting with great antiques, memorabilia and vintage clothes. There’s even a great retro cafe onsite offering cakes and sandwiches. You can literally while away an entire afternoon exploring this Aladdin’s cave; around every corner there is something new and exciting to discover.
My main reason for visiting The Pumping Station this weekend was to check out the vintage and second-hand clothes on offer as these are great forms of sustainable fashion. When one thinks about the vintage scene in Cardiff, The Pumping Station is often forgotten, but it is increasingly becoming a great venue for second-hand clothes.
I chatted to one of the stall holders, Nadine Williams, about the popularity of vintage clothing:
Nadine Williams on her stall
Do you think second-hand clothes are a good idea and why?
Nadine: I think they’re a terrific idea. I think it is a great way of recycling and you can get trendy fashions and vintage fashion, which is coming back in now.
Why do you think there has been an increase in the popularity of vintage clothes?
N: Young people are becoming much more aware of vintage clothes and their quality in how they are stitched and made up. Their quality is very different to some of the cheap stuff we get nowadays.
Nadine's stall at The Pumping Station
Apart from here, where else do you sell your clothes?
N: Sometimes I’ll do the boot sales, where I sell the lower end of the market. Here, I tend to sell more up market and vintage clothes.
How would you describe the type of clothes you sell?
N: I am going more and more into vintage. Now, I’ve got lots of fur, well not real fur, but the vintage fur fabric coats which are seasonal. I try and appeal to both young and old.
Don't worry this is fake fur!
Where do you find the clothes you sell?
N: A lot of people bring them into me and, if I go round the car boot sales, I’ll pick things up. I sometimes go to charity shops but it’s mainly from people I know.
Are there any of your lines which are particularly popular?
N: I am selling a lot of cardigans and woolly things at the moment. It’s not cold enough to sell the fur coats yet, so I am waiting for that.
After chatting to Nadine, I browsed round the rest of the market and there were so many cool antiques, retro items and vintage clothes I got a bit snap-happy, but here’s a pick of some of the other great items on offer.
Sustainable fashion Cardiff 
Nov 26, 2011 @ 23:54:58
This place looks like an absolute dream – I didn’t know it existed! Next chance I get I’m getting the bus and buying myself a pink telephone.
Nov 27, 2011 @ 11:48:31
Lol, yeh, lots of people don’t seem to have heard of it. It’s a bit out of the way but definitely worth it!