It's easy to copy but extremely difficult to be unique......or is it?

 

I'm not a big fan of high street shopping. The thought of me being a walking guinea pig with hundreds of clones doesn't really thrill me. I am, however, a big fan of indivuallty and fairness. Nottingham is buzzing which independent shops that are offering us a variety of clothing and accessories and best of all there's a growing margin of local designers that are filling the racks instead of the imports.

Being a Nottingham lass, born and bred, I certainly know where to go when it comes to supporting local shops for local people! So here's a run down on my favourite labels, shops and those whom support the fairness in trade throughout the world.

Hockley village as it is now known has grown like a magic beanstalk over the years and continues to supply trendy clothing to all budgets and backgrounds. The units are snapped up when vacant and up pops a new addition to the street longing to be part of Nottingham's culture. If you look through the rails you'll notice the growing number of local labels appearing. Phuesdohero is one label that you'll see in bird cage.

On the other side of town, well the other side of the market square lies hurts yard. Over the years the shops have built up and now there's a trieveing community going on. The newest shop on the block is stitches, owned by Hannah Bettison stitches is girly boutique ready to take you back in time with its quirky array of 1950's trinkets and furniture decor.  Hannah's passion and creativeness has fused to produce unique skirts which a true sense of individuality and knitted scarves that are customized with retro buttons and badges. The rails are a wash with funky clothing and each piece seems to blend with its surround. There's over a dozen designers in store and each as unique as the next. The majority of designers use vintage fabric to make their garments. Stitches are open Thursday through to Saturday from 10-5.

Talking about vintage there's one guy who knows his stuff! Darren Rose who runs Boutique 28, situated on the main stretch of Hockley village. Opening times are Mon-Sat 10am-5.30pm.

For those who haven't yet rummaged through this mans' rails.....you're in for treat. The first thing about this shop is that there's a hairdressers in the lobby, walk through and you're transported back to an era that makes you want to don 1950's party dresses and  wear vintage 247. Darren opened the shop back in 2003 and has spent years collecting selected pieces of clothing from around the globe.

What's so great about vintage is that it's like denim; it never fades away into the background. The high street shops are full of clothing styles that originate from days gone by and my mum has started to notice girls wearing similar clothing to what she grew wearing the only difference really is that back then they made their clothes.

My last pick of bunch is sample. A very local shop, for local people.

When sample opened it was word of mouth that told people of its location. Back in the days it started with 5 labels and as the word spread so did the shop, now days there are over 70 artists/designers that fill the rails and cabinets with clothing , accessories, cards and art work. 98% of the designers are local people. There are a select few that originate from Japan, Russia, Spain, Portugal and Brighton.

 

What seems to be the biggest hit is that the items are samples (hence the name).Nothing is mass produced and this means we can be individual and unique to our hearts content. It's so positive to have such a shop in the town, it's created a small community under its roof and like any family continues to grow.

Sample is open Tuesday-Saturday 11-5 pm and workshops are taking place every Sunday throughout December. These include:

5^th  - Christmas card and decorations... handy this time of the year!

12^th - Giant dream catchers like the one in store!

19^th - Stick weaving (a bit like French knitting I'm told)

All workshops run from 11.30am until 2.30 and refreshments are provided. Book a place in store. Sample also stocks fair trade labels such as Jasmine fish, Komodo and the birds and the beads cotton and hemp wear.

Knowing what fair trade is and what isn't can be tricky with shops almost inventing their own label of fairness. It's ironic that these selected few and we know who you are, have publicized their equally to the trade yet they allow sweat shop and child labour continue in the factories they use.

We can't always be organic and buy fair trade goods all the time but when the oppunity is there I suggest we try. I clearly remember one day explaining to a woman what is so positive about buying fair trade and she replied with: "Oh it's like giving a poor person a job in a poor country"- well not quite love- hey that's another story.

I was trilled when the Malt Cross opened its doors again and gave us digitnity, Nottingham's first fair trade shop. There's everything you can think of here: coffee, sugar, selections of teas, clothes (large sizes for men and women), baby and children's clothes, toys and games, Christmas gifts, Christmas wrap, Christmas cards, Christmas decorations, world music cd's.......the list goes on. I do recommend you stop off and have a browse yourselves.

I've included Dignity in this article as it's an independent shop and it represents local people from the communities it trades with. Like many small businesses, dignity stocks many companies and labels.

The birds and the beads (available only at sample) create indivual t-shirts lines for men (small-x large) and women (sizes 8-16) using 100% organic cotton and hemp.

 

At this time of the year I often think we are like a turkey because we get stuffed with commercial Christmas from October. No doubt there will be hoards of people still frantically searching the shops for gifts on Christmas Eve. Well I have put together my own little list that should give you some ideas.