TEACHER HAS SECOND-HAND SIGHT TO LAUNCH BOUTIQUE
A27-YEAR-OLD has swapped her career as a primary school teacher to open up her own business selling second-hand clothes, including designer items, for a fraction of the normal price tag in a new shop in Cardiff.
Eco-conscious Jessica Renault set up Déjà Vu and wants it to centre around sustainability and fill a gap in the market by allowing customers to see clothes in person and try things on instead of ordering through places like Depop or Vinted.
The shop is located in the heart of fashionable Pontcanna, which has recently been named as one of the coolest neighbourhoods in the UK. Since opening in January, Jessica has found there are plenty of people keen to come forward and drop off a range of clothing – now she just wants to see more customers coming through the door.
“It’s definitely cheaper than your average boutique in the area. I think my prices, on average, range from about £20 to about £50-£60. There’s only a few things in the shop that will be over about the £60 mark, I’d say, which does make it affordable,” Jessica said.
Jessica splits the price the items sell for so that she will keep 50% of what a shopper pays per item, and the seller receives the other 50%. People can bring their pre-loved clothes, shoes and accessories into the store, where they will be kept for four weeks, and if they do not sell in that time then items are donated to charity on the seller’s behalf or they can go back and collect them.
At the moment, Jessica is accepting all brands but selecting what pieces to put out based on the season, and has to make sure they are clean and in good condition.
She said: “I have sold already two Chanel jackets which were very popular because obviously they’re the sort of thing that never, ever goes out of fashion... But I don’t want to limit it to that because that’s not for everyone.”
Based in Pontcanna Mews, 200 Kings Road, Déjà Vu has joined a collection of like-minded businesses in a community becoming increasingly centred around sustainability. Coffee shop Milk & Sugar nearby has its own eco retail store, while there is also a popular farmers’ market which runs every Saturday in the courtyard of Kings Road Yard, aiming to bring local communities together.
Jessica said: “The area was quite important to me. And Pontcanna has a mass range of demographics. You’ve obviously got a lot of young people who come to the area, and you’ve got students who live here and I know they’re becoming a lot bigger on wanting to shop sustainably. You’ve also got a lot of people who have a demographic that they have beautiful clothes that they just don’t wear any more and want to get rid of, so it was having the best of both in that sense.”
Before opening her own shop Jessica worked as a primary school teacher and knew if she wanted to start her own business that now was
the time. After seeing her partner’s mum open a similar business successfully in Chichester, she was determined to model the business in Cardiff in a similar way.
She said: “I loved being a primary teacher. When it came to starting a business I just thought if I’m going to do it now, I’m financially OK to do it at this point but I may not be at a later stage so I thought now was as good a time as any to start a business and that was the only reason for leaving. It’s been really, really good so far.
“I’ve definitely had loads of people who want to come in and sell their clothes in the shop so it’s more getting the word out there that the shop is here and making people understand what it is. I think when you think of a second-hand clothes shop there are some quite negative connotations on what it is. Not that there’s anything wrong with charity shops, but it’s not sifting through trying to find one nice piece or all vintage as sometimes people think of vintage as being more grungy.
“I hand-selected and curated how everything looks in the shop and when you come in you can see that it is all really nice quality things.”
Looking to the future and how she sees the business growing, Jessica said: “Long term I would hope that I could grow it, and have one in different parts of Cardiff, in the small parts just outside of the city. I know that Vinted exists and there are loads of second-hand places that are online now and doing amazingly well – far better than me – but it’s bringing it back to the high street that’s something I’m really passionate about.
“There’s something really special about walking into a shop and being able to see it in person.
And then you take away the risk as well of ordering something second-hand and not knowing if it fits, so I really think that we needed an in-person experience. It’s been hard. At the moment it is literally just me so it’s been a bit of a shock in that sense but I am passionate about it and I know where I want it to go.
“Even if by the end of it more people in Cardiff are shopping sustainably, and in a way that they are not afraid to say they got it second-hand at a really good price and they love it – that’s the main thing for me that I want to come out of it.”
The fashion industry is responsible for 8-10% of the world’s carbon emissions – more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined (UNEP, 2018). In 2017 the Ellen MacArthur Foundation said that if the fashion sector continues on its current trajectory that share of the carbon budget could jump to 26% by 2050.
The warnings have prompted more people to become eco-conscious when it comes to their shopping habits, choosing to buy second-hand items through websites like Vinted, which had the second most monthly visits out of all the fashion marketplaces in its coverage area in 2022, according to Productmint.
According to data from lifestyle brand Black Tulip, the top 10 cities leading the way for the slow fashion movement are Bristol, Leicester, Nottingham, Brighton, London, Leeds, Liverpool, Southampton, Edinburgh and Glasgow, with these cities prioritising sustainable shopping habits and focusing on quality instead of seasonal trends.
That being said, however, it seems there’s plenty of room for Cardiff to follow in their footsteps when it comes to building a reputation with businesses like Jessica’s emerging.
There are a range of second-hand shops across the city in the form of charity shops in the centre and beyond, with more sustainable clothing shops added over the last year, including the likes of Beyond Retro, Lucy & Yak and ROKIT.