PHOTOZ KATE V. ROBINSON
Street smarts
Two Edinburgh streetwear staples are changing location and direction, within the same week. Kirstin Innes finds out why
his week. Goodstead and ()ddities. both
much loved lidinburgh streetw'ear
boutiques. are shutting their flagship stores and opening new premises. Currently. people tend to assume that any change is related to the economy. so it‘s refreshing to find two independent store holders who still feel free to make creative decisions.
‘lt’s not as much to do with the credit crunch: more what we wanted to do as a label.‘ says Dominic Flanagan. art director of ()ddities. the shop and label set up by Vixy Rae as Odd One Out in 1996. The label epitomises a certain sort of Edinburgh skate-street fashion. so it‘s a jolt to learn they‘ve upped sticks for Glasgow. Their new store. Land of Odds. opened on 1 March in a Finneston bar (formerly 54 Below); the rest
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‘CUSTOMERS USED TO COME IN WEARING
HOODIES, NOW WE'RE SEEING KNITWEAR'
Debbie Raven, journalist and Paul Stokes, half of the Daily Mash website
My hot is Oasis; my scar! was a present from Paul, made by these designers in the Orkneys called Tait & Style. The coat is Topshop, the gloves are Accessorise.
I like second han shops too. I picked up this bracelet in Relic, off Great Western Road, last week.
'sc‘é‘sr':o. 1.1m. g" The bag is actually '1? from the children’s ~31 section in Zara, the dress is Topshop, and these are Camper boots; I think I got them in Spain.
12 THE LIST 5—19 Mar 2009
My hat is from Dublin. It’s the only good thing to come out of a miserable weekend there. My glasses are Rayban; off the internet. The scarf is a present from Debbies’ mum and dad.
The coat is from Oxfam in Keswick. The jeans are APC and the boots are Doc Martens. I always put my own yellow laces in; that’s a 19705 football hooligan thing, I think.
l_. “ '- .'. f". 1:4“. ‘1 3633.15???“ For men’s clothes, Glasgow is rubbish. there’s nowhere I can shop at all. I like the second hand shops.
A computer generated look I: at the new Goodstead store on Rose Street
lll
has been conyei'ted into a bat / l).l space by 'l'lie lyy's owners. "lilie iiioyc is about associating what we do in fashion and art more closely with music. ll we stayed on Victoria Street we'd be dependent on passing trade. We wanted to cater to a certain audience which I don't think is big enough in lidiiibtii'gli.‘
l-‘or (iraliani lilakey of (ioodstead. he and business partner laii ('iaigie are staying in the city. 'l‘liey are howeyei'. iiioying to larger. more central premises on Rose Street and iisiiig tlic iiioye as a catalyst for a change of stock.
‘l'unnily enough. we managed to get such a good deal on the premises because of the credit cruncltf says lilakey. "l'lial cspanded space is allowing tis freedom to nioye in a new direction. ()iir tastes liay e changed as w e‘\ e grown tip. and our customers liaye too: people used to come in
wearing t shirts and lioodics. now we‘re seeing kiiitweat'.‘ (itiiidstead is t'elii'aiitling as a more upmarket store. replacing Puma and Adidas with lllL‘ clttsslc‘t‘ likes til l’ltllllpa K and Surface lti .»\ir. and enlarging their woniensw ear range. w ith focus on 'casiial officewear to going out clotlies‘,
‘\\‘e started the shop because we found it hard to shop in lidinburgli: there are \ei'y few shops that cater to our tastes and we had to go to (ilzbgtm‘f he sa}s. ‘\\'e'ye cai'yed out a niche for otii'selyes here. though. In (ilasgow. our brand llll\ is similar to the likes of l'rhan ()utlittei's. and we can‘t conipetef
Indeed. a bigger problem for strcctwear stores than the economy appears to be the lure of the high street. 'lt's a funny time for sti'eetwear.‘ says l-lanagan. ‘lligh street stores are so good now'. lltc‘lt‘ ytillllt C(ill\lllllllll\ sti sit\\_\. l tltill‘l think there's any point trying to compete and sell to a market who will just buy an ll&.\1 oi‘ 'l'opshop design. What is impoitant if you run an independent label is to do something yery authentic and honest] he say s. 'And it has to be a better quality. That’s the most iiiipoitant bit'
Land of Odds, 106-108 Argyle Street, Glasgow, www.0dditiesclothing.com Goodstead opens at 76 Rose Street, Edinburgh, on Thu 5 Mar. For launch party details, see www.goodstead.co.uk.