I love vintage. After 9 years of living here I can honestly say, that I have my favourite vintage shops in Bratislava, but it took me a while to find them.
I remember days when wearing something after someone was really embarrassing. Back in the day we didn’t have extra money to splurge on clothes and we wore each thing out to the point when it got stitched up and re-sawn – basically what we now call “upcycled”. Our biggest dream then was to have a closet full of new clothes and have countless outfit options.
Today we do the opposite. We are downsizing our wardrobe to have less clothes. We start caring more about quality rather than quantity and to wear a vintage piece after our mom is an honour, rather than a shame. Honour to our mother and to our planet too.

I remember vintage (thrift or second-hand, if you like) stores as not very good smelling stores with worn out clothes for people, that couldn’t afford new ones. (we are talking early 2000s) I started shopping in these stores when I was working as a costume designer in a TV series Panelak, where I had limited budget to dress dozens of actors. I was aiming for cool stuff for no money lol and actually I had often found it there. Trough out the years I have visited many of them and these are my favourite vintage shops in Bratislava:

VINTAGE SHOP by TEXTILE HOUSE

I have found this little shop downtown Bratislava by a complete coincidence. I stepped inside and I couldn’t believe my eyes: Burberry, Trussardi, Lacoste, Adidas… Countless cool brands for a super small price. They have a “launch” event once a month when they get a new stock and you know this is happening by seeing balloons outside of the store and a super long line of vintage enthusiast waiting to get in. Thats when they have the best pieces, but I did get luck to get it mid-month too. The further from this date, the cheaper the prices and at the end they have all for 1-2 Euro.I have a fabulous burberry trench, amazing wool Trussardi blazer, several pairs of leather pants and I could go on. You really need to go there regularly though, it can happen that you leave with nothing too. Adress: Františkánske námestie 7

WOOL BLAZER:

80s JACKET

NOSENE

A beautiful store reminding more of a concept store, famous for their clothes to be all washed smelling like heaven. Carefully picked out pieces are really unique and most of them look like new. Besides the vintage pieces you can also find some great accessories from local brands and my favourite Novesta sneakers in adult and kids sizes.NOSENE also have their own line RENEWALS – where their own designers make an upcycled collection from old clothes. I myself have several pieces from their store and this collection and you would never tell, that its a second–hand thing. Adress: Obchodna 48

SKIRT

RENEWALS SHIRT & VINTAGE COAT

TYNA SECOND HAND

This was actually the first vintage shop ever I have visited after moving back to Slovakia 9 years ago.  Here I would find the most suitable pieces for the TV series and I found some great pieces for myself too. It it the smallest out of them all and they do have a different kind of clothing than the other shops. You just need to come and search for yourself – thats what thrift stores are about, after all. Adress: Dunajska 52

LONG BLAZER / COAT

JEAN DRESS

LUXURY VINTAGE

If you fancy luxury brands but don’t feel like paying a full price for them this is a shop for you. Fully stocked with fancy brands only – some brand new, some worn but all in a fantastic condition. Dolce, Gucci, Praca, Pucci…. Anything you want! They really have a ton of it and you can save a lot. Adress: Laurinska 17

LEATHER SKIRT

If you are a newbie in vintage shopping, or never really felt like going into one, check one of these out and let me know how was it! Bare in mind though that it’s not Zara, where you find everything perfectly colour and style coordinated. You need to dig in, ask the shop assistants. Not only you may find some true treasures for a fraction of their price, but you are also helping our planet by shopping sustainably. Only in Slovakia we throw away several tons of clothing each day, isn’t that an alarming number?!

Love,