Who doesn’t like to wear vintage fashion from time to time and stand out with flared trousers, bright colors, bright patterns or unusual cuts? If you buy real vintage pieces, you often run the risk of getting hold of high-quality, but environmentally harmful items made of materials such as synthetic fibers, leather or even real fur. The answer is contemporary brands that are as committed to vintage fashion as they are to sustainability.
The three women’s fashion labels presented here are just such brands that are inspired by fashion from the 20s to the 70s – be it through cuts, style, colors, prints or patterns. It is important to everyone that they produce long-lasting fashion that is manufactured under fair and environmentally friendly conditions. The search for new materials and packaging is just as important. Worth supporting, we think.
Mademoiselle YeYe
Mademoiselle YéYé is a sustainable vintage-inspired women’s fashion label from Stuttgart, which is completely dedicated to the style of the 50s, 60s and 70s. It offers dresses, tops, knitwear, trousers, jumpsuits, skirts and jackets, as well as accessories such as belts, hats and socks that are feminine, vegan and fair fashion.
“The vintage movement that we know today started in England in the 90s. Caused by the desire to decelerate the ever faster life and to devote oneself to old values again. Young people in particular decided against uniform fashion and wore more and more old vintage dresses and clothing”, Mademoiselle YéYé explains the emergence of the desire for vintage.
The label has its products manufactured in Turkey and uses materials such as cotton, synthetic fibers and viscose. It was founded by the two designers Kai Alt and Florence Shirazi in Stuttgart in 2012 and currently operates two stationary shops – one in Berlin and one in Stuttgart, as well as its own online shop. The name derives from a genre of 1960s French pop music derived from the English exclamation “Yeah”.
The Berlin store is located in the Schöneberg district at Akazienstraße 26 and, in addition to the current YéYé collection, also offers selected pieces from the Amsterdam label King Louie (see below), the London brand Traffic People (see below), the Danish brand Danefae and other brands . These are also available in the Stuttgart shop at Eberhardstraße 6. Prices range from around 15 euros for socks to 35 euros for a top and 125 euros for a maxi dress.
King Louie
The Amsterdam women’s fashion label King Louie wants to spread freedom, optimism and individuality with its vintage-inspired prints. Each new collection therefore starts with prints and patterns inspired by vintage fashion, which the design team rediscovers every year and adds to its own archive.
“King Louie is idiosyncratic and we’re proud of that. We go our own way in everything we do. We are colourful, even if the whole world is black and white. We are happy even when no one else is. We’re crazy about prints, even if the rest prefer it to be monochromatic,” explains the label on its website.
It focuses on sustainability: King Louie is a member of the Fair Wear Foundation and has around 70 percent of all items manufactured in Turkey and the remaining around 30 percent in China. In addition to items made from Tencel, Lenzing Ecovero and recycled polyester, it also offers items made from cotton, of which 75 percent are made from organic cotton and 50 percent from environmentally friendly materials. However, all items are made without hazardous chemicals.
Last year, the label debuted circular garments made from recycled King Louie items. Prices range from 14 euros for accessories to 60 euros for a top and 120 euros for a jumpsuit or dress.
The two vintage fans Ann Berlips and George Cramer started the label in Amsterdam in the early 80s. It now has four stores of its own, including two in Amsterdam, one in Lelystad, the Netherlands, and one in Geneva, and is available at selected retailers in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, France, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Italy and the UK .
Traffic People
The women’s fashion label Traffic People, founded in London in 2002, arose from a love of vintage fashion from the 20s, 30s, 50s and 70s, drawing inspiration from style icons from bygone eras such as Lauren Bacall, Anita Pallenberg, Ava Gardner and Bianca Jagger.
“Our small in-house design team works to create contemporary, edgy and creative styling with the Traffic People Girl at the heart of all our products. Cleverly tailored pieces in fabulously unique, high quality fabrics with wonderful details and prints ensure our range has a unique exclusivity that sets us apart from other independent labels,” says Traffic People of his style.
Accordingly, the label relies on smaller collections and sometimes only produces 50 copies of a particular model. Prices range from around 60 euros for a top to around 150 euros for a jumpsuit and 260 euros for a dress.
Traffic People favors durable pieces and is working towards using recycled polyester in its collections starting next year. The brand has also partnered with Tribe, with every purchase protecting five rainforest trees. The label also supports various charities and works on more environmentally friendly packaging.
Traffic People started supplying selected independent boutiques across the UK and a network of carefully selected wholesalers supplying stores across Europe. Today, the brand can be found in hundreds of stores around the world, as well as well-known online fashion retailers such as About You, Harvey Nichols, Wolf and Badger and Zalando.