London's Best Charity Shops

London's Best Charity Shops

by: Lowri

Lowri Clarke lets the charity shop cat out the bag...

Shopping is one of my many addictions. But stronger than the desire for constant new clothes is my objection to exploititative sweatshops and unsustainable disposable fashion. I also detest the Primark effect of everyone rocking the same handbag/summer dress/pair of fluro leggings. The answer is incredibly simple and has saved me from bankruptcy. It's loads cheaper and far more exciting: shop in London's colourful pack of charity shops. It adds another dimension to shopping because you never know what you'll find, it recycles old clothes and obviously supports various good causes. There is a hint of destiny in the air as your fingers alight on that skin-tight denim playsuit, or that slinky Versace cocktail dress...in your size! The divine providence of picking that very hour to scour Cancer Research for a pair of senselessly high mock-croc peep-toe heels. What are the chances?

So, grudgingly, here are my London charity shop secrets:

Traid
51-53 High Road,
Wood Green
N22 6BH
020 8888 0077
Traid are a brilliant chain of shops. They have four massive sales a year to clear stock. Items are reduced over three days until everything is only £1 on the last day. The Wood Green is their biggest branch and stocks recycled fashion produced by designers especially for the shop under the TRAIDremade banner. Quirky customised items join the massive collection of high street clothes. The Camden branch stocks TRAIDremade as well as TRAIDvintage.

Octavia Foundation
211 Brompton Road
SW3 2ED
020 7581 7987
As a general rule, the posher the area the better the charity shop, as the rich and famous tend to only wear an item of clothing once before tiring of it. Repeat wear is soooo gosh-darned proletarian, dontcha know. And what area could be posher than just a few doors down from Harrods? This branch of Octavia is expensive by charity shop standards, but an absolute bargain when you see all the nearly new designer dresses and Savile Row suits on sale.

Oxfam
89 Camden High Street
Camden
020 387 4354
The Camden branch is beautifully decorated: hand-crafted wall-paper, checked floor and antler hanging rails. You will sometimes find vintage clothes and reinvented, customised pieces. Alongside is a variety of edgy high street clothes – as you'd expect to find on the back of any self-respecting Camdenite.

Fara
297 New King’s Road,
Fulham
SW6 4RE
020 7736 2833
Fara have branches all over London, but this one near the King's Road is a winner. I scored said Versace cocktail dress here one happy January day. They have three branches round this area – one is a kids shop but this one also sells PAT tested electrics, loads of books and furniture. Win win.

Octavia Foundation
303 King's Road,
SW3 5EP
020 7352 8606
Thanks to its Chelsea location, the clothes in this shop are beautiful. You wouldn't know it was a charity shop if you missed the sign. They are on the pricey side but some of the stuff is really worth it.

Cancer Research
34 Upper Street
Islington
N1 0PN
020 7226 8951
This is a run-of-the-mill branch of Cancer Research, but the location means the turnover is rapid and the quality of the clothes excellent. You don't find much George at Asda or Tesco knitwear – it's all decent high street labels so is a really good bet for basics.

YMCA
22 Goodge Street
W1T 2QE
020 7323 5073
Just opposite this branch of the YMCA is an awesome vintage store called Bang Bang, but they only have limited capacity so often people hoping to sell their clobber there end up dumping it with the YMCA instead. This means that every now and again you can find cracking one-off vintage pieces for next to nothing. Which is the whole point in charity shopping, really.

Mind in Camden
20 Camden Road
NW1 9DP
020 7998 3191
This is a treasure trove. A small shop but crammed to the gunnels with quirky clothes which are not at all over-priced. The benefit of it being in colourful Camden results in real variety. I never walk out empty handed and the staff are lovely.

article updated January 2013
 
 
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Lowri