Is Camden back on the vintage map? Agyness Deyn thinks so!
QoV: What are your favourite eras?
Paul Franckeiss: I like the Fifties, the Teddy boy stuff, some of the military stuff, and very well made Saville row suit. I’ve learnt a lot from my business partner Lee Truman, he’s got much more of an eye for women’s clothes, but I have a good selection of men’s clothes and shoes, a lot of vintage shops you go into will just sell men’s cowboys shirts. I cater for the smarter side rather than casual.
What are your bestsellers?
Paul Franckeiss: We sell tonnes of hats – we’ve surprised ourselves! And shoes. When I first started selling suits, Top Man etc weren’t making that style of suit. Now they are in their vintage range. But at Dapper we have the best quality of the era, I’m not really a polyester king. I don’t like all the cheap polyester dresses and stuff.
QoV: Why are you based in Camden?
Paul Franckeiss: I don’t think Camden is as pretentious as Brick Lane, they really think they’re better than they are. You get trendy types here but you also get tourists and old ladies too, a real mixture! I’ve been over to the vintage shops in Brick Lane and I don’t think there’s many good ones to be honest, ok, you’ve got Absolute Vintage and places like that but in general there are some tatty ones.
QoV: Ever had any famous customers?
Paul Franckeiss: We did have Agyness Deyn in. We’ve had Pete Doherty and the guys from Snow Patrol. We get a few famous faces. Agyness used to come in before she moved to New York and buy presents for her boyfriend at the time. We get a lot of people from the model agency, Storm, which is just around the corner.
QoV: What’s the best thing about your job?
Paul Franckeiss: The freedom. I work seven days a week but it doesn’t feel like a job, it’s not hard work, I enjoy doing it. I’m dealing with nice people all the time. It’s rare that you get a nasty customer.
QoV: Any advice for people wanting to open their own vintage boutique?
Paul Franckeiss: Don’t run before you can walk. Start off little and if it grows, it grows. But you have to put effort in, if you don’t, nothing will come of it.
QoV: What do you think is the future for vintage?
Paul Franckeiss: Vintage is really hard because not since the Eighties have there been quality clothes made. I think it’s going to be very difficult to do vintage in the future because the very interesting clothes are going to run out. 30, 40 years ago, if you bought a dress it was a real treat, now people are buying a dress for Saturday night that costs £30 that they wear twice and then throw away. Charity shops now are all full of Primark and sometimes they charge more than Primark! Vintage is going to get harder in the next ten years. These days the designs are nice, but there’s no quality any more.
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Category: Fashion, Vintage Shops around the world
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Paul hit the nail on the head about the future of vintage. But don’t diss us old lady tourists. I love both Camden and Brick Lane and manage to visit at least one whenever I’m in London.