Share the love, get some love
In an ideal world, we’d only ever buy what we need. But we don’t, we buy what we want and what we love, and I’m ok with that - especially when you are buying vintage.
Your style may change, your lifestyle, your wardrobe, your likes and dislikes; so what happens to the clothes that no longer fit in your collection? It’s all a circle!
Pre-loved and vintage clothes rely on people sharing the wear and passing on clothes to friends and family. When you buy from Alium Bias, you are buying into the circle and I want to keep it that way.
So if after six months your Alium Bias piece no longer suits your style, life or wardrobe, we’ll take it back and pass it on. Simply keep hold of the circular tag that comes with your order, email alium.bias@gmail.com and post it back to us. For sharing the wear you’ll get a 20% discount off your next piece and the returned item will enter our outlet.
If you ever pass a piece on to a friend, let me know and I’ll plant a tree in your honour. I’m hoping to grow a forest so please share the wear.
Simple, just like a circle.
How will this work?
Where do we start? The main thing is you finding something you love and can’t imagine your wardrobe without. I want you to see something and then think about it all week. I want you to plan outfits, unconsciously adding it to looks before you remember, you still haven’t bought it. I want you to wear your Alium Bias finds with immense pride, the kind of pride that inspires struts down pavements, turning heads as people whisper “who is that?”. Simple.
There are countless pieces of vintage clothing from decades far and near. As each year passes another decade becomes an ‘era’, so my job is to help you find the best pieces from that fashion mine. I’ll add new pieces to the Alium Bias collection in Drops - these will be as trans seasonal as possible. I won’t focus on trends, but may be led by them at times. I won’t be only searching for designer labels, but may find some treasures.
Due to the nature of vintage clothes, I only have one of each item. I may have similar pieces, but never the identical one - but isn’t that so great? You won’t see the same piece when you scroll through Instagram, your piece will be unique.
A note on pre-loved and vintage fashion - expect some light wear. Some of these pieces are decades old, some of them are from before the Berlin Wall fell, man landed on the moon and when Abba reigned supreme. But those little marks tell a story - a cocktail spilled, the flick of a cigarette in a bar, the dash to the bus. The fact that vintage clothes have an untold story is undoubtedly one of my favourite things. Maybe someone had the very best moment of their life in the jacket I now wear as I commute to work. Who knows, but I can imagine. I will make any and all real damage clear in the description, but please do feel free to drop me a note if you want more information.
And that’s all! Follow me on Instagram (@Alium.Bias) to see real-time updates, vintage hunts, inspiration and flash sales.
Alium Bias, a beginning
My wardrobe spills out of its doors, on to the floor and across chairs, shelves and tables. Over the years it has filled cupboards, been packed in suitcases, lost, damaged and cut up. I have donated, thrown away and swapped; shopped impulsively, shopped when sad, shopped for a treat and when bored. I’ve bought new clothes, old clothes, second-hand ‘new’ clothes and investment clothes. This story isn’t exclusive to me and my wardrobe; it is repeated next door, down the road and across the world.
I’ve always fancied other people’s clothes, from my mum’s outfit at my own christening to the girls in Robert Palmer videos, Princess Di’s school run wares to anything worn by Cher, to me everything looks better on other people. This obsession over the wardrobes of other people has lead to hunts through charity shops, vintage stores and online pre-loved sites. The wealth of what is out there always leaves me thinking “why do we need more?”. Vintage clothes were once dusty, used for theme parties or for serious era-dressing, but now we’re appreciating them for what they are - clothes. Nothing more, nothing less. Just clothes that can easily fit into modern aesthetic wardrobes without the carbon footprint.
The impact the fashion industry has had on the world is monumental. Production, transport, marketing, sales. It all carries a heavy footprint that can’t be ignored. The onslaught of fast-fashion companies, spurred on by the advent of online shopping, has exacerbated an already troubled industry. Infamous £1 bikinis, outfits worn just once, same day delivery and questionable pricing has cast a dark shadow across a vibrant and vital sector. While reverting to a buy it, wear it, repair it industry would be the environmental ideal, we all know this is far from possible - I am the first to admit I love a new item, hunting for it, getting it, trying it out - the circular economy is a pretty decent second.
As I switched to a more circular way of buying my own wardrobe, I found what I wanted to do - be a part of this change. Inspired by other stores I have seen, and shopped from, this is what I wanted to do. And so, after a long bath and a few Dark & Stormys, Alium Bias was born.
It means ‘another/different inclination or outlook’. You don’t need a radical shift in fashion mindset, rather a twist in what we all do. My aim is to find pieces from decades gone by that fit seamlessly into modern wardrobes, filling gaps and quenching that need for the new. We’ll be curating drops of around 10 pieces of clothing and accessories, bringing seasonal basics as well as trend pieces, to help you find pieces you never knew existed.
For now, sign up for newsletters to be the first to see the new drops and follow us on Instagram (@alium.bias) for sneak peeks and announcements.
Welcome to Alium Bias!