The entrance of Sloe Vintage. Pic: Khadijah Buksh.

Sloe Vintage is a small shop located in Brixton Village, owned by William KitKat and Kitty Longfield.

William and Kitty spent the past four years operating as a pop up store in numerous locations across London, but two months ago decided to permanently relocate to Brixton due to the opportunities the location provided and for reasons related to cost.

Their motivation for the creation of their store was thought from the impact the fashion industry has on the environment, therefore seeking a more sustainable method to combat this issue.

“The fast fashion corporations contribute around 10% to our global emissions, whereas air transport only do 2-5%. Our consumption of clothes is rapacious and terrible for the environment,” William told South London Lines.

“I think that vintage clothes and second-hand clothes are better made, last longer and are a lot cooler!” he added.

 A range of clothes and items the store offers. Pic: Khadijah Buksh.

William and his business partner Kitty shared a love for vintage clothing, which initiated their thought process of how profitable sustainable clothing has become.

Whilst William is the main handler of the logistics and sales of the business, Kitty spends the majority of her time finding pieces she believes stand out.

“Kitty has always had a knack for finding unique pieces at a good price, and I think we both realised that we could both profit from this in a way which was sufficient, whilst also being able to offer sustainable clothing at a relatively affordable price.”

William also provided insight of the every-day challenges as a small business owner, and how himself and his business partner take on different roles best suited to their skill set.

“I think when you own your own business, every day is a bit of a challenge. Because it’s just me and Kitty, working in the shop and everything between accounting and marketing and obviously buying the clothes.” told William.

“In my ideal world I’d have Kitty not even in the shop, just buying clothes because that’s what she’s really good at, whereas I’m better with the marketing,” he added.

A fashioned display of accessories. Pic: Khadijah Buksh.

William also told South London Lines how the current financial position the UK is in has impacted their sales, explaining that people can no longer afford to spend their money on luxuries and have to prioritise things such as their utility bills. The issue with this however he explained is that this is causing a significant decline in sales and therefore making it increasingly difficult to keep the business existing.

“I do think every aspect of it is a challenge, especially with England going into recession now, people don’t really want to spend that much money, no one really has a lot of money so their priorities is to just be able to keep the lights on to be honest. That is the main challenge.”

William further expressed concerns regarding how this will impact his business, and informed South London Lines of the decline in sales himself and his business partner have witnessed since the economic situation of the UK has further continued to escalate.

“I am worried that there will come a point where we can’t afford to keep running the store. When we’re making so many payments on elements such as rent and stock, but then are now seeing an extremely significant fall in our sales, it’s become a point of hanging on by a thread.”