Fashion is Kindness @ St Oswald’s Boutique

When it comes to buying my clothes, I love finding one of the key pieces for my wardrobe at the Charity Shops. So when I found out about the St Oswald’s Boutique, I was super excited to see what I could find.

I usually go in with an idea as to what I am looking for but not this time, I just stepped into the shop to see what I could find.

Let me tell you, this is not just an ordinary charity shop, this is a fashion emporium.  It is a wonderland full of designer clothes without the designer price tag.

The shop was sectioned into styles, colours and sizes so it was really easy to shop, they had loads of accessories and so many shoes. I think I could have bought everything if I wanted too.

I walked around and picked up 6 items, I picked up a couple of jumpers, tunics and a few interesting items. One of which was this grey jumper which had just been put out onto the shop floor.

I am aware of my photo quality, don’t worry I will do a proper fashion photo of my outfits on my Instagram which you can check out here 

This jumper is a piece of art, it is from a brand called Golden Days Paris- I have never heard of them. I love the softness of the wool and the sleeves, just look at the sleeves and I paid £15 for that.

I did try on this multicoloured tunic but sadly it was far too big for me. I really liked it, sadly it was not for me.

I was going through the rails, I could not believe the brands I was seeing, from French Connection to Victoria Beckhams Denim range, Kurt Keiger and Barbour.  I found this little black lacy number, which is not something I usually go for.

And it was not me at all, maybe if you are more adventures and daring you might go for it but not for me. I was surprised to see that most of the clothes still had the original labels on and were in tip-top condition.

Peter Anderson, Communications and Marketing Officer for St Oswald’s told me that if they can’t sell the clothes they recycle them “We try hard to sell as much of the donated stock we receive and often have special sales or shop events to promote our products and to sell more products. What we can’t sell we recycle using an environmental merchant organisation who recycle the clothing and use the material to make new items.”

I found a Barbour, stripe knitted tunic that cost me £30 quid. It fit me beautifully and will keep me warm in this cold weather, nice with some tights and boots.

 The charity has a Central Sorting centre in Newcastle where a large proportion of the donations are received and a team of staff and volunteers sort through the donations to ensure that each St Oswald’s shop has adequate levels of stock to sell and that specialist item are distributed to our specialist shops. In addition, there are lots of donations received ‘over the door’ in the individual charity shops across the North East.

There is no reason to be afraid of charity shops, there are some great bargains from pre-loved items. Plus you are helping to do your bit in saving the planet by giving items a whole new lease of life. 

Check out St Oswald’s Boutique Instagram here  

You can find the shop at  5 Hazelwood Ave, Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 3HU 

To find out about St Oswald’s Charity click here