Today I went to the Folkster kilo sale which was held in Smithfield. As I live nearby getting up early wasn’t too much of a challenge!
I’m the type of person who could sleep 15 hours a day so it has to be a special event for me to be up early.
Last year I missed most of the sale as I was hungover …this year I’m off the sauce for November so no excuses! I arrived bright and early at 7.45am and already people were queuing up to get the tickets.
I came back at 11.30am to queue inside in the individual zones and at 12pm the floodgates opened!
It was full-on chaos as girls (and a few boys) ran like rabid dogs towards rails of vintage goodies! The items literally flew off the rails as anxious shoppers grabbed what they could. There were 8 zones with 100 people in each so you can imagine the madness!
The queues for the fitting rooms were long but I wanted to try on things properly to be sure I liked them.
It’s too tempting just to grab things at akilo sale and hope for the best but it’s not a good idea! I was hoping to find a check shirt but these were in high demand! I tried on a men’s one but it was absolutely huge on me.
But I had a stroke of luck when I found this lovely blue flannel checked shirt.
I had already left the fitting room so this is where bringing a friend came in handy to give their opinion.
It felt ironic buying a lumberjack shirt like those my brothers wore all their teenage lives!
But I fell in love with it and it looked great under a leather jacket with the cuffs rolled up.
I’m going to wear this on its own with shorts, black tights, and brogues or with leggings or a leather jacket and jeans. I think it’s a really versatile piece.
I also picked out this shirt, the scarf print design caught my eye. I initially wasn’t sure about the short sleeves but when I tried it on it was really cute.
The pattern on the back of the shirt is the coolest part of it!
I will wear this under a denim jacket for now and on its own in summer with high-waisted denim shorts or a plain skirt.
Also how cute is it under my pastel lilac jumper or with dungarees?
Grasping the two shirts plus a few more “maybe” items, we joined the extremely long queue for the till.
It was about a hundred people long (no joke, it was like queuing for a concert!
However, we were able to peruse items other people had discarded and I picked up a white crochet cardigan and a 90s patterned bomber jacket.
I decided to hang onto these and discard the things I wasn’t sure about.
Crochet may be associated with grannies but this would be great with leather-look jeans or ripped blue skinny jeans.
I’ve been after a bomber jacket forever-so glad I found one. I had been searching for a bright one but this would look great with bold colourful earrings to glam it up.
It’s quite big so it’s perfect to wear over a jumper and still be comfortable.
When buying clothes I always try them on and scrutinise them in a mirror however in this case I ended up buying four items and three of them I hadn’t seen on myself! I had to rely on my friend’s opinion.
As it was a vintage sale, its pretty hard to find your exact size so you have to try on or buy oversized items. I got very lucky with my items and found things that looked good oversized.
My items came in just under a kilo at €19 or €4.75 per item.
The clothes were priced at €20 per kg for most items and accessories were priced separately. I was delighted with the value and wished there were more things left to buy!
My only disappointment was that I was unable to find a nice handbag but there’s always next time!
I decided not to get too carried away as I didn’t want to end up with a lot of things that didn’t fit. Amazingly my resolve held..many of my fellow shoppers were happy to make up for that!
My tips for anyone heading to a kilo sale are bring an honest friend for opinions, a pocket mirror, wear something that’s easy to change, bring a bag if at all possible and be prepared for queuing, crowds and a little bit of madness!
As I spent a significant proportion of my adult life working in fashion retail (including working at the Next sale which makes war zones look tranquil) I wasn’t too fazed.
There was also a pop-up full price Folkster shop but after the scrimmage, we were too tired to look at the full price!
I did have a peek around earlier in the morning and saw some gorgeous jewellery.
https://www.instagram.com/p/2s7EXUufL2/?taken-by=joyofblogs
Overall it was a fantastic and fun event for fashion lovers and more importantly accessible to all and well organised.
It’s a great opportunity for people to dabble in vintage without spending a lot of money. I have to commend the Folkster team on their hard work, a lot of preparation and planning went into the sale.
Half the female population of Dublin was in attendance along with about 75% of the fashion blogger population so I look forward to reading everyone else’s experiences and opinions.
Thanks for visiting my blog as always. Don’t forget to check out my Instagram, Twitter and Facebook page here.
Edel
The Joy of Blogs 