So, exactly a year ago, in March 2024, we randomly received a call asking if we were interested in buying a large quantity of vintage Levi’s. Of course I was, and so this story began to unfold.
I was told there was a men’s clothes shop in a little town called Nelson, just outside Burnley in Lancashire. The store had shut down in the 80’s but remained untouched, with all it's contents intact. A viewing was quickly arranged and two days later, we were on a train from King’s Cross up to Leeds. A quick “local” train landed us at Skipton, where we were met by our contact.
We headed for the shop and I must admit, it was quite exciting when the shutters went up and we stepped in to what can only be described as a complete time warp. The shop was just as it was left, when the owner last locked the door, 40 odd years prior.
Rails upon rails of clothes, with the stock areas also heaving. Unfortunately Mother Nature had played her games and in a couple of areas water had got in through collapsed ceilings, but the damage to stock was minimal. Hence, the work began and we spent most of the day sorting through stock to see exactly what was there.
Levi’s there most certainly in stock, to the tune of probably 3 thousand pairs - all 70’s/80’s deadstock. There were also endless amounts of jumpers, shirts, jackets and other assorted vintage deadstock.
A deal was struck and so the job was on to transfer the stock back to our warehouse in London. We toyed with the idea of hiring a lorry, but there were a few issues and we decided to collect it in our own vans. A couple of days later, four vans set off on a long journey north, staying in a local hotel for the night before loading up the next morning and heading back to London.
After, we sent a couple of vans at a time until the shop was finally empty and the stock was all safely back in our sorting warehouse. The final tally was just over twelve tons of vintage, deadstock clothing and we moved on to the next stage; sorting and culling our new stock. That’s no easy task with such a vast amount but we eventually got to the point where we knew what we had and were ready to start selling.
Lots of stock still remains, both in the shop, sales site and the sorting warehouse - twelve tons of clothes doesn’t sell just like that unfortunately.
As a follow on, we got to meet the owner, a lovely old gentleman, very frail but still very enthusiastic about his shops, all now closed but once an empire covering London, Copenhagen, and more European cities. We have only this week been invited to a warehouse in the middle of Hertfordshire to view stock from his Victoria shop.
Groundhog Day, same story again, we estimate another 10 tons of vintage Deadstock clothing which we are currently negotiating for. There is also a garage in north London which is stacked floor to ceiling which we are going to see. - watch this space !!
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