Vintage Clothes Shopping in Paris: Freep’Star and Vintage by Ramin

This summer I had the good luck to visit the Marais District for several days—an area known for excellent second-hand and vintage clothes shopping in Paris. 

Below, I’ll tell you what I liked about places I visited, along with some strategies for vintage clothes shopping in this city. 

First, a word about language.  The French word “fripes” loosely translates as second-hand clothes that tend to be of similar quality to what you’d find in an American thrift shop. 
As in the U.S., the word “vintage” also seems to be used in France with some confusion. 

Younger shoppers may use it the way we do in America, referring to clothes that are only twenty or even ten years old.  But my friend Yseult, who’s over 50 and a former Hermes’ employee, told me “vintage” usually implies nicer, older clothes with an actual pedigree. 
On my Marais shopping day, I basically wanted to go thrifting in Paris.  I was looking for fripes.

At the shops I visited, trend-conscious buyers have curated mountains of  second-hand clothes looking for current style value.  The pieces cover a range of quality levels, and they may or may not be old enough to qualify as vintage in the U.S.

Prices at these “friperies” are higher than your average thrift shop, but still accessible (dresses run from 5-15 euros--approx. $6-20). 

My destination:  Free’p’Star and Vintage by Ramin.  Both of these are on Rue St. Croix de la Bretonnerie—a tiny old street in the heart of the funky, historic Marais. 

And so, one afternoon while my travel mates went off to the Champs Elysees, this mouse went out to play…

Free’p’Star, 8 Rue St. Croix de la Bretonnerie.   

Free’p’Star is something of an establishment in Paris and has three boutiques in the 4th arrondissement.  You could visit them all in one afternoon, although I only went to one. 

KINDS OF INVENTORY:  Cut-off shorts, lots of scarves, leather jackets, military jackets, and a great rack of white cotton blouses.  Sale room in the basement—be careful on the teeny spiral staircase.  Did I mention all the scarves?  Prices:  Moderate.  Dresses regular prices are 10-15 euro ($13-20), with sale prices about 5 euro ($6). 

Free’p’Star also has frequently updated stock.  I went back a couple days after my first visit and found a lot of new things, all equally good. 

Vintage by Ramin, 17 Rue St. Croix de la Bretonnerie. 

This shop is newer than Free’p’Star and about the same size.  It’s catering to a similar market and prices are about the same.  Worth checking out.  

KINDS OF INVENTORY:  Along with the usual stuff, I liked the selection of lots and lots of shirts for men and women.  Quite a few 60s and 70s-era vintage dresses.  The 1-euro sale bin in the back was full of vintage (and I do mean vintage) Speedos on the day I visited. 

STRATEGIES for THRIFT and VINTAGE SHOPPING in PARIS: 

Avoid crowds.  Especially if you’re used to American shops, second-hand clothes shops in Paris are tiny and feel cramped with even half a dozen other customers.  Go early, late, or on a weekday.  

Plan ahead for trying on.  Recommend wearing a bodysuit or something else you can strip down to for trying things on—there’s not much private space for trying on.

Communicate. Know some basic French phrases.   Be courteous.  Although I’d bet a chocolate croissant you’ll hear American music, you’re on their turf.  The customer is not always right.  

Other second-hand and vintage clothing shops in Paris:  See this excellent list from Paul and Sophie.

Vintage and Thrifted Clothes: Solving Common Problems

Technorati Tags: thrifted clothes,vintage clothes,cute vintage clothes,body odor,cleaning vintage clothes,clothing stain removal,clothing odor removal

Does this sound familiar?  

You find a fab vintage or thrift-store dress and bring it happily home…..only to find later that you also bought somebody’s vintage body odor.  
   
Eeew!  Talk about a buzz-kill.  Second on the list of gross smells is old cigarette smoke.  

Or you find yellowed pit stains, or mystery spots on the skirt—problems you didn’t notice at the store, in the thrill of discovery.    

Stink and Stain are two common problems with thrifted or vintage clothes.  But they don’t have to rain on your parade.  With three simple products, you can eliminate nearly all these problems at home.  These are:  table salt, Oxyclean or Biz Stain Remover, and powdered dishwasher detergent.
 
NOTE:  Before trying these, please see “Read This First” at bottom. 

Treating Body Odor and other Stinks

Body odor can be removed with a concoction of hot water and salt.

Fill your sink or a giant stockpot half-full with hot water, which will be needed to dissolve the salt.  Dissolve about 1/2 cup regular ol’ table salt (dirt cheap is fine) with a spoon, and fill up the rest of the pot or sink with cold water.  

You now have some lukewarm salty water. 

Plop in your dress, and leave it there for 24 hours, or at least overnight.  Rinse out the salty water very well and hang your dress up to dry.  The smell should be gone.  If it’s not, try the same treatment again. 

Vintage body odor often reveals itself when heat is applied to the dress armpit.  If the dress seems to smell fine after washing, but you want to know for sure, try ironing the pits and sniff them.  This is the true test.

For cigarette smoke, try machine or hand washing your garment with a cup of white vinegar in the water.  If this doesn’t get the smell out, try the salt treatment. 

Treating Pit Stains and Mystery Spots

For this problem, I use a method that’s strong enough to remove old baby formula stains—notoriously hard to get out.  I can vouch that it works on baby formula, armpit stains, and almost everything else. 

This works best on cottons and rayons, which also seem to catch pit stains the most.  Before trying this treatment, though, please see Read This First below. 

Moving right along.  Fill up your sink or big stockpot half full with hot water.  Dissolve in this:  1/4 cup *each* Oxyclean or Biz powder, and powdered dishwasher detergent (I use Cascade).  Try to dissolve 
all the little crystal-y pieces.  You need this hot water initially to dissolve them. 

Fill up the sink/pot the rest of the way with water to result in the hottest water your garment can stand.  Plop ‘er in, and swirl it around.  

Sometimes, general stains come out in a couple hours, but pit stains usually take longer.  If you’re concerned about your dress spending too much time in this detergent bath, check it every few hours to see how it’s coming.  At the end of 24 hours, or when the stains are gone, wash everything out.  

You’ll probably have a completely stain free dress that’s so clean you could serve the Pope on it.  Not that you’d want to.  

For lots of clean vintage clothes with no stains or vintage body odor, check out my collection at Chronologie Vintage.  Thanks for visiting!

Love,
sallymandy
*Read This First!  Vintage clothing can be delicate, and these treatments – especially the stain treatment -- *MAY* damage certain fabrics.   
The rule of thumb in all vintage cleaning it to try the gentlest method first.  You should only try these treatments if regular washing hasn’t gotten rid of the stinks and stains.  My logic is, if it stinks or has deal-breaking stains anyway, are you going to wear it?  Maybe you can afford the risk. 
Salt is relatively harmless, but the OxyClean/Dishwashing Detergent formula can fade and/or weaken delicate fabrics, in rare cases.  That said, I have used both these methods successfully on hundreds of garments.  I rely on them for my vintage clothes shop and my own vintage clothing. 

How to Clean Second-Hand Shoes

Among women who love second-hand clothes, there’s a certain percentage that draw the line at used shoes. 

I am not one of those women.  While I’ve always loved thrifting for clothes, money realities are such that if I want fun new footwear periodically, I need to thrift for shoes as well (I do draw the line at stinky). 

To clean my nouveauld (new + old) shoes inside and out, I use a damp cloth and a generous blob of hand sanitizer.  Here are a few more tips I condensed from a great post on Vintage Shopping Guide blog—including what to do with stinkers.       

1.   Use rubbing alcohol to kill bacteria.  Be careful not to use an alcohol-based solution with more than 10% water, because this may damage the shoes.

2.   Place the shoes in direct sunlight for two hours. This will dry the alcohol and help to remove any germs in the shoes.

3.  A bleach/water solution can be used to disinfect the insides, but be sure not to get on the outside. 

4.  Replace the insole completely.

6.  Spray the outside of the shoes with a disinfectant spray. This will kill some germs, but disinfectant sprays will usually only disinfect non-porous surfaces.

7.  Baking soda or kitty litter can be used to deodorize the inside of shoes.  

8.  Air the shoes out for a night. Remove the laces and pull the tongue out as far as possible if applicable.

If you don’t want to go through the hassle of cleaning your new vintage shoes yourself you can always take them to a nearby shoe repair shop.”

Another fungus-killing tip is to put your nouveauld shoes in a plastic bag and leave in the freezer overnight. 

If you like vintage shoes, come on over and see the collection of cute vintage and indie shoes in my shop.  Love,

 sallymandy