High-end vintage clothing store owner Guan Guan with clothes and fashion accessories at her store. Photos: Li Hao/GT

Separating trash from treasure

Su Guangyu, 25, is a fashion designer and secondhand clothes enthusiast who prefers to be discreet and conservative about his taste in vintage fashion.

"I'm a little more cowardly than I used to be. I used to attach more importance to the look [of vintage clothes]. But now that more people are buying vintage clothes, the market has been flooded with many non-legit items," he said, alluding to smuggled clothes and fashion accessories.

Feng Shanshan, owner of secondhand buy-sell-trade clothing store Trash & Diamond in Chaoyang district, said when she opened her business in May it raised many locals' eyebrows. She learned that "vintage," which in fashion generally refers to anything more than 30 years old, is still a dirty word in China.

"I remember on one of the first days after we opened, a couple of middle-aged women came in and browsed some of the dresses that I said were vintage. They were startled and asked if they had belonged to dead people," she said.

"Of course, the origins of vintage clothes are hard to trace and some might have been owned by several different people. It's easier for people to accept [modern] secondhand clothes, which usually have only had one previous owner."

Despite business taking some time to get off the ground, Feng and her partner were encouraged by better-than-expected sales. Aside from the predictable flow of hipsters, customers also included those on tight budgets.

"The young generation has accepted [vintage clothes] quickly. Even older people, such as those in their 50s and 60s, visit our shop regularly now because secondhand clothes are much cheaper," Feng said.

Only a small portion of clothes at the store are purchased by Feng from abroad, with most being secondhand items traded in by customers.

Business has been so encouraging at Trash & Diamond since it opened in May that Feng is considering opening a second store to serve her customers from western Beijing.