We wear a garment on average 7-10 times, and then discard it somehow. We buy new clothing in larger quantities and faster than in the past (clothing purchases have doubled in the past two decades). If we want to help create a more sustainable fashion sector, we can only curb our purchases and use more of what we have.

Thanks to Giulia, we told about apps to optimize the wardrobe such as:

• Your Closet
• Smart Closet
• Plan what to wear
• Pureple

We like to return to the subject, because tools available to help us manage what we have more consciously brings more than one advantage:

• economic saving
• reduction of the environmental and social impact of our clothes
• creating our own style

For this reason, we present some apps that can help you:

• better organize the garments that are already in our closet
• reduce or eliminate the purchase of extra items or duplicate clothing (do you ever buy something and then find out that you already have it?)
• discover outfits you didn’t think you had
• know how many times you wear a garment, extend its life cycle and amortize its cost
• identify what you never wear
• simplify the choice of what to pack for a holiday or simply what to wear every day

and not only. You will find out many other things where apps can help.

Note: We have come across many other apps for wardrobe management, but we have excluded those more related in some way to shopping that potentially lead to buying new clothes.

So here are other apps that may be useful to you:

Saveyourwardrobe

To guide you on how to make the most of your clothes and to reconnect with the contents of your wardrobe. It encourages to buy less and buy better. You can repair, dry clean and donate your items or buy recycled fashion with just one click. It also includes a section dedicated to:

– the long-term maintenance of garments, thanks to a network of experts in repairs and cleaning

– the donation of your items

– upcycling, to buy with one click from selected partners.

Stylebook

Designed to help you take care of your wardrobe so that you can dress every day effortlessly, making the most of what you already have and choosing new pieces that will fit well into your wardrobe as a whole. After taking pictures of the entire wardrobe and uploading them to the app, you can easily see what works and what doesn’t.

Includes over 90 functions for:

– mix and match what you own, compare new purchases with what you have in the closet

– plan the outfits you will wear

– learn how to put 30 outfits in one hand luggage

– save all your favorite style inspirations to develop your personal style

– know the total value of your wardrobe “and then laugh or cry” !, as they write on the website.

and much more.

In addition, you can find interesting things about your wardrobe with statistics such as the cost per wear (CPW), which is the cost of a garment in relation to how many times it has been worn. For example, if you buy a pair of jeans for 120 euros and wear them 40 times a year for 8 years, the CPW will be equal to 120 / (40 X 8),  37.6 euro cents. To this figure we should also add any repair costs, always dividing them by the total number of times we have worn them. According to the #100wears campaign that appeared on social media this year, if we buy a garment with the intention to using it 100 times, we lower the cost per ware, amortizing the purchase price, but above all it helps us to evaluate the quality and the possibility of wearing it over time before buying it.

Whearing – digital wardrobe

To shop in your wardrobe, create your own style with tips and more consciously buy recommended items (pre-loved, ethical brands and rentals) that work with the items you already have.

It also helps extend the life cycle of clothing by ethically caring, repairing, reselling or donating to help reduce the environmental impact of fashion.

Loop – Digital wardrobe

To organize your wardrobe, share with friends, find inspiration, create and save styles. It also includes a shopping section, but we mention it because it also contains more sustainable options to resell, exchange, donate or recycle garments with one click “to be part of a circular fashion system”.

30 wears

Simple to use, you will find a community that encourages you to wear garments at least thirty times before replacing them. Just upload your clothes and tag an item every time you wear them, to become more aware of wearing the clothes we already own before buying new ones.

Armadio virtuale per vestiti

Add your items to the wardrobe, organize them according to the occasion or weather conditions and create the combinations. Also you can keep track of your clothes and items and see which one you wear more or less or what combination you haven’t worn in a long time.

App for having fun with clothes

Fashion Design Flat Sketches ; to design your clothes. You can create the technical drawing of any garment, a model that you can create with your own hands or have it sewn in the tailor’s shop. Contains more than 1,000 graphics to inspire you. Design blouses, skirts, dresses, trousers, jackets and jumpsuits. After saving the project, you can print it or send it by email.

Design di moda: Sketchbook; to create high fashion looks and clothes and turn creative ideas into reality.

App for caring for clothes

Laundry Lens;  to read the symbols on clothing labels and know the correct instructions on how to take care of your garments. It includes a full list of symbols, from washing to ironing, including the professional ones. So you know exactly what kind of care your laundry requires. Using is easy: just frame the label with the camera and wait for the symbols to be detected. The washing and drying instructions will appear on the display.

Also Segui l’etichetta, Lavaggio – etichette di vestiti, Laundry Pro  help you understand the symbols on the garment care label.

Another useful app? Complete Laundry Care, which in addition warns you at the end of the washing cycle.

Do you know any other app? Write use (contact_us@dressecode.it), and if you tell your experience we will publish it.

Too Good To Go – Let’s save the food and the wallet!

I have been using this app for some time, together with another competitor wide known abroad, to help reduce food waste. The idea is to connect users with businesses that offer unsold products, in order to prevent food from being wasted. On the one hand, customers receive food from favorite bars and shops at a lower price, on the other hand shopkeepers engage new customers and avoid disposal costs, contributing to the reduction of food waste.

You download the app, sign up for free and start scrolling through the availability of food by selecting the neighborhood, type of product (ready meals, food, baked goods), time slot of availability (lunch / dinner) and other criteria such as the immediate availability or the imminent closure of the time window for collection.

I had excellent experiences (in Milan in an oven and in an ice cream parlor in Rome) and a little less luck with some exercises in Roman territory where the participating shops have recently reached 1,000, with disappointment for the quality and quantity of food to be withdrawn. The app works great, it’s simple, immediate.

However, in some cases I had the feeling of a possible misunderstanding on the part of some restaurateurs: the purpose of Too Good To Go is to save the surplus from waste, everything that is close to expiry at the closing of the restaurant and cannot be sold soon. It is not only a tool to promote your business or to apply discounts to new customers… In one case, unfortunately, I also found food that, for reasons I overlook, was just to be thrown away. In others, the disappointment of finding few things and at a price almost equal to the price list and the doubt of not having really helped to save something about to be thrown away. On this we hope that the Too Good To Go team can find a way to better orient the businesses that join.

A part from that, I think it is a valid tool of great use in the fight against waste! In the case, for example, of the oven in Milan, the quantity of delicious food was truly incredible and it was clearly understood that they were sandwiches, scones, pizzas, stuffed cottages that the next day could not be put back in the window. The ice cream tasted recently was also very good, with a competitive price compared to the product normally sold.

It costs nothing to try, I invite you to download it! Let me know how you find yourself so I can share it with other readers.

(Photos: Too Good To Go)

Veggly – Digital dating for vegetarians and vegans (but not only)

A few months ago I read an article announcing the arrival in Italy of a new dating app, dedicated to vegans and vegetarians. “Will it work to get to know people with similar intentions, more attention to the environment and animals and a greater sensitivity towards sustainable issues?”, I asked myself. It would have been nice to write about one more tool to create new social relationships in times of distancing and physical distance.

I’d like to preface that I have never used a dating app. I therefore have no possibility to make a direct comparison with similar tools, but I was able to collect feedback from those who use them regularly.

Veggly works like this: you sign up, upload your photos, enter your description indicating whether you are vegan, vegetarian or if you are “trying” (in the sense of trying to become veg!) And the work you do. You can choose the free or paid version. By scrolling through the photos, if you like someone send a like. If he/she likes back, the match starts and you can begin chatting. No photos, no vocals. Messages only.

I’ve never given  a like first, but maybe for the article I should have tried. There are those who send you a like, reciprocate and then don’t write anything to you. I didn’t understand them. Even if it can happen to press “like” by mistake (it happened to me with one not at all similar!).

In recent months I have come across the strangest human cases. In the profile I indicated the work profession, age and interests converging on nature, the environment, travel and, after a first period of total inexperience, I clearly specified that I was not “a person from Tinder” and I would have answered to meet people with similar interests, with a real name and a personal photo (note for Veggly managers: but… why age? Why not a range of years for example? Does it really need to appear next to the name??… please…).

Trusting in a sort of natural selection given the name and target of the app thanks to what is written in the bio, I found myself being contacted by:

• Two oil industry engineers
• Dozens of people with no photos other than a kitten, sunset, vegan dish, etc.
• A boy who for the first time has heard of professions related to sustainability
• Several men disappointed with the answer to the question “What are you looking for here on Veggly?” (“I would like to meet people with similar interests”)
• Mostly young boys (between 25 and 30 years old)
• A misogynist

And then a series of cases that could be almost pathological.

I asked myself and I wonder: do they randomly click on “like” stopping at the photo, without reading the bio? Not even what is written in the top highlighted field “Work”? Following this criterion to skim, I did not respond to those who changed their name every day or to those who chose to call themselves “Rome” in order not to reveal their identity (in addition to avoiding those with a profile picture with their girlfriend).

I could write rivers of words only on the incipits of the conversations, on the first approaches. “What a beautiful lady, however in my particular view it is women & capitalism who are destroying the planet.” Already with “lady” you put yourself brutally, as if it were not enough you then destroy the professional and private mission that I revealed to you in the bio, showing a slight male chauvinist resentment! At least you read the bio. But why then did you contact me??

Few have patience. In a world of fast fashion and fast food, dating is fast too. At the first message they already rush to meet, get the phone number (the insistence from one of them at the first contact was exhausting), video call, get engaged, move in with you and someone already separate, doing everything alone because maybe you  having not activated the notifications, that day you did not really have time to enter the app.

I found myself telling a 20-year-old about that emotion that I lived as a teenager waiting to find a letter in the mailbox. A long-awaited answer, for which sometimes the words imprinted on the paper received a feedback even after months, if the correspondent was a bit lazy and the Post Office didn’t give you setbacks. I still remember the moments when I turned the small key to the box and found lying there, after miles of travel, a rectangle of paper sometimes smudged, sometimes perfumed, sometimes crumpled. There were times when I tore the envelope instantly, others when I waited to be silent in the middle of the field close to my house walking the dog or to curl myself  up on the bed in solitude.

Those emotions, I still remember them.

So opening an app and finding a series of consecutive pressing, or in some cases even delirious, messages because you didn’t respond promptly is a little shock. I was blocked by a couple of people:

• from one because I didn’t want to share the phone number and chat on Whatsapp on first contact. The advice is to protect yourself and exchange a telephone number only after having met. Better to interact on Instagram first.
• from a guy from Bucharest, because when he was insisting on the first contact for a video dating (but what is it?) I showed some perplexity, by proposing to write us at least a few messages first. After two words he was already talking about massages. When I asked what video dating was: “Why to spoil the fun before it?”. The perplexities at this point have only increased! And his unsolicited reassurances were useless: “I don’t even go for the back touch. So no need to get worried”. Continuing with an annoying and inappropriate flirting so cold in a message bombing.
• from another guy, because I didn’t answer immediately. Then after a while he reappeared apologizing for the drama. And stopped any conversation shortly thereafter because you have explained that you prefer to start from a friendship. “Honestly, I’m sorry to break this off but talking about this app once a week I find it a bit sad (ed: we’re talking about not even a month of acquaintance). If, on the other hand, you think that something more intimate could be born from this friendship, tell me. For how I am made I try to live sexuality in a more open and free way, in fact I wanted to make things clear for correctness”. If it weren’t for all the name changes, which in the end I didn’t understand who I was talking to, and for the little aggressive drama enough for a belated response, I would almost have appreciated the frankness. Better than another, who kindly wrote messages consistently and then unexpectedly stopped writing after answering the question “But what are you looking for exactly on this chat?” (yet in the bio I wrote it!).

Actually another guy also blocked me. One of the few with whom written conversations were pleasant. Most of the messages are missing dialogues that languish. More than “Where are you from?”, “What are you doing?”, “Hey!”, “Can you move from Rome?”, “Have you ever visited a dog shelter?”. Difficult to read something engaging and original. He moved me instead. Until he asked me to follow each other on Instagram. I went to see his profile and suddenly I asked: “How come you have hundreds of followers and you don’t even follow one person?”. He did not like anyone, he did not consider anyone worthy of being followed, this is the summary of an answer given with a certain arrogance. Just enough time to show amazement and write that probably not even my profile is a great artistic product, then he blocked me.

The app itself works. I can’t catch the difference with similar alternatives, also because it is not required to be vegan or vegetarian. By definition, dating apps in Italy are for quick and slightly light encounters. I wanted to experiment, to tell it here if a common focus such as love for animals and the environment would open a window to a different target.

I find Veggly’s goal beautiful and the opportunity to reach people all over the world. I managed to meet a guy outside Italy with many points in common discovered in pleasant conversations and with an interesting experience in the fashion sector, maybe a professional collaboration will be born (I keep my conversations with him confidential). There remains the sadness of scrolling with a finger photos of strangers, “this yes, this no”, excluding – perhaps – statistically a little too much and the disappointment of not having expanded the circle of friends with similar interests. Will something innovative come from Veggly? In the meantime, I still don’t know for how long, maybe I keep investigating.

If you are interested in apps, we wrote with Giulia about a digital tool to organize our closet.

Ps I thank Serena Tringali, because in a Club House room I entered, creating confusion to gather information on dating apps, she turned the topic of the group to give me interesting ideas.

(Photos: Veggly; Pratik Gupta)

Puoi ascoltare qui l’articolo con le nostre voci: Un’app – Giulia racconta

Sono a cena con Giulia (Gaudenzi) e Lodovica (Cattani), anche per parlare del prossimo Eco Swap Party che organizziamo insieme, e Giulia ci mostra un’app che ha scaricato sul suo cellulare: “Si chiama Your Closet, ti aiuta a creare il tuo armadio capsula”, mi spiega (avevamo raccontato qui del capsule wardrobe in versione sostenibile: 33 x 3 Project 333). Fantastico! Desidero saperne di più e chiedo a Giulia di aiutarmi a farvi conoscere questo strumento.

Giulia, ci racconti come sei arrivata a utilizzare un’applicazione per costruire un guardaroba capsula?

“Da quando mi sono iniziata ad avvicinare al minimalismo, sapevo che uno dei primi aspetti da modificare nella mia vita sarebbe stato il mio guardaroba. Avevo un armadio e dei cassetti stracolmi di indumenti che semplicemente non usavo da almeno un anno, ma a cui continuavo a dare seconde possibilità sperando che un domani riprendessi ad usarli. Una delle conseguenze di avere tanti vestiti, come anche tanti oggetti, a riposare sui nostri scaffali, armadi, mensole, è l’enorme spreco di energie mentali che ciò comporta da parte nostra.
Tutti questi oggetti/vestiti accumulati, che non hanno più una vera funzione, occupano uno spazio fisico, all’interno della nostra casa, ma anche mentale, perché quando possiedi molte cose, hai una percezione dell’ordine minore. Inoltre, molti oggetti o vestiti che teniamo senza usare, spesso hanno un peso emotivo, ricordandoci situazioni passate, piacevoli o spiacevoli che siano.
Così negli anni scorsi ho iniziato a fare decluttering, ossia a dare via periodicamente (soprattutto donando alle comunità) tutte le cose che ormai non usavo più. Nell’arco del 2019, dopo una grossa cernita fatta al mio guardaroba, ancora mi trovavo con numerosi capi. La verità è che, nonostante avessi ottimizzato il mio guardaroba rispetto agli anni scorsi, ancora non riuscivo a liberarmi di una grande quantità di vestiti, perché in ottime condizioni e non riuscivo a scegliere a cosa rinunciare, spesso anche scordandomi che quei vestiti erano lì effettivamente in attesa di essere indossati“.

Per chi non lo conosce, Giulia, proviamo a spiegare in poche parole cos’è un guardaroba capsula?

“Capsule wardrobe è un termine inventato negli anni ’70 da Susie Faux, proprietaria di una boutique di abbigliamento a Londra, per indicare un insieme ottimizzato di capi: pochi abiti scelti con criterio, che ci facciano sentire sempre bene, di qualità, interscambiabili ed evergreen. Fondamentale è la scelta funzionale di capi che, in base anche alle nostre caratteristiche fisiche, valorizzano la nostra figura e si adattano ai nostri colori, così da indossarli volentieri più spesso. Consente di avere outfit coordinati per ogni occasione, già pronti, senza dover passare troppo tempo a capire cosa metterci”. 

E l’app che utilizzi? Come funziona? 

“Lo strumento che mi ha aiutata di più a ridurre il mio armadio e renderlo più funzionale attraverso la tecnica dell’armadio capsula, e che tuttora uso, è un’app per il cellulare, nel mio caso si chiama Your Closet – Smart Fashion. Per me funziona molto bene, ma ne esistono moltissime altre, dello stesso genere. Si tratta di app che possono aiutare le persone ad essere più consapevoli di cosa possiedono, e soprattutto di cosa non utilizzano più. Si crea un guardaroba ‘virtuale’ caricando le foto di ogni capo di abbigliamento che possediamo e, accostando le foto dei vari capi, si creano manualmente gli outfit, che si possono catalogare anche in base alle occasioni (lavoro, feste, ecc.). È dotato anche di un calendario in cui è possibile segnare quando gli outfit sono stati indossati, in modo da capire quali sono quelli non utilizzati spesso, e in cui è possibile pianificare gli outfit delle prossime settimane”.

Che bella idea! In che cosa la stai trovando utile?

“Per me, utilizzare questa app è fondamentale per capire cosa nel mio armadio è di troppo, e cosa invece posso sfruttare meglio. Uscire dalla mentalità consumistica, anche attraverso queste piccole ma fondamentali azioni rappresenta un percorso lento, costantemente in evoluzione, ma anche divertente e pieno di benefici”.

Conosci altre app simili?

“Sì, Plan what to wear, Pureple per Iphone, Smart Closet per IOS e Samsung”.

Grazie Giulia per questo consiglio! Potrà essere utile ai lettori che desiderano rivedere il proprio guardaroba secondo la filosofia dell’armadio capsula o anche a chi è semplicemente curioso di tenere traccia di cosa indossa più (o meno) spesso.

Utilizzate anche voi qualche app? Fateci sapere come vi trovate.

(Foto: da Your Closet)

English – An app that helps you optimize your wardrobe: Giulia tells us about her experience

I’m having dinner with Giulia (Gaudenzi) and Lodovica (Cattani), also to talk about the next Eco Swap Party  that we organise together, and Giulia shows us an app that she has downloaded on her mobile: “It’s called Your Closet, it helps you create your capsule wardrobe”, she explains (we have spoken here about the capsule wardrobe in a sustainable version: 33 x 3 Project 333). Fantastic! I would like to know more and ask Giulia to help me introduce you to this tool.

Giulia, can you tell us how you came to use an application to build a capsule wardrobe?

“Ever since I started to approach minimalism, I knew that one of the first aspects to change in my life would be my wardrobe. I had a wardrobe and drawers full of clothes that I simply hadn’t used for at least a year, but which I kept giving second chances hoping that tomorrow I would start using them again. One of the consequences of having so many clothes, as well as many objects, resting on our shelves and wardrobes, is the enormous waste of mental energy that this requires by us.
All these accumulated objects/clothes, which no longer have a real function, occupy a space both physically, inside our home, and mentally, because when you own many things, you have a perception of lesser order. Furthermore, many objects or clothes that we keep without using, often have an emotional weight, reminding us of past, pleasant or unpleasant situations. So in the past few years I started decluttering, that means periodically giving away (especially by donating to communities) all the things I no longer used. In 2019, after a large selection made in my wardrobe, I still found myself with numerous items. The truth is that although I had optimised my wardrobe compared to previous years, I still could not get rid of a large amount of clothes, because in excellent condition and I could not choose what to give up, often even forgetting that those clothes were there in waiting to be worn“.

For those who doesn’t know it, Giulia, can we try to explain in a few words what a capsule wardrobe is?

“Capsule wardrobe is a term invented in the 70s by Susie Faux, owner of a clothing boutique in London, to indicate an optimised collection of garments: few clothes chosen with criteria, which make us always feel good, of quality, interchangeable and evergreen. Fundamental is the functional choice of garments that, based also on our physical characteristics, enhance our figure and adapt to our colors, so as to wear them more often. It allows you to have coordinated outfits for every occasion, ready-made, without having to spend too much time figuring out what to wear”.

What about the app you use? How does it work?

“The tool that has helped me the most in reducing my wardrobe and making it more functional through the capsule wardrobe technique, and which I still use today, is an app for mobile phones, in my case it is called Your Closet – Smart Fashion. It works very well for me, but there are many others of the same kind. These are apps that can help people to be more aware of what they have, and above all what they no longer use. A ‘virtual’ wardrobe is created by uploading photos of each item of clothing we own and, by matching the photos of the various garments, the outfits are created manually, which can also be cataloged according to the occasions (work, parties, etc.). It also has a calendar where you can mark when the outfits have been worn, in order to understand which ones are not used often, and where you can plan outfits for the next few weeks”.

What a nice idea! What are you finding it useful to?

“For me, using this app is essential to understand what is too much in my closet, and what I can use better instead. Getting out of the consumer mentality, even through these small but fundamental actions, represents a slow path, constantly evolving, but also fun and full of benefits”.

Do you know other similar apps?

“Yes, Plan what to wear, Pureple for Iphone, Smart Closet for IOS and Samsung”.

Thanks Giulia for this advice! It can be useful for readers who want to review their wardrobe according to the capsule wardrobe philosophy or even for those who are simply curious to keep track of what they wear more (or less) often.

Do you also use some apps? Let us know how it’s going.

(Photo: from Your Closet)

Abbiamo scritto di Vintag, l’app dedicata allo shopping di oggetti del passato, in occasione dell’annuncio dell’entrata di Piquadro come investitore  (Piquadro-investe-in-Vintag-). Acquistare abbigliamento, accessori e altri articoli vintage è una soluzione responsabile che consente di recuperare ciò che qualcuno non utilizza più e di trovare oggetti di qualità, con quel fascino speciale del tempo trascorso e della storia che li caratterizza. Ricordo l’acquisto di un cappellino anni ’40 da una signora di Bologna, diventata successivamente una cara amica, perché nello scambio di mail prima di comprare le chiesi per favore di raccontarmi qualcosa dell’articolo. Nel pacchetto mi inviò una lettera scritta a mano, in cui raccontava chi lo aveva indossato, quando era stato comprato e dove, perché ora lei aveva deciso di venderlo… Una lettera piena di emozioni e sentimenti, che rendono ancora più caro e di valore l’acquisto – cosa che non capita comprando nuovi oggetti prodotti in serie a milioni!

Incontriamo la fondatrice di Vintag, Francesca Tonelli, per saperne di più di questa interessante applicazione tutta italiana (la società è stata creata nel 2016 a Bologna da 9 soci). 

Perché hai deciso di creare Vintag?
Vintag è nata dalla mia passione per il vintage e dall’idea che oggi come oggi non si possano disperdere le eccellenze del nostro passato.
Nel 2013 durante un trasloco, ho trovato un vecchio baule della mia nonna in cui aveva raccolto i suoi vestiti più belli, insieme a scarpe, fotografie e accessori.
Ho iniziato a studiare e appassionarmi alla storia che questi oggetti portavano con sè, a cercare più informazioni su alcuni vestiti che avevo trovato e provavo a contestualizzare il tutto.
Durante le mie ricerche facevo tantissima fatica a trovare le notizie che mi interessavano perché il vintage spesso veniva (e viene tuttora) confuso con il second-hand. Parlando con altre persone appassionate come me ho perciò capito che mancava un posto, un marketplace, una
community dedicata solo al vintage autentico. E poi c’è tutto il tema della sostenibilità: dare una seconda (terza, quarta…) vita ad un vecchio oggetto è etico perché riduce gli sprechi e l’inquinamento da nuove produzioni.

Cosa possiamo trovare nell’app?
Su Vintag si trova di tutto, purchè sia vintage (quindi che abbia almeno 20 anni) o iconico. Sicuramente le categorie più importanti sono l’abbigliamento, il design e il collezionismo, quindi passiamo dalle borse iconiche di Chanel alle lampade di design di Achille e Pier Giacomo Castiglioni.

Qualsiasi oggetto può essere venduto o c’è una verifica da parte vostra prima della pubblicazione?
Vintag è social, quindi la pubblicazione degli oggetti è immediata.
Esiste però un team tecnico che più volte al giorno controlla che gli oggetti in vendita rispettino il nostro regolamento. Se riteniamo che l’oggetto non sia vintage o iconico contattiamo il venditore spiegando cosa si può vendere su Vintag e nel caso procediamo ad eliminare il post.
Abbiamo un filo diretto con tutti gli utenti, può capitare di sbagliare quindi cerchiamo sempre di spiegare cosa si intende con vintage.
Stessa cosa anche per i fake: se abbiamo qualche dubbio su una borsa o un oggetto di lusso, contattiamo il venditore e cerchiamo di capire se si tratta di contraffazione oppure no, anche grazie alla collaborazione con il gruppo WG consulenze. In caso di fake eliminiamo immediatamente l’oggetto dalla vendita.

Quante persone utilizzano Vintag al momento? Solo in Italia o anche all’estero?
Ad oggi contiamo oltre 23mila utenti attivi, la maggior parte in Italia ma grazie al passaparola e ai social contiamo già diverse centinaia di utenti da tutto il mondo che hanno già iniziato a comprare e vendere.

Hai sempre acquistato vintage e/o usato? Se sì dove? Hai un negozio (fisico) preferito?
Fin da piccola i miei genitori scambiavano i vestiti miei e di mio fratello con i cugini. Non mi è mai piaciuto buttare le cose soprattutto se capisco che possono avere ancora qualcosa da raccontare.
Per quanto riguarda i negozi fisici, sicuramente a Bologna posso consigliare Rossi Selected Vintage nel settore luxury. Tutto il resto lo compro su Vintag o nei mercatini in giro per l’Italia.

Cosa ti piace di più del vintage?
Ci sono vari aspetti che mi piacciono. Per quanto riguarda l’abbigliamento mi piace il fatto di poter indossare qualcosa che è stato creato o indossato da qualcun altro molti anni prima, mi dà la possibilità di poter continuare a raccontare una storia e poterla reinventare. Mixare poi il nuovo con un pezzo del passato ti dà la possibilità di avere sempre look unici.
Con il vintage è anche possibile acquistare un pezzo iconico ad un prezzo sicuramente inferiore rispetto al nuovo, senza considerare il fatto che acquistando vintage non si producono nuovi oggetti e quindi zero sprechi e zero inquinamento.
Stessa cosa vale per l’arredamento: comprare un mobile antico aiuta a crea un ambiente unico sicuramente diverso rispetto a tutto ciò che ormai siamo abituati a vedere.

In occasione della giornata della terra Vintag ha lanciato un’iniziativa in cui si parla di economica circolare, ci racconti di cosa si tratta? Com’è nata questa idea?
La Giornata della Terra, celebrata il 22 aprile per promuovere la salvaguardia del nostro pianeta, è la più grande manifestazione internazionale dedicata all’ambiente con un miliardo di persone coinvolte in 192 paesi e Vintag ha deciso di unirsi a tutti i cittadini del mondo che amano e desiderano proteggere la Terra. Lo abbiamo fatto coinvolgendo i nostri utenti e un brand iconico e di grande pregio come The Bridge.
In sintesi fino al 31 maggio The Bridge regala il restauro a chi acquista le sue borse su Vintag e, a chi le vende, un buono sconto del 20% per l’acquisto di un nuovo prodotto: un’iniziativa che sposa la moderna filosofia dell’Economia Circolare, basata sui concetti di riciclo e riuso.

Perché hai a cuore il tema ambientale? Quando e come è iniziata questa attenzione all’ambiente?
Da sempre sono convinta che il vintage sia etico e sostenibile.
Sicuramente niente è più “green” del prolungare la durata di utilizzo e del dare una seconda possibilità a un oggetto che qualcun altro non usa più. Vintage è sinonimo di meno oggetti nuovi da produrre e dunque meno sprechi e inquinamento.
L’anima green del marchio The Bridge, di proprietà del Gruppo Piquadro
(che possiede anche Lancel) neo socio di Vintag,  ispirato alla cultura bohemian della gioventù degli Anni Settanta, sposa i concetti di sostenibilità ed eticità alla base di Vintag, il luogo di incontro di collezionisti, artisti, designer, stilisti, creativi o semplicemente uomini e donne che, nella ricerca di stile e qualità di tempi passati, prolungano la durata di utilizzo degli oggetti.

Un gesto in più di attenzione all’ambiente da parte di Vintag che vuoi raccontarci?
Ci tengo a sottolineare che Vintag ha appena firmato un accordo per trasferire tutti i suoi dati nell’unico Data Center a emissioni zero del sud Europa. Abbiamo abbandonato i vari Amazon, Aruba ecc, altamente inquinanti per continuare a dare il nostro contributo in ottica green scegliendo una realtà tutta italiana di grande qualità che si chiama Exe.it.

3 pezzi speciali in vendita al momento su Vintag?
Solo 3? Impossibile scegliere! Su Vintag sono pubblicati oltre 70.000 oggetti, dalla Vespa al Game Boy originale degli anni ‘80, passando per le macchine da scrivere Olivetti ai vestiti di Fendi.
Consiglio a tutti di scaricare gratuitamente l’app per fare un tuffo nel passato di qualità!

Link al sito: Vintag

English – The sustainable passion for the old-fashioned quality and the chic reuse project with The Bridge: Francesca tells about Vintag, the app for those who love the timeless charm of the past

We wrote about Vintag, the app dedicated to shopping for objects from the past, on the occasion of the announcement of Piquadro’s entry as investor (Piquadro-investe-in-Vintag-). Buying clothing, accessories and other vintage items is a responsible solution that allows you to recover what someone is no longer using and to find quality objects, with that special charm of the past and the history that characterizes them. I remember buying a ’40s hat from a lady from Bologna, who later became a dear friend, because in the exchange of emails before buying I asked her to please tell me something about the item. In the package she sent me a handwritten letter, in which she told about who had worn it, when it was bought and where, why  she had decided to sell it… A letter full of emotions and feelings, which make the purchase even more special and valuable – something that does not happen by buying new mass-produced items in million copies!

We meet the founder of Vintag, Francesca Tonelli, to learn more about this all-Italian app (the company was created in 2016 in Bologna by 9 members).

Why did you decide to create Vintag?
Vintag was born from my passion for vintage and from the idea that nowadays we cannot disperse the excellence of our past.
In 2013 during a move, I found an old trunk of my grandmother where she had collected her most beautiful clothes, along with shoes, photographs and accessories.
I started to study and get passionate about the story that these objects brought with them, to look for more information on some clothes that I had found and I tried to contextualize the whole.
During my research I was struggling to find the news that interested me because vintage was often (and still is) confused with second-hand. Speaking with other passionate people like me I therefore realised that there was no place, a marketplace, one community dedicated only to authentic vintage. And then there is the whole theme of sustainability: giving a second (third, fourth …) life to an old object is ethical because it reduces waste and pollution from new productions.

What can we find in the app?
On Vintag you can find everything, as long as it’s vintage (so it’s at least 20 years old) or iconic. Certainly the most important categories are clothing, design and collectibles, so we move from Chanel’s iconic bags to design lamps by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni.

Any object can be sold or is there a verification from you all before publication?
Vintag is social, so the publication of objects is immediate.
However, there is a technical team that checks several times a day that the items on sale respect our regulations. If we believe that the object is not vintage or iconic, we contact the seller explaining what can be sold on Vintag and if we proceed to eliminate the post.
We have a direct line to all users, it can happen to make mistakes so we always try to explain what is meant by vintage.
Same thing also for fakes: if we have any doubts about a bag or a luxury item, we contact the seller and try to understand if it is a counterfeit or not, also thanks to the collaboration with the WG consulting group. In the case of fake we immediately eliminate the object from the sale.

How many people use Vintag at the moment? Only in Italy or even abroad?
Today we have over 23 thousand active users, most of them in Italy, but thanks to word of mouth and social media we already have several hundred users from all over the world who have already started buying and selling.

Have you always bought vintage and/or second-hand? If yes where? Do you have a favorite (physical) store?
Even as a child my parents exchanged my clothes and my brother’s ones with their cousins. I’ve never liked to throw things away especially if I understand that they can still have something to tell.
As for physical stores, I can definitely recommend Rossi Selected Vintage in the luxury sector in Bologna. Everything else I buy is on Vintag or in the markets around Italy.

What do you like most about vintage?
There are various aspects that I like. As for clothing, I like the fact of being able to wear something that was created or worn by someone else many years before, giving me the possibility of being able to continue telling a story and being able to reinvent it. Then mixing the new with a piece from the past gives you the chance to always have unique looks.
With vintage it is also possible to buy an iconic piece at a price definitely lower than the new, without considering the fact that buying vintage does not produce new objects and therefore zero waste and zero pollution.
The same thing applies to furnishing: buying an antique piece of furniture helps create a unique space that is certainly different from everything we are used to seeing.

On the occasion of Earth Day, Vintag has launched an initiative that talks about circular economy, can you tell us what it is? How did this idea come about?
Earth Day, celebrated April 22 to promote the preservation of our planet, is the largest international event dedicated to the environment with a billion people involved in 192 countries and Vintag has decided to join all the citizens of the world who love and they want to protect the Earth. We did it by involving our users and an iconic brand of great value like The Bridge.
In summary, until May 31 The Bridge offers restoration to those who buy their bags on Vintag and, to those who sell them, a 20% discount voucher for the purchase of a new product: an initiative that marries the modern philosophy of Circular Economy, based on the concepts of recycling and reuse.

Why do you care about the environmental issue? When and how did this attention to the environment begin?
I have always been convinced that vintage is ethical and sustainable.
Surely nothing is more “green” than extending the duration of use and giving a second chance to an object that someone else no longer uses. Vintage is synonymous with fewer new objects to produce and therefore less waste and pollution.
The green soul of The Bridge brand, owned by the Piquadro Group
(who also owns Lancel) new member of Vintag, inspired by the bohemian youth culture of the Seventies, marries the concepts of sustainability and ethics at the base of Vintag, the meeting place of collectors, artists, designers, stylists, creatives or simply men and women who, in the search for style and quality of past times, prolong the duration of use of the objects.

An extra gesture of attention to the environment by Vintag that you want to tell us about?
I want to emphasize that Vintag has just signed an agreement to transfer all its data to the only zero-emission data center in southern Europe. We have abandoned the various Amazon, Aruba etc., highly polluting to continue to make our contribution in a green perspective by choosing a high-quality Italian company called Exe.it.

3 special pieces currently on sale on Vintag?
Only 3? Impossible to choose! More than 70,000 objects are published on Vintag, from the Vespa to the original Game Boy of the 80s, passing through Olivetti typewriters to Fendi clothes.
I recommend everyone to download the app for free to take a dip in the past of quality!

Link to website: Vintag