A Mayo entrepreneur is on the rise with new concept in clothing
Cian Charlton has transformed an old night club into a vintage fashion house
by Kasey Clarke
The story of Cian Charlton opening his own clothing store, Vintage Plaza, in Kiltimagh is a fascinating one.
He certainly started out at the bottom of the ladder, so to speak, by selling unwanted clothes from his wardrobe at the start of last year’s lockdown to creating a website, with a large following of 10.8k, to becoming a businessman in his own right.
Cian’s vintage clothing idea came from his love of authentic pieces as well as the motivation to re-use and upcycle.
He brought this concept right through from the clothes to the store by renovating a former bar and nightclub, turning it into a bright, vibrant store and bringing a piece of a rural town back to life.
Cian’s passion for what he does is evident particularly through his active Instagram page, asking for his customers opinions, using customers as models for the clothing and also generating new ideas on a daily basis and always having something in store to suit everyone.
I had the opportunity to chat with Cian and gain an insight on the life of a young entrepreneur.
Q: When did you first know you wanted to be an entrepreneur and what was the point that really made you go for it?
A: “Last March when Covid first became real in Ireland and we were locked down for the first time, I became unemployed. I had been working as a barman in a nightclub in Dublin where I was studying and living at the time.
“Without that income four nights a week I knew I needed to do something to continue to pay the rent. I had way too much clothes in my wardrobe at the time and decided to pop a load of it onto an online clothes reselling app.
“It then dawned on me that I could earn money by doing something I loved. After a few weeks of selling clothes of my own and some of my mates under my own name. I thought that sales could increase more if I identified as a business or brand a little more. I have always had an interest in vintage clothes, especially sweatshirts and abstract crazy fleeces, and thought ‘why not supply clothes for other people too?’.”
Q: What is the inspiration behind the name of your brand ‘35mm Vintage’?
A: “At the time of deciding what to call the business I was doing a lot of photography with an old Canon Cannot 28 camera. The lens of most of these older cameras were a standard 35mm lens, pretty similar to the way our eyes see things compared to a wider lens of 16mm, which is what the wide lens of your phone camera looks like. I liked the ring of ‘35mm Vintage’ and that was that. I created an Instagram page and started posting!”
Q: What challenges did you encounter and how did you overcome them?
A: “The business expanded pretty quickly. I found more and more people were trying to buy pieces from me through Instagram and I gained new follows daily. It was almost as though it happened overnight! That’s where the first challenge arose. I had always to be on the phone replying to a lot of messages and arranging sales that it became very time consuming.
“Something needed to change, so I decided I would make a website and post clothes there. It would alleviate the need to be texting people and arranging sales. It also kept everything in one place, by setting up the online store.
“Sales could be made anytime of the day without my knowledge. My mate Eoin Leonard was a dab hand at computers and got me up and running with a website. 35mm Vintage took off even more after that and the following and interest just kept increasing.
“Trying to balance the business, college and a PT course all during the pandemic wasn’t the easiest in the world but I loved the challenge and enjoyed every single minute of it.
“Another small challenge was the competition as other similar businesses opened up. This motivated us all to put up better content and keep ahead of the pack.”
Q: You recently renovated and opened up a former popular bar and nightclub, bringing it back to life turning it into your first ever store ‘Vintage Plaza', but why in particular did you choose Kiltimagh?
A: PJ Staide of the Cill Aodain Hotel, Kiltimagh, where I used to work too, wanted to revitalise the town and was renovating the old bar and nightclub, which had been previously known as ‘The Electric Mouse’.
“It had been closed for 12 years and PJ invested a lot of time and money into bringing the place back to life. He had known about my online trade and pop-up shop I had set up in Kiltimagh in December. We decided to give it a crack and see how things went. We arranged a rental agreement and got the place kitted out. I chose Kiltimagh because I grew up here and love the town and the people. It used to be THE place to be and I loved the idea of giving it a new lease of life, bringing something different to the area.
“We hope to be able to host a multiple of other small businesses, some local artists and craftspeople. We source all our stock locally and our main emphasis is local, local, local.”
Q: I also noticed you have a special emphasis on reusing and being mindful of where our clothes products come from?
A: “Yes, I think we are all aware of the waste that goes on in modern society with so much disposable products nowadays.
“I like to promote recycling, up-cycling and reusing as much as possible as it is something I think is really important in order for everlasting damage not to be done to the environment.
“Fast fashion, for those who mightn't know, is basically the purchase of super cheap, poor quality clothes. These items don’t usually last too long and end up in landfill very soon after purchase.
“The movement of slow fashion, is becoming super popular now and it is the practice of buying second hand, swapping with a friend, re-wearing, re-styling and is a much more sustainable way of fashion. With a lot of exploitation and poor working conditions in third-world countries, human rights can often be ignored. By shopping sustainably and not supporting the brands that are responsible for this you are making a difference. I want to encourage people to be aware of where their clothes come from, who makes them and what impact that has on the earth.”
Q: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
A: “My goals, I have far too many to discuss and a lot are top secret. I see myself being happy and content with life, regardless of where I am, or what I am doing. That’s all I want.
“I particularly want to thank my dad Denis for all the work he put in over the last couple of months and my girlfriend Jennifer for all her help and encouragement from the beginning.”
You can visit Cian’s website at www.35mmvintage.com
You can also visit his new store, The Vintage Plaza, at Thomas Street, Kiltimagh, F12 V295.