About OIV

Own It Vintage is a start-up store, founded by Fiona Rombaut, supported by Lisa De Keuleneire & Lowie Clapéron.

OIV collects, restores and revalues clothing & other items to give them a new life.

We focus on high quality items, which we source piece-by-piece, or in small selective bulks.

We are brand-agnostic and select pieces based on quality, character and aesthetics.

Our pillars

  • The future is circular

    We aim to help devaluate trends, discourage overconsumption & enable our community to own their impact.

    Still, the vintage clothing industry has its challenges in terms of transparency, human rights, transport emissions and ecology.


    We commit to grow sustainably and prepare for a climate, environmental & human-friendly future.

  • Vintage offers unique value

    We want to prove that pre-owned and circular items provide much better value than new, fast consumer goods.

    Vintage items have stood the test of time, were often produced with great care and consist of superior materials.

    Blemishes and traces are taches de beauté. These marks tell stories.

    A vintage item can function as a cultural portkey to pass along ideas, values and stories to the next generation.

  • Experiences shape behaviour

    Second-hand or vintage shopping can be "a lot".

    We aim to remove the friction and effort that often exist when shopping sustainably. Shopping vintage should be easy, inspiring & fun!

    We want to enable you to write your own narrative and tell your own stories. Together, we can build a strong community of like-minded people and have a positive impact.

FAQ

Can I try out, see or feel items in real life?

Yes! fill out the form below or send us a DM on Instagram to get in touch to schedule a fitting in our atelier.

We are situated in Ghent. We will share our adress with you when available.

We're also always planning live pop-up events. If you want to meet us there & fit a specific piece, let us know!

Find our planned events here.

Can I return items?

We don't like sending and returning clothing mindlessly. Please be conscious of the ecological impact of this practice.

However, we do apply a 14-day return policy for all your purchases, in accordance to the European consumer legislation.

The items cannot be damaged or worn, and you will have to arrange & pay for shipping the item back yourself.

If you want to return something, contact us through the form below and we will provide you with instructions!

Are your vintage clothes sustainable?

We source clothing from wholesalers, private sellers, our grandmothers closets and anything in between. We source as locally as possible, We try to keep our supply chain efficient and vet larger suppliers on their commitment to SDG's when we can.

In reality, the supply chain of a lot of industrial vintage suppliers remains opaque. There is little transparency, and some pieces seem to rack up thousands of shipping miles, going through scores of hands and companies before ending up in vintage retail.

Based on latest reports - we recommend reading this impact study by EURIC (If you like dry reading) vintage clothing, with all its pitfalls, is still vastly more sustainable (up to 70x) than newly produced goods. Buying vintage reduces waste and avoids new items to be produced. Fashion is one of the most polluting industries in the world.

We select our clothing based on their materials, and heavily favour natural materials, which leak less microplastics & toxic materials into our water supply.

We believe that low-quality synthetic garments are sometimes better recycled rather than reused.

Some synthetic pieces are offered through OIV, but more often than not, they are statement pieces which will likely not be washed on a weekly basis, or they are mixed fibre/technical fibres.

We will continue to work making our operations as sustainable and transparent as possible & pledge to look for innovative ways to do so, as we grow.

If you have ideas or suggestions on how we can do better, please reach out!

Which brands do you sell?

We are brand-agnostic: we don't really care that much about the labels in our clothes, (except for the technical ones).

You can find clothes by high-fashion brands in our racks from time to time. We love well-designed, well constructed clothing, and high fashion items often are.

We love Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, Maison Margiela, Comme Des Garçons and more. Items from these kind of brands are sold on face value, not on collectors value.

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