Around the 3rd and 4th arrondissements in Paris are a lot of vintage clothes stores, ranging from bargain-bucket-based shops such as Free’p’star (if sifting through clothes is your forte, then you’ll love it there) to what I’d class as overpriced boutiques. Kilo Shop is a happy medium – clothes are hung up and grouped by fashions, as well as gender, although they are crammed in pretty tight!
Kilo Shop operates in a pretty novel way – the majority of its clothes are priced by weight! Unless it’s an accessory, you’ll find little badges on the clothes denoting the price by kilo. As pictured, this varies from 20 to 60 euros per kilogram, which works out pretty reasonably for most of the items stocked, including shoes.
I’ve always liked rifling through vintage clothes, as it’s great to know you’re not creating new demand for clothing (although I’m still against leather, fur, or any other animal by-product, second-hand or not). Plus you just know that no-one else is going to be in the clothes you’ve picked up!
As part of my Green Paris guide, I’d suggest popping down to Kilo Shop if you’re looking for a unique souvenir that you’ll actually use too! Perhaps a floaty scarf to mimic the Parisiens themselves, or some summer wear to suit the European temperatures?
(As an aside, for anyone that’s familiar with the area – look who I caught in my photo of Kilo Shop! Hairdresser guy! Unfortunately I don’t know his name, although he often hands out hair-cuts on the street and has a gorgeous flowing mane of hair himself… perhaps another fashionable addition to your trip if you spot him!)
Find out more about the place on their website: http://kilo-shop.fr/