Paper short abstract:

Despite global trends and a long history, trading with second-hand clothes and shoes in contemporary Slovenia is exceptional. The presentation will try to describe its various manifestations and by analysing media contents, it will grasp meanings usually attached to them.

Paper long abstract:

Used clothes and shoes for the adults as well as for children were in Slovenia commonly exchanged, often reshaped and re-used until the second half of the twentieth century. The items circulated among family-members and acquaintances while at least since the second half of the 19th century some also sold them in the antique shops. Their commission sale remained quite common also in the second half of the 20th century but in the last decades, when mostly children's used clothes are still exchanged through one's private social nets, it has decreased. If global second-hand trade grew rapidly after 1989 and due to the economic recession, which Slovenia is also facing, it is also interesting contemporary commercial second-hand sale of clothes and shoes is still exceptional in Slovenia. Due to recent ecological and sustainable trends and supported by European funds enterprises mostly selling and to a limited extent renewing used items also appeared in some Slovenian urban centres, nevertheless sometimes with a very short-term existence. A few associations and civil society groups are also trying to promote exchanging or trading second-hand goods but their efforts are mostly still limited to their members or to the trend of vintage clothing. In the presentation, the author will thus try to make an overview of contemporary second hand trading with clothes and shoes in Slovenia while by analysing media contents she will also follow meanings, prejudices and valuations attached to it.