Manchester Sample Sale

Manchester holds a Sample Sale on the last Saturday of every month. It's where young/established designers can sell their produce to spread the word and make some money. Everything is on discount and sometimes up to 80% so it's a very good place to shop for designer items such as Gio Goi that are not in the stores. Now Gio Goi isn't my cup of tea, although I'll admit I did own a t shirt many years ago, it was still cool to see their clothing mixed up with not so established brands such as Religion.

Every weekend in Manchester they hold a fashion market. Which consists of these cute marques you can wonder in and out of as you please. The owners are friendly and won't badger you into buying things.

Ahh now this is Afflecks Palace! It has been around since 1982 and I've been going since I was 12 so it's pretty special. A once haven to all moshers, a go to place for somewhere to shelter from the rain and then leave with about 12 badges that will probably fall off your bag as soon as you sprint for the bus home. It was some good times. Although they tried to knock it down a few years ago because it was falling apart, it was a safety hazard, but we protested and it hasn't. But because of this there are hardly any shops in there as all the good ones moved when they thought they were to be binned out and are no replaced with some still good but not the original stores. So it's not as fun. And I got shouted at for taking photos in there hence the lack of images. It's not that good anyway now so take that.

A newish venue which is opened at the side of Afflecks. Which I also got turned away from for Naboo, Mike Fielding's DJ set. That was a dark day.

This is to the side of Afflecks, if you can tell what it is please tell me I've been trying to figure it out myself for years.

They've updated their website loads since I last looked, you'll love it click here.

The signage to the Sample Sale below some pretencions bar.

There were a lot of maxis, florals, dip dyes and sequins. It was very high street but for a bargain who can complain. I didn't buy anything myself as everything was kinda samely but it was pretty lovely overall.

This brand Religion I am very interested in. There are plentiful strips for the men's and lots of rock n roll imagery for the girls. This brand really stood out in the dimly lit room in a good way. It was edgy and wearable in the casual sense.

My friend Kyle and I were wondering whether the above was for men or women so we decided men cos it was in the men's rack but I would wear this!

The white pattern was actually beaded onto and though I'm not sure what it's suppose to be it was made well and the jersey material was of an acceptable quality in my books. I have to have good jersey otherwise it just doesn't feel right. We'll talk about my polyester phobia another time.

The jewelery was my favourite part!

As you can see there was plenty of it. There was no real signage as too who designed each piece but there were staff on hand to ask. The long silver necklaces and the turquoise rings are what stood out for me. To layer a couple of silver necklaces and anything turquoise preferably a ring is such a simple summer look but always looks great. Its a good way of showing off you're personality in a dress or vest that sometimes I feel suffocated in. And I'm pretty obsessed with my turquoise ring I bought from Camden market!

Overall this sample sale is one of the many things Manchester has to offer in the Fashion community and I look forward to discovering more of them!