Sunday 10th May 2026 | Second Hand Conversation Episode 2
Welcome back to The Second Hand Conversation ✨ For Episode 2, we sat down with Michelle a self-confessed former label junkie, charity shop volunteer, Instagram preloved advocate, and the woman behind the @wearitagain account. Michelle's journey into secondhand fashion started through a friend's Instagram page and has quietly evolved into something much more considered. She came in wearing a suit from our rails, with a story for every piece she owns. We loved every second of this chat.
From label junkie to preloved convert
Michelle doesn't try to hide where she started. A couple of years ago, she was all about the big names, shopping the big hitters, chasing labels. Then a friend set up an Instagram page selling preloved clothing, and something shifted.
"I became more aware of the pre-love community through her. And yeah, it's kind of grown from there really."
That friend (Zoe, of Zoe and Jem's Preloved) introduced Michelle to a world she didn't know existed: grid drops, story sales, live selling, a whole ecosystem of people buying and selling fashion in a completely different way. Once the algorithm caught on, there was no going back.
The @wearitagain Instagram and why she started it
When Michelle started buying more preloved, she didn't want to flood her private Instagram with it. So she created a separate space: somewhere to put outfits together, look back on them, and give a proper shoutout to the sellers and shops she was buying from.
"It was for my own creativity, really. To put outfits together and to look back on them and think — that was a good choice. Or, I don't think I'm going to do that again."
What she didn't expect was how quickly she'd realise she wasn't in the minority. The preloved community on Instagram is vast, warm, and growing fast. Once you start following a few sellers, the algorithm does the rest and suddenly you're part of something much bigger than you realised.
The Vinted rabbit hole (and why it's a bit of a love-hate)
Michelle is honest about Vinted. She's had brilliant finds on there including a Green Whistles cardigan she picked up for three or four pounds, de-pilled it herself over about an hour, and now wears with trainers she found here. But she's also been on the receiving end of one of Vinted's more frustrating features: the cheeky buyer.
She sold a pair of her husband's shorts. Posted them that morning. Within hours, the buyer messaged claiming they'd arrived already with stains. Michelle knew exactly what was happening.
"I could tell by the wording. He's definitely trying it on."
It flipped her thinking. We tend to assume the risks of secondhand platforms fall on the buyer and that you're the one who might get something not as described. But Michelle's experience highlights how little protection sellers actually have on Vinted. eBay, she says, feels safer. Vinted still has some work to do.
She's also candid about the overconsumption trap that Vinted can become. The algorithm learns what you like, and suddenly everything is a bargain, and that seller has 20% off if you buy five items, and before you know it, you're doing exactly what you were trying to stop doing, just for less money.
"You almost get a little bit hooked in on over-consuming. It's like social media. It knows what it's doing to entice you."
The one-in-one-out rule (and why it matters)
This is where Michelle's approach has really evolved. In the beginning, she'd buy things with one eye on reselling them, if she'd paid next to nothing, she could always shift it on. But she started to see that mindset for what it was: a fast-fashion habit wearing a preloved costume.
Now she has a strict rule. A notes page on her phone with a list of what's actually missing from her wardrobe. And a one-in-one-out policy. If she buys something new, something else has to go.
"Do I actually want it and need it? That's the question."
It's a small shift, but it changes everything about how you shop. And it's a reminder that the point of preloved isn't just to spend less and it's to consume less, full stop.
Her tips for anyone just starting out
We asked Michelle what she'd say to someone at the very beginning of their preloved journey, and she kept it practical:
Know what's missing from your wardrobe. Not what you want, not what you saw on someone else but what you actually need. Have a list.
Know your measurements. Especially if you're buying online. Sizes vary wildly even within the same brand across different fabrics, different eras, different runs. Michelle's been there: same jeans, different colour, completely different fit. Measurements are your safety net.
And this is exactly why having a physical shop matters. You can try things on. You can feel whether something works before you commit. That friction (the trying on, the debating, the leaving and coming back) isn't an inconvenience. It's the whole point.
Vintage quality: "even vintage New Look was made better"
One of the threads that ran through our whole conversation was quality. Michelle has noticed, through buying vintage pieces, just how differently clothes used to be made. The stitching. The fabrics. The way something 40 years old can walk into a room and still look better than everything around it.
St. Michael's labels. Old M&S. The pure wool things. The handmade things. Clothes that were built to last and that are now, somehow, cheaper than the polyester items in a brand new high street shop.
"We're so used to cheap, accessible, basically slave-labour-made clothes made of nothing like plastic. And then the vintage things are made from proper fabrics and they've stood the test of time — and now they're cheaper."
She volunteers one afternoon a week in a charity shop, and she's seen things come in with small stains that would've gone straight to the rag man. She takes them home, tries them in the wash, and more often than not, they come back. That patience (that willingness to slow down and see potential) is at the heart of how she shops now.
She also has an old Aran jumper that belonged to her gran, and pieces from her mother-in-law that she works into her wardrobe every now and again. Not always her exact style, she says but worn because of what they mean, and who they belonged to.
Her favourite preloved find: a Jimmy Choo handbag with a surfer on it
We always end by asking for a favourite secondhand item, and Michelle's answer was genuinely lovely.
A few years ago, her husband found her a Jimmy Choo handbag on a preloved designer website. Hard shell. A surfer printed on it. He'd thought about everything: her growing love of preloved fashion, her love of handbags, and his own love of surfing all in one bag.
"I love that he's thought about, a, that I'm trying to go down the pre-loved route — and b, my love of handbags. But he's a surfer. So it's kind of the mixture of this."
Thank you so much to Michelle for joining us for Episode 2 of The Second Hand Conversation. You can follow her preloved outfits and the accounts she loves over on Instagram at @wearitagainwardrobe. If you'd like to be part of the series yourself, come and find us in the shop, you know where we are. ☕
Watch the full episode on our YouTube channel here.