Shopping With Smart Works: What Is It Really Like?

Earlier in July, Smart Works North East hosted multiple fundraising events including a summer clothing sale. This event was based at Sunderland City Hall, which is only a short distance away from our Universities’ campuses so, of course, the Fashion North team had to check it out and grab some deals.

How the event went:

The clothing sale was set up around the back of the ground floor of the City Hall and had hundreds of items available to purchase for heavily discounted prices throughout the day.

There were a couple rails with a mix of brands in which all clothing was priced at £5. Whereas the other rails were dedicated to specific high quality brands such as Barbour, Whistles, Rixo and Aligne and these were priced accordingly at around £10 or £15 depending on the item. A majority of the clothing items had been donated directly from Smarts Works’ brand partners and were new with tags.

There were also separate tables for accessories like belts, shoes, hair accessories and jewellery, as well as unopened shower gels and body sprays, with prices as low as £1.

Here’s what I ended up buying:

I decided to get this funky patterned mini skirt because I’ve been really inspired by 60s fashion at the moment and I own a lot of summery tops with similar colours that would match it. The outer layer of the skirt is made from linen, which is a great fabric for the summer weather!

(You can read more about the benefits of natural fibres from a previous article linked here).

I’ve been thinking about getting a floral choker necklace ever since I saw the trend on designer brands’ Spring/Summer runways a few years ago. And I already owned a light pink mini dress that I can pair it with so when I saw the price was £1, I had to take the opportunity.

This year I set myself the style goal of stepping up my accessory game so I tried on these two metal bangles from the Disturbia Jewellery section of the sale and found that they were the perfect fit for me.

Here’s how I would style these items:

Item links:

• Revolve Tallis Assymetrical Dress in Powder Pink
• Puma Silk Ballet Flats from Vestiaire Collective
• Mejuri Lab Grown Sapphire Tennis Bracelet

Item links:

• H&M Cate-Eye Sunglasses in Black
• Etsy Magenta Crochet Skull Cap
• Depo Jeans Black Boat Neck Ruched Top
• Duo Boots Dalia Standard Knee High Boots in Black Leather

Let us know if you have attended any Smart Works events in your area, and what things you bought in the comment section on our website or on our social media @Fashion_North !!!