Gone are the days where you'd be hiding the fact you shopped in a vintage or second-hand shop, and now they're the go-to retailers.

There has been a sharp increase in the popularity in sustainable fashion over the last decade, with vintage and second-hand shops seeing the most benefit from the trend.

Down to Business explored this rise in popularity with two retailers and retail consultant Eddie Shanahan, who said that their time is now.

Mr Shanahan explained: "Some of the biggest names in retailing around the world have experimented with [vintage]. But I do think that these vintage second-hand or preloved shops are now at a point where their time has come again and their customers are quite discerning.

"They're looking for quality, craftsmanship, they want to buy less and buy better in the interests of sustainability. 

"If you just think back to 10 years and especially to 20 years ago, clothes were better made and better fabrics. (10:02) And the majority of what was on sale in your local shop was not recycled polyester."

While some people might think that most vintage clothing just belongs in a museum, that's not necessarily the case, with tops, dresses and jewellery being available for people to buy and wear in a variety of shops.

Naomi Fitzgibbon, from the online shop Vintage Finds You, explained: "Where I specialise in is pieces that you can wear every day, incorporated into your own wardrobe that you have.

"So your jeans, your tops, like the top I'm wearing today is a 1980s top that was made by Thomas Wolfangel. My mother wore it and I just changed it up to suit me.

"So people will definitely have a very specific idea of what they want to wear and some people really aren't so sure how to incorporate vintage into their wardrobe, [so] I'll help them with that as well."

While Vintage Finds You specialise in vintage clothing from the 1920s up to the 80s, Michael McQuade's shop Badlands Vintage caters to young people who are looking for a very certain era of fashion.

"My shop, it would cater mostly for kind of younger people in their 20s," he explained. "So what's funny is that, Naomi's gone for the 1920s and the most popular kind of era that kids are going for now is actually Y2K. So the 2000s."

Something that also came up in the conversation is how there used to be a stigma attached to shopping in second-hand and vintage stores, but it seems to have done a complete 180, and now they're all the rage.

Mr Shannon added: "The other thing I noticed is a dramatic change in how those shops [vintage and second-hand stores] present themselves to the public with their window displays and their merchandising inside.

"They've become real retailers and don't need to apologise for themselves. Many of them providing excellent choice for people who want to express themselves through their clothes and the way they style it."

Main image: Clothes on a rack in a shop Picture by: Sundry Photography / Alamy Stock Photo