Second-Hand Clothes Shops in Slovenia: The Contemporary Situation in Its (A)Historical Perspective
Second-Hand Clothes Shops in Slovenia: The Contemporary Situation in Its (A)Historical Perspective

Summary/Abstract: This article contradicts Slovenian public opinion that asserts there is no tradition of second-hand clothes stores in Slovenia. It briefly demonstrates that second-hand retail clothing has a long history in the country that was interrupted for a few decades following the 1960s. In addition, the article reflects upon the question of why “socialist mentality” or more precisely, a “specifically Slovenian socialist mentality” is publicly perceived as the main reason for the contemporary lack of such a retail sector. According to the author, it is not unimportant that such mentality is most often ascribed to marginal and lower social strata who supposedly link second-hand clothes with poverty, thus sustaining their premodern (“socialist”) notions. However, public perceptions of the modernization process can only primarily hide contemporary social differences.

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