One man’s trash, another man’s treasure: How Deptford Market is driving real sustainable fashion

A century-old flea market in south-east London is providing local creatives with the materials to turn other people’s cast-offs into fashion worthy of Vogue.

With resale sites such as Vinted being criticised for fuelling, rather than reducing, overconsumption and major fashion brands still greenwashing to comfort buyers’ consciences, Deptford Market shows us that repurposing what already exists could be the new way forward.

Deptford-based designer Adam Jones, worn this week by singer Lola Young in her cover feature for British Vogue, as well as by comedian Joe Lycett in the BBC’s The Traitors, is a trailblazer for purposeful fashion reuse.

Jones transforms things hes found in the market: football scarves, tea towels and pub mats into eclectic jumpers, shirts and shorts.

For the Welsh designer, repurposing old materials physically incorporates his fascination with nostalgia into his work.

He says:

“What I’ve always done is look to the past for inspiration, so using the actual materials is the best way to do this.”

While nostalgic fashion enjoys renewed popularity, he criticises larger brands for imitating the appearance of vintage clothing instead of using genuine old materials.

“I really hate that people are kind of creating fake old stuff to kind of appear sustainable or appear re-cycled,” he says.

“They just want the image of that because it’s cool now… its really naf.”

It is estimated that by 2030 the world will be generating 134 million tonnes of textile waste annually. While many fashion brands claim to use recycled materials, research shows that only 0.76 per cent of global fibre production came from textile-to-textile recycling in 2025.

Jones is not alone in recognising the value of Deptford Market.

Gerald Francis is among a number of professional vintage restorers who source there.

He says:

“Resellers have saved a great number of the less obvious antique and vintage items of clothing from landfill because they were bought by resellers, restored, cleaned and brought to market.”

So while the rest of the fashion industry continues to churn out new material, we can look to Deptford to see that sustainability does not mean compromising on style.