Individual and sustainable 80’s style – Freiburg

. At just 21, Dave Kugler has opened a shop in Sedanviertel that follows an unusual concept: “Dave’s Vintage Dream” is a second-hand shop, café and event center all rolled into one. Anyone coming down the stairs to the vaulted cellar can rummage through old clothes, chat over soda in the corner of the sofa, or occasionally listen to the DJ play.

On the ground floor of the building there is a copy shop and a tattoo studio. You need to go there to get to the Kugler store. Must vary a lot in his store anyway. “Fast fashion is fast-moving and so cheap. It’s also uninhibited, barely-there products that allow you to express your personality,” he says. That’s why Kugler chooses every part himself. At used clothing wholesalers, he has jackets and pants posed for camera during online dates. Otherwise he buys on Ebay and at Diakonilden in Karlsruhe, where he originally came from. Only once ordered bulk goods from Great Britain: “I thought: I want to be sustainable and order from Great Britain? I felt so bad I decided not to do that anymore.”

The result is a collection that Coogler describes as an extension of his wardrobe—”80s, extravagant, colorful.” After school, Dave Kugler went to Berlin for a volunteer social year and discovered his love of vintage fashion. Then he came to Freiburg to train teachers in the home of his youth. There, the idea of ​​​​opening his own store to sell vintage products crystallized. In February 2021, Dave Kugler launched an online secondhand store, which is off to a good start. “I realized that’s what I enjoy doing. But what I missed was the personal connection with people.” So the 21-year-old started doing pop-up events — in his apartment, at dance school, at summer parties.

And then came the decisive step: after completing his training, Kugler took out a loan and rented the building on Multiextray 13, where the bike rental shop Swapfiets was located until February 2022. Within a week he renovated and furnished the shop. He was sleeping hard. And this paid off at the opening party: the store was so full at the after party that he had to stop entry and about 300 people were no longer allowed in.

With his unusual concept, which is especially popular in the alternative scene and among techno fans, Kugler brings a breath of fresh air to the city. However, fashion to him is more than just a business model; It is an opportunity to express one’s personality and build self-confidence. He’s undergone an evolution, from fast-fashion buyer to second-hand fan with a curly blonde mullet, a crop top and rhinestones on his pants. Wearing this style is not always easy for him. At train stations, he was subjected to anti-queer insults. It must be different in his shop: “A shop is also a political statement. I want a safe place where people feel free and safe without being swayed by social norms,” ​​he says.