Independent shopping: Shop Dutty

Gloucester Road’s Shop Dutty is the definition a lifestyle brand, stocking event tickets, spray paints and artwork alongside original street wear, customised and vintage clothing, and accessories. You can even get your nails styled in store with Boom Nails nail art. 

Louisa is the founder of Dutty Girl, a female DJ/ MC collective who host regular club nights and parties in Bristol, as well as playing various festivals and supporting Annie Mac “a few times”. With a strong passion for customising vintage clothing thrown into the mix, Shop Dutty was born out of Louisa’s love of both fashion and music.

Co-owner and fashion designer Joh is heavily inspired by vintage materials and patterns, creating a unique collection of up-cycled street wear and one-off designs. 

How did Shop Dutty get started?  

Louisa:     It all started 10 years ago when I started a club night. I had a vision to have a female-led club night that would be a platform for women to come together in hip-hop and to promote female hip-hop acts. Then I decided I could have a shop too that was related to the Dutty brand. Joh came in as a designer originally, before we decided to get a bigger shop together – and we haven’t looked back!  

Who is your average customer?  

Louisa:     It’s young people who are into music and they’re generally into the clubbing scene. That’s why we’ve put our ‘Dutty Lifestyle’ logo on our new t-shirt, because it is a lifestyle brand. 

Joh:     It’s about music, art, creativity, fashion love and vintage love; it embodies all of that.  

How do your club nights tie into Shop Dutty?  

Louisa:     For me, music and fashion are one. 

Joh:     Imagine taking what you most like to do in your life, and putting them together!  

Can you tell us a bit more about your own labels? 

Joh:     I use a lot of vintage materials  for my label ‘Butchi & Gosmos’ and I try and change the perception of ‘re-cycled fashion’. Something doesn’t necessarily have to be hippy rags to be ‘re-cycled’ and have those good ethics behind it. It can be modern, stylish street wear.

I’m hugely inspired by patterns on fabrics. That’s my main source of inspiration. I see a pattern and I get all these ideas of things I want to make just from seeing one pattern. 

Louisa:     For me, I’m inspired by the original item. If I see a vintage dress or skirt I think, “what could this be? What can I do to make it more modern?” Because often the shapes or the cuts of the past are cool, but they don’t feel modern and they don’t suit the modern figure or way of dressing. So it’s just about upgrading. It could be just a small change, but it makes all the difference.  My brands are called ‘Diss Miss Designs’, which is my personal one-offs and customised vintage, and ‘Dutty Girl’ which is the music merchandise.  

What do you think is unique about Shop Dutty compared to other independent shops?  

The music lifestyle stuff is a big part of our USP. We are a music outfit as well as a shop. We sell club night tickets and support the clubs around the city.

I also think the fact that we’re a female force and that we’re doing it for women is very important.

We have men’s stuff in here, but we can’t help but focus on the girl’s stuff because we want to give the girls something like the guys have, they have Donuts, etc. but this is something for the girls, in a street wear way, or a hip-hop way.  

Joh:     It’s quite important to us is that  this is not an intimidating environment for girls to come in and buy paint, for instance. We’ve got a nice, friendly little shop. 

Louisa:     That was one of the first reasons we decided we wanted to sell paint. We hoped it would mean girls would feel more able to do that. We didn’t realise the whole of Bristol would start coming in to buy their paint! But if it means that we helped even just a few girls feel that something like graffiti isn’t just for men, then we’ve been successful.   

shopdutty.com 
0117 9249990
116 Cheltenham Road, Bristol