Store Stories: Goodhood

Fashion : Love

06 April 2020

eStore Stories: Goodhood

There might be no place quite like the Great British high street – from its niche independents, to seasonal Pop-Ups and those expansive yet elegant department stores – but as Because Magazine is not afraid of modernity (and keen to comply with the current social distancing regulations) we have reimagined our Store Stories as eStore Stories. Each week we will be highlighting our favourite e-retailers to scope out the must-have pieces and online exclusives that are more than worth making an effort for. This week, we spoke to Jo Sindle, the co-founder of Goodhood, about their online retail space.

Launched 2007 by Jo Sindle and Kyle Stewart, Goodhood is now one of the most influential independent retailers in London, known for its highly-curated edit of the best small labels and niche brands.

Before their store, Sindle had been designing denim and her partner Stewart worked as a print designer. “And at that time,” explains Sindle, “internet shopping wasn’t like it is now. You just couldn’t get a lot of the stuff that we wanted to buy and were interested in here in London. We were both travelling a lot with our jobs and so we started pulling together what we wanted to sell. We approached it like a lifestyle store, to try to have a good range of things. It’s quite instinctive, really. Our approach is that we want it to be inclusive and not exclusive.”

Since opening, their operation has expanded to include not only mens and womenswear, but also footwear, skincare, perfumes, stationery, even independent magazines and books and an online retail space, goodhoodstore.com.

There you can find “All sorts!” exclaims Sindle. “Some of it is really classic, some super poppy, or much more graphic. It’s also really nice because we have a really varied age range that shop at Goodhood. So you get 16 year olds and then we’ve got really good customers who are in their 70s. It is really, really varied, which is great!”

Oversized Coat by Stand Alone

And her current favourites? “Well I’ve got loads! This coat is definitely one and it’s by Stand Alone. It kind of looks a bit boring, buuut!” she continues, “it’s got a semi-transparent outer layer and then inside it’s got a military-style liner.” The oversized Macintosh is made from a light-weight technical beige material, with a delightfully eclectic cream and yellow checked quilted jacket inside. “It is like three coats in one. Because you can wear the shell on its own, you can wear the liner on its own, which is really nice, and then it is reversible too: you can wear it on the green side, or on the yellow checkerboard style.”

Combination Urake Hooded Sweatshirt by Zucca

Stand Alone is just one of a number of Korean and Japanese brands that Goodhood stocks online. Another of her favourites garments is a caramel sweatshirt with extended splits along the seams on either side by the Japanese brand Zucca. “F/CE is also an outwear brand and they do really beautiful things – all waterproof, proper technical stuff. Toga is another one. And we’ve got one coming soon called Toujours that is Japanese."

Rebuild 7 Cuts Flannel Shirt by Needles

“We also have Needles and part of their collection is called Rebuild. This patchwork plaid shirt is by them. So they take vintage stuff and they remake it, which is really nice."

Another of her favourites is a pair of beige, yellow and turquoise checked trousers and matching overshirt from the Japanese brand Unused. “They just have this really cool layered aesthetic and they take a lot of inspiration from youth culture and music culture.”

Checked Trouser by Unused

The Goodhood ‘look’ has itself often been associated with youth culture in East London where their bricks-and-mortar retail space is located. “I guess we’ve always been affiliated with the whole streetwear industry because of our background. But,” Sindle clarifies, “I don’t consider us ‘fashion’ at all because it is just about wearable clothes. So, I guess we’re considered streetwear, but there is such a variety of stuff in here that wouldn’t be considered street wear, just casual clothes, wearable stuff.”

“And,” she expands, “the perception of streetwear in the last 13 years has changed quite a lot. There have been periods where ‘streetwear’ was a dirty word, but now the fashion industry is all over streetwear, it has become really interestingly mainstream. People are wanting to dress in a more casual way and it is just interesting to watch as perceptions and trends change, especially as we’ve been consistent for quite a long time. I guess it will just be a trend that passes along again and a lot of people will drop this kind of style and move on to the next. But we’re still here after this long, so we’re doing all right! And I’m happy about that.”