{"id":872802,"date":"2026-04-05T02:30:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T02:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/872802\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T02:30:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T02:30:22","slug":"the-small-shop-in-caerphilly-where-you-can-fill-a-big-with-clothes-for-a-fiver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/872802\/","title":{"rendered":"The small shop in Caerphilly where you can fill a big with clothes for a fiver"},"content":{"rendered":"

Circular Studio is saving thousands of clothes from landfill\"Rails<\/p>\n

The shop includes second hand clothing for men and women <\/p>\n

An independent vintage shop is innovatively reshaping the fashion and second hand business in Wales. Samantha Eastcott, 27, is the founder of Circular Studio located in Caerphilly<\/a>. Circular Studio is more than just a vintage shop. It is a place that is tackling the issue of fast fashion in a unique and exciting way.<\/p>\n

Sam first launched the Circular Studio in January 2024. The business was born when Sam returned to Wales after living in England for a year. After graduating with a fashion marketing degree, she briefly worked in a few corporate roles in England which ultimately was not what she wanted to do.<\/p>\n

Her business journey first started as buying and reselling trainers and clothes however after needing more space, Sam started renting a small unit behind a Wetherspoons in Caerphilly. Within eight weeks of opening her first unit, Sam was able to expand to two locations.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Sam is the founder and sole owner of Circular Studio(Image: WalesOnline\/Rob Browne)<\/p>\n

Now, Circular Studio is operating from a larger unit located in Sir Alfred Owen Way in Caerphilly, as of May 2025. Circular Studio has become a hub for sustainable fashion in south Wales, driven by a simple idea that nothing should go to waste.<\/p>\n

What makes the Circular Studio special is its innovative events. One of the most popular is \u201cSecond Hand Saturday,\u201d a monthly clothing exchange where customers bring in unwanted items and receive store credit in return.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had the idea for this event where you could take your old clothes and get a pound an item in exchange for store credit,\u201d Sam says.<\/p>\n

The concept has proven hugely successful. Each event is capped at 100 people, with more than 400 currently on a waiting list. At the most recent session, over 4,000 items were brought in within just seven hours.<\/p>\n

The event encourages a continuous cycle of reuse. Customers can trade in clothes, shop using credit, and even return items again in another \u2018Second-hand Satuday\u2019 event if they no longer want them. \u201cYou\u2019re just keeping it in circulation,\u201d Sam explains. \u201cYou\u2019re getting something new and refreshing your wardrobe for nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alongside this is the shop\u2019s \u201cFill a Bag\u201d event, which is a popular event ran by the vintage shop. For a \u00a35 ticket, shoppers can fill a bag with as many clothes as they can fit inside. Some manage to pack in over 20 items, bringing the cost down to pennies per item.<\/p>\n

\"Rail<\/p>\n

The shop also runs Y2K style events for thrift lovers <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just accessible,\u201d Sam says. \u201cYou\u2019re getting a bag of clothing for \u00a35, you don\u2019t see that anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond affordability, Circular Studio is making a measurable environmental impact. Since launching its pop-up events in 2025, the business has helped divert between 45,000 and 48,000 items of clothing from landfill.<\/p>\n

The environmental savings are significant. \u201cThe numbers are insane,\u201d Sam says. \u201cIt\u2019s roughly equivalent to over 100 million litres of water and around 610 tonnes of CO2 emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t rag bag anything at all,\u201d she explains. Instead, unsellable pieces are repurposed through workshops, such as sewing courses that teach customers how to turn old jeans into made-to-measure dresses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea here is that anything we\u2019re not able to sell, we figure out how to upcycle it,\u201d she says. \u201cIt just proves there is so much creativity in second-hand clothing.\u201d By using unwanted denim fabric, the sewing workshop helps people learn a new skill and get a well fitted dress out of it too.<\/p>\n

\"Sewing<\/p>\n

The shop also runs a sewing workshop using unwanted denim<\/p>\n

Stay informed on Caerphilly news by signing up to our newsletter here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sam has built her business alone and is still currently the sole owner of the Circular Studio, The business is also supported by a small, close-knit team. Sam\u2019s team consists of Lulu, a third year university student studying fashion, Keeley, who is currently doing her masters and Alice, Sam\u2019s best friend who she met through the business. Alice first reached out to Sam through her early stages of the business.<\/p>\n

Even after giving birth to her baby Rory, she returned back to Circular Studio to get back to working three months postpartum, with baby Rory joining the team in sorting and organising.<\/p>\n

Sam credits her team and the wholesome environment they have created within the place, \u201cI genuinely couldn\u2019t do it without them,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Behind the success is a story of persistence. Sam launched the business during a particularly difficult period in her life, juggling pressures in her personal life and the loss of her grandpa on Christmas<\/a> Eve.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the only reason I\u2019ve been so successful is just genuinely down to resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n

That resilience has been tested repeatedly, from financial setbacks to a flood that damaged stock and disrupted operations. Yet the business has continued to grow, fuelled by Sam\u2019s determination and belief in the concept.<\/p>\n

Since then, Sam has been nominated as on of the finalists for Young Business Woman award by Business in Wales, an award that recognises the great work that Sam is doing in the sustainable fashion world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing a lot of people now seeing that idea and replicating it,\u201d Sam says, referring to the popularity of the \u201cFill a Bag\u201d concept. But for her, the goal remains to make fashion more sustainable, more accessible, and meaningful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Circular Studio is saving thousands of clothes from landfill The shop includes second hand clothing for men and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":872803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,69752,2584,4884,16,15,1764],"class_list":["post-872802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wales","tag-britain","tag-caerphilly","tag-fashion","tag-great-britain","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wales"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116349752697820895","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}