Found by Create

Found by Create is run by the not-​for-​profit company CREATE to raise money for training for those who have been homeless, vulnerable or marginalised. Describing themselves as a social enterprise, CREATE run a few money making enterprises in Leeds.
In Found by Create, the quality of the clothes match the worthiness of the cause. Filling the shop with boutique ornaments and classic furniture, you could be forgiven for mistaking it for a designer store. Handbags and scarves are tucked away in compartmentalised shelving, waiting to be discovered by their future owners.
Shoes decorate an old fireplace, overlooked by mannequins and old jewellery boxes overflow with their enticing contents. An old Singer sewing machine is balanced next to rails filled with sparkly tops and faux furs, thus ensuring the aesthetics of the shop floor are stunning.
The clothes are not exclusively of a vintage origin, but Found by Create has got the dual description of being a second hand shop too. There is a brilliant sale rail which is constantly heaving with bargains to further delight the customer.
I adore this shop, it is extremely individual. Any store where I can purchase a vintage neck scarf and help others less fortunate than myself is a winner in my eyes.

Luxurious and boutique-​like you wouldn’t think this shop was a charity shop, and really it isn’t as you can also get designer gear here too. The inspiration behind this shop is great and the fact that CREATE managed to secure funding and good will aplenty to open this shop in such a prominent place is fantastic. One-​off designer gear, nearly new clothes and special one-​offs from once loved clothes. This is an exciting place to shop with less of the same-​old carbon copy stuff found on the high street and more interesting exciting clobber with an ethical edge.

This kind of charity shop is a dream come true for me. I love second hand one-​offs and bargains, especially items that fall into the vintage catergory. Browsing is certainly part of the fun but wading through the oversized dowdy shirts and naff jeans can take its toll.
Found is the charity shop with a difference and it eliminates that element completely. Browsing means wading through a selection of awesome quirky items with every one being a possible purchase. Their tag line is «Buy. Sell. Donate.» and that is exactly what this place is about, it is a charity shop so donations are welcome. But they also buy in specifically chosen vintage style items to keep the upper class feel to the shop.
The visual management is fantastic and the lay out of the shop makes it a pleasure to browse, with vintage feel display units and cool music. The super cheap bargains are at the front and the bought in designer items are at the back — one such selection are items from a lady who specifically restores vintage clothing. They even stock jewellery from local crafters which gives the store a personal feel.
Friendly staff, beautiful items and, my favourite, excellent prices. You. Must. Go. Here. It is fab!

Like many people, I love the idea of charity shops, but never seem able to find anything in them other than Red Dwarf videos and dresses that look like someone might have died in them. Fortunately for me, there are shops like Found by Create that do away with the chick lit novels and dodgy bras and instead stock a beautiful range of clothing displayed in a boutique-​style, easy to browse fashion. The idea of a high fashion charity shop actually sounds like something I’d hate, but it seems to work really well, largely because they haven’t put the prices up. When I visited there were a few really special items like ball gowns available for around the £20 mark, but most of the jumpers, skirts, dresses and t-​shirts weren’t priced any higher than they would have been down the local Oxfam. They stock some beautiful artisan jewellery too, and run a service where you can donate designer gear and get 50% of the selling price back, which is presumably good for those people (whoever they are) who’d like to donate their old Jimmy Choos to charity but can’t quite bring themselves to. Apparently this was on some TV show recently, so it’s fairly busy at the moment with shoppers and the curious, but with the high quality donations that the publicity seems to be generating it’s definitely worth checking out.