A Glasgow Girls Guide to the Alternative Christmas Shop - Eco Chic

A new boutique opened up at my end of the town....right on my beloved High Street herself. Eco Chic boutique may only have been open a few weeks but it's fast becoming a favourite. Stocking clothes, homeware and furniture while keeping the stock within human affordability (ie:not reducing me to a diet of rice and gravy) it's the ideal place for your last minute Christmas goods, or if you're looking for something a bit fancy.
Eco Chic is actually part of a charity - Impact Arts who use arts in communities around Scotland as a tool for change. Most of the stock in the store is designed and made by their young designers on the Impact Art programmes, though it also features a mix of upcycled, vintage and Glasgow designers.
A few of my favourite pieces included the deatachable collars at £12 a pop, made my different young designers at Eco Chic. Collars are something that I've always had a soft spot for and this is one way a sister can hook herself up without breaking the bank. Here's hoping I'll have some Christmas pennies! The digital printed bags at £25 are sweet and spacious - ideal for my aldi shop, though can imagine the sisterling would enjoy it for gym times.One of my utter favourites has to be the cushions. The digitally printed cushions from "Red Thread" (a label from the students of Cardonnald College) are £12.50 and are some of the nicest designs I've seen in a long time. The selection of clothes is amazing, dresses hitting around the £15 mark as a standard - most seem to be upcycled though there are a few from scratch from ethically sourced fabric on the rails.
Eco Chic is located on High Street (next to the Panopticon and oppisote the Tesco Metro..head along Argyll till you get to creation and turn left) and is open Tuesdays - Saturdays 10am - 5:30, 6.30 on Thursdays. It's amazing that more and more of these shops are popping up and thriving in a recession especially with Scotland's high street spending dipping. These alternative independent boutiques help make Glasgow one of the best places to shop, so always pleased to see a new guy like this open. Definitely one to check out!