I’m Neil Froggatt, the founder and Sustainability Director of Velvet Revival, an independent vintage, preloved and reworked fashion business based in Woking, Surrey.
But I don’t see Velvet Revival as simply a vintage clothing shop. I’m trying to use it as a vehicle for sustainable fashion, community activity and high-street renewal. That ambition has also led Velvet Revival to become a Community Interest Company.
From the NHS to vintage clothing
Before Velvet Revival, I spent my career working in and around the NHS.
I originally ran Velvet Revival as an online clothing business, but I wanted to create something physical where people could actually experience vintage clothing rather than simply scroll through it on a screen.
In November 2025, I took on a shop in Woking’s Peacocks Centre. I spent around two months fitting it out before opening the doors in February 2026 with more than 1,000 items of clothing.
The idea was never simply to sell second-hand clothes. I wanted to create somewhere people could browse properly, try things on, discover unusual pieces and perhaps find something they would never have searched for online.
Sustainability is a big part of it
One of my core beliefs is very simple: one of the easiest ways to make fashion more sustainable is to keep the clothes we’ve already made in use for longer. Through Velvet Revival, we’ve helped keep more than 2,000 garments in circulation, with estimated savings of approximately 6,500kg of CO₂ and 1.3 million litres of water.
I’ve developed a collection of sustainability tools for the Velvet Revival website. I want to make the environmental impact of clothing easier to understand and give people a more tangible idea of what extending the life of their clothes can achieve.
I also challenge the idea that synthetic vintage clothing should automatically be considered “bad”. Polyester, nylon and acrylic all have environmental problems. But if a garment containing those materials already exists, throwing it away doesn’t make those problems disappear. I’d rather see an existing garment worn for another five, ten or twenty years than discarded simply because it contains plastic.
I explore these ideas through my writing as well. I’ve written about textile waste, illegal waste sites, the environmental consequences of disposable fashion and individual garments that demonstrate just how long clothing can survive.
One of my favourite examples is an American cheerleading jacket from 1978. It is nearly 50 years old and still perfectly wearable. To me, that says something important about how we should think about clothing.
Velvet Revival is becoming a community project
This is probably the more unusual side of Velvet Revival. I want the shop to become somewhere people can gather, create, perform, learn and simply spend time together.
We’ve incorporated live music, creative activities and community events alongside vintage fashion. I particularly want to give local performers and creative people somewhere to showcase what they do while encouraging more people to spend time in Woking town centre. That ambition is one of the reasons I converted Velvet Revival into a Community Interest Company.
My longer-term aim is to establish Velvet Revival as a permanent part of Woking town centre: somewhere that supports local talent, encourages sustainable living and contributes something positive to the wider community.
Why I talk about vintage fashion
I’m increasingly interested in doing more than simply selling vintage clothes. I want to explain why keeping existing clothing in circulation matters. In June 2026, I spoke about “Why Vintage Clothing Matters” at an event promoted by Woking Chamber of Commerce. The subject went far beyond fashion or nostalgia. Vintage clothing gives existing garments another life, reduces waste and challenges the idea that clothes should be disposable.
There’s a strong “buy better and keep it longer” philosophy behind what I’m doing. I regularly highlight older leather jackets, varsity jackets and other pieces that have already survived for decades. They demonstrate something that the modern fashion industry sometimes seems to have forgotten: clothing can last.
So Who Am I?
I’m a former NHS professional who decided to build a vintage-fashion business and use it to champion a more sustainable way of buying and owning clothes. Through Velvet Revival in Woking, I’m trying to encourage people to keep clothing in circulation for longer, reduce waste and think differently about fashion’s environmental impact.
At the same time, I’m trying to make the shop something more than somewhere you go to buy clothes. I want it to bring people together through creativity, live music, events and community activities.
Perhaps the best way to describe what I’m doing is this:
I started with a vintage clothing shop. Increasingly, I’m using vintage clothing as a practical experiment in sustainability, community and rebuilding the role of the high street.