Temple Introduction
Old House x Vintage. Music and Cats "The most impractical little shop in Chiayi." In February 2017, the abandoned house introduced itself on its Facebook page. A couple who loves music and vintage clothing rented a vacant lumber shop filled with "vintage" items, with a corner discreetly displaying independent band CDs. Inside, there are two cats: the black cat cuddles up against its owner's feet, while the yellow cat lounges high up on a wooden ladder, occasionally yawning, as if to say, "What’s in it for me?" Kai-hung, who studied fashion design at university, has another career in music, and selling "vintage" items is just a hobby. He is particularly fascinated by Taiwanese clothing from the 80s and 90s and has scoured flea markets across northern, central, and southern Taiwan. Eventually, he collected so much that he had to open a shop to share it. He mentioned that Taiwan was one of the leading textile countries in the world at that time, with many global brands coming to Taiwan to find garment factories for OEM production. During that era, copyright awareness was weak, leading to factories releasing many replicas with the same design and materials, sometimes even using similar letters of the brand names to mislead consumers. Those absurd logos, in retrospect, are all "beautiful mistakes." In Chiayi, vintage clothing is a niche market, and the Old House, with its emphasis on Taiwanese vintage clothing, represents an even smaller niche within that niche. Image source: Chiayi City Government Tourism News Office | Photography: Margo
