On the road with Dikdik Duds
Our Sourcing Trips
Early starts, unfamiliar streets and hours spent searching through rails for the few pieces worth bringing home.
Before Dikdik Duds became a store, travelling was already shaping the collection. Trips across the UK, Europe and Asia became a way of discovering independent boutiques, vintage shops and local markets that felt completely different from the familiar high street.
Those journeys helped form the original idea behind Dikdik Duds: bring together the pieces we kept finding for ourselves but could not easily find in one place. Today, sourcing still begins with the same curiosity. We travel to see what is being worn, what is hiding at the back of a rail and what independent sellers have found since the last visit.
Before the doors open
The best sourcing days usually begin early
A typical sourcing day starts before the streets become busy. The first stop might be an outdoor market, a small vintage shop or an independent seller we have arranged to meet. There is rarely a polished showroom or a perfectly organised collection waiting for us.
More often, it means working through crowded rails, stacked boxes and mixed selections, slowing down long enough to notice the one pair of unusually wide jeans or the washed jacket hidden between more ordinary pieces.
The search is patient because the aim is not simply to return with stock. It is to find items that belong beside the baggy jeans, relaxed trousers and vintage-inspired layers already defining the Dikdik Duds collection.
Different places, different eyes
Every destination changes what we notice
Travelling through different cities changes the way we look at clothing. In one place, the strongest finds might be faded denim and military-inspired outerwear. Somewhere else, it could be exaggerated sportswear, unusual accessories or relaxed trousers cut with a shape we have not seen before.
We do not try to copy an entire city or reduce its style to one trend. Instead, we pay attention to the details: how people balance proportions, which older pieces are being worn again and how practical clothing becomes part of an individual outfit.
The four questions asked on every trip
Does the shape feel right?
We check the proportions first, especially the rise, leg width, shoulder and overall drape.
Have we seen it everywhere?
A sourcing trip should add something distinctive rather than repeat what is already easy to find.
Can it be worn regularly?
Character matters, but the piece still needs to work naturally in an everyday wardrobe.
Does it feel like Dikdik Duds?
The final choice must connect with the relaxed, vintage-inspired identity of the wider collection.
The people behind the rails
Relationships make the search more personal
Some of the most useful parts of a sourcing trip happen through conversation. Independent sellers and boutique owners understand their stock in a way that a large catalogue never can. They know which pieces have unusual construction, which shapes are becoming harder to find and what has just arrived.
Returning to the same sellers over time has helped us build genuine working relationships. They begin to understand the proportions, washes and details we look for, while still showing us unexpected pieces that challenge the collection in a useful way.
Back at Dikdik Duds
The trip ends, but the editing begins
Returning with a selection is only the first stage. Every piece is reviewed again away from the energy of the market or shop where it was found. We compare shapes, remove anything that feels too similar and consider how each item will sit beside the existing collection.
The final edit is deliberately smaller than everything we see on the road. That is what makes the journey useful. Customers do not need to search through every rail, take every train or visit every market. They see the pieces that survived the full process.
