Charity chic: Oxfam DIY shop mixes make-do and mend with high fashion

• Manager Elaina Smith at Oxfam DIY on Byres Road gets the shop ready for its big opening

ELAINA SMITH opens the sandy-coloured box in front of her with an air of hushed reverence. The 26-year-old manager of Oxfam DIY on Glasgow's Byres Road is sitting in the basement of the store, surrounded by piles of clothes, sewing machines and odds and ends of crockery and glass. What is in the box is a notch above the usual charity shop fare. Carefully she lifts out a brand-new high-heeled court shoe in patent baby pink, and holds it up to show the Christian Louboutin label.

"This is why you never turn any donations away," she says with a grin. "You just never know what's going to be in those black bin bags."

Oxfam DIY is a new breed of charity shop, designed to appeal to fashionistas more likely to be found on the first floor of Harvey Nichols than rooting around the second hand clothes rail. On a sunny Glasgow morning, the day before the shop is due to open – the second in the chain, the first outside London – preparations are in full swing.

A local artist perches on a ladder, adding some final touches to some abstract paintings on a white pillar; a young man steams a pair of smart pinstripe trousers on a hanger; another volunteer carefully arranges colourful jars of buttons; outside the window, a few curious faces peep in as the Louboutins, which would normally retail for about 600 but are to bear a price ticket of about 250, are placed on a shelf alongside a range of second-hand shoes whose labels will run the gamut from Bhs to Jimmy Choo. The message is most definitely style over stuffiness.

The "DIY" in the name comes, says Fi Gilfeather, Oxfam's trading manager, from the ethos behind the store. "It's about re-styling items," she says. "Adding your own personal twist to something, adding buttons, chopping off a skirt and stitching it into a pair of jeans – the idea is to recreate items that represent your individual personality."

Hence, presumably, the buttons. In fact there's a whole corner of the store that resembles a haberdashery, with piles of colourful materials – cut carefully from old clothes that have been donated – for sale, along with assorted knitting needles, a range of old dress patterns dating back to the 1970s and other knick-knacks designed to get the fledgling stylist off the ground.

"If people don't know what to do we'll be here to give advice," says Smith. "We've even got some sewing machines here too if you want to come in and have a go."

The idea of Oxfam DIY originally came from Fi Doran, better known as celebrity stylist Mrs Jones and the woman responsible for putting Kylie Minogue in a white hooded pantsuit in the Can't Get You Out of My Head video. Just over a year ago she approached Oxfam with the idea of different type of store that would fit in with the charity's range of dedicated Oxfam shops, such as its highly successful fleet of bookstores and music shops. "Seeing as I've always shopped in Oxfam, creating Oxfam DIY was the perfect opportunity to give something back," says Doran. "It's a rare feeling in fashion to be doing something ethical, sustainable and worthwhile."

The first store opened in Camden last spring and featured a trendy, youthful mix of designer labels, good second-hand items, plenty of accessories and a haberdashery element. It was so successful that versions of it were set up at a number of UK music festivals, including Glastonbury, Leeds and Bestival, and plans for a second store were swiftly laid down. The choice of Glasgow's Byres Road – an ever-changing retail smorgasbord that most recently was awarded Glasgow's first Waitrose and boasts vintage clothes shops, boutiques and charity stores, including an Oxfam bookstore – was, says the organisation, obvious.

"We felt the customer base here (the shop is on the site of an Oxfam shop which had been open eight years] is one that expresses themselves through style. The area has a similar sort of customer profile to the Camden area and we thought it would be a nice way to rejuvenate how people might view Oxfam shops in the area."

Whether it will rejuvenate Oxfam's image is unclear, but it is certainly true that charity shops have undergone something of a makeover in recent times. In November, Mary "Queen of Shops" Portas opened a "Living and Giving" shop for Save the Children in Edinburgh's Stockbridge, with designer items, many of them donated by celebrities such as Peaches Geldof and Lauren Laverne, lining the rails. Another four similar stores are expected to hit the streets of Britain soon.

The recession has pushed many people through the doors of charity shops, along with an increased environmental awareness and a desire to attempt more recycling. There is also the sense that many are choosing charity shops for their fashion know-how.

"Instead of buying new products in Topshop, people are going to charity shops for original pieces instead," says Scottish-based fashion stylist Lindsay Campbell.

"People want original pieces and you've got pioneers like Kate Moss and Sienna Miller, who are always seen out in vintage pieces they've got in Oxfam or Cancer Research. It's partly about exclusivity – nobody else is going to turn up on a Saturday night wearing the same things as you are, because your outfit is from the 1970s."

Not everyone agrees, however.

Jessica Brown, editor of fashion industry bible Drapers, says: "There has been some evidence of a make-do-and-mend mentality among shoppers in the recession, but I wouldn't say that your average teenager or person in their early twenties is looking to the charity shops.

"There will always be a place for it but it all depends on whether Oxfam can shake off that tired old charity shop image and capture the young shopper. That's not an easy thing to do. Charity shops have certain connotations among certain age groups and to actually rebrand the business takes a lot of money and PR and marketing."

For many, the words "charity shop" conjure up mouldy-smelling rails of clothes you last saw worn by your granny. Oxfam insists that this traditional image is out of date. "We come up against that stereotype, but we also hear that when people go into our charity shops they are pleasantly surprised by what they see," says Gilfeather. "Our strategy has been to have shops that deliver above the expectations and that don't match the charity shop images, and by doing these innovative things."

The craft element of Oxfam DIY is another of these innovative things. Last year, sales of sewing machines soared a massive 500 per cent during the recession, and making one's own clothes, or even just adding to them, has never been more fashionable.

"People have much more of a sense that we can't keep going through this disposable life we've been leading," says Campbell. "People are making their own pieces or customising them more, and quite often keeping pieces or adding other things to them. Oxfam are being very clever because they can see that people are considering making their own clothes in a style that suits them instead of spending money."

"There are a lot more young people out there making things these days," says Smith. "There's an underground buzz going on about crafting that's definitely not about crocheting and doilies."

Of course when it comes to Oxfam, there's always the danger that their project might be a little too successful. Last August, Oxfam bookstores were accused of driving second-hand booksellers out of business, and were described as being the "Tesco of the second-hand book world", with Peter Moore, chairman of the Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association, accusing the charity of "taking trade away from second-hand bookshops that may be just a few yards away".

With several well-loved local vintage shops such as Starry Starry Night and the Gloryhole just round the corner from Oxfam DIY, it would be reasonable to expect that there might be some local concern. But Smith is quick to calm fears.

"If people are going second-hand shopping, they'll come to the area and go to several shops. What we do is to make money for a charity shop and make money for Oxfam. We are in no way a vintage shop, we are a charity shop that sells good-quality second-hand clothes."

Of course, if the sort of good quality second hand clothes you're after is a pair of brand-new Christian Louboutins for less than 300, then you better hurry on down there.