Velvet, single-breasted jackets and lumberjack shirts were my chief reasons for rummaging around my local Oxfam store back in 1990. Grunge is what we all lusted after and Oxfam, with its harsh strip lighting and racks of fusty clothes, was as grungy as they made it in suburban Surrey. The trips dwindled, I’d pop in occasionally to donate the odd item of clothing, and then I never went back. Partly because fashion got blingier over the following 18 years, doing much to dampen the appeal of charity shopping. And, call me fickle, but when the mania for vintage took off seven years ago there were plenty more appealing boutiques to check out – seductive boudoir decors, soft lighting and plates of sugared almonds to be devoured when the sales assistants weren’t looking.

So what has Oxfam been doing over the past decade while the rest of Britain’s retail chains have been incessantly revamping and rebranding to transform themselves into sleeker, glossier high-street fixtures of international renown? Not much, as it happens. Or at least not visibly so. All the good charitable work has continued, but its positioning and shopfits (often prime retail space) on the high street have remained the same: dependable, British and a little dull.

And yet, now that you can buy a whole new outfit for less than your weekly travel costs, making everyone wonder at the provenance of cheap clothing, isn’t it time for Oxfam to raise its game? As one of the first organisations to champion the principles of fair-trade shopping, how did Oxfam cease to become so prominent in the whole ethical debate?

It’s an issue it is now addressing, and with considerable vigour. Today is World Fair Trade Day, which the nation’s iconic charity shop is using as an opportunity to repackage ethical fashion by launching three concept stores in West London. From today, in Westbourne Grove (the opening dates of the other two shops are yet to be announced) you’ll be able to browse a highly discerning selection of fashionable yet ethical and fair-trade brands, as well as designer-wear donations, under one roof. “There’s a lot of talk of sustainability, but these are shops that will walk the talk,” says Anna Thorne, Oxfam’s retail development manager. “They will offer a point of difference.” And just in case you have any doubts about the venture’s credentials I should also add that Jane Shepherdson, the fashion visionary formerly at Topshop and recently appointed CEO at Whistles, was brought in as the retail sounding board, while TV presenter and Planet Fashion’s current crush, Alexa Chung, will be the face of the launch. It’s hard to think of two people more qualified to convince us that stylish “green” fashion needn’t mean resorting to hemp clichés and awkward-looking accessories.

It’s certainly a long way from the days when Oxfam (or the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief) was founded in 1942 as a way of bringing aid to the oppressed of Nazi Europe. And when some of the more exotic donations included a donkey, which was sold for £12.50. Slowly but surely, though, Oxfam has been ramping up its cool factor. There was the Louis Vuitton Party of Love in New York last year, which was hosted by Oxfam global ambassador Scarlett Johansson (others include Colin Firth, Annie Lennox and Coldplay). Last Christmas Helen Mirren, Helena Bonham Carter and Will Young were among those involved in a campaign poking fun at “rubbish presents”, and promoting Oxfam’s Unwrapped gifts.

The charity has also made its presence felt at festivals such as Glastonbury, V and Bestival, and bands such as the Killers have supported the Make Trade Fair campaign. And it didn’t hurt Oxfam either when Posh visited its Notting Hill branch in 2006 and purchased a cocktail dress: the shop saw a 70 per cent increase in donations, mostly designer. There was also much brouhaha when Keira Knightley donated a Vera Wang dress she wore to the 2006 Oscars – mostly because many felt it didn’t sell for enough: it raised £4,300 for the East Africa appeal after being auctioned online.

But nothing can confer as much cool on Oxfam as the success of these concept stores because, if they take off, they will ultimately change the face of ethical retailing. This project will also, as Shepherdson points out, “eliminate the sentiment that ethical fashion is elitist because prices are sometimes very high; we don’t want this to be ‘an eco-niche for the affluent’”.

Shepherdson spent a year sourcing ethical and fair-trade brands that Oxfam will sell under its sustainable fashion umbrella. The 15 or so labels she has chosen will typically make up half of the store’s remit, the other half – because the store wants to raise as much as possible – will comprise carefully selected donations that will most likely include designer-label cast-offs. “It was harder than you think, finding all these labels,” says Shepherdson. “We looked for about a year. You imagine it’s going to be easy because there’s so much hype about ethical clothing, but it was actually quite tricky finding appealing things to wear that were both good value and good quality.”

The labels were chosen following Shepherdson’s selection criteria at Topshop: “If you loved the pieces and you’d wear them yourself, then they were definitely worth including.”

Among the 15 brands are well-known names such as People Tree, a label that offers affordable, design-led, fair-trade items (hip designers Richard Nicholl and Bora Aksu have recently collaborated with them); Aura Que, a label by Laura Queening, an accessories designer whose leather and knit products are made in Kathmandu; and the relatively unknown company, Amana, which offers classic tailoring and smart-looking dresses.

Safia Minney, People Tree’s CEO, is just one of those involved who is hoping this initiative will make a big difference to the perception of ethical clothing. “All items will be labelled as belonging to one of five categories, which will hopefully help consumers understand the benefit of the product and where it has come from,” she says. “Loved for Longer” indicates donated items; some clothes will carry the Fairtrade mark or an IFAT tag (the International Fair Trade Association); the “Reinvented” category comprises restyled or reworked garments and accessories made from unsold Oxfam stock, and will include reproduced one-off dresses in collaboration with Henry Holland, Christopher Kane, Jonathan Saunders and Jens Laugesen; “Made with Love” covers accessories made by volunteers such as Gabrielle Miller, a graduate of the London College of Fashion, who is currently an intern with Alexander McQueen. Finally, some items will carry the label “Good Fashion Sense”, indicating that while they are not necessarily Fairtrade, they do at least incorporate organic, recycled fabrics and are produced by companies working towards some form of fair-trade certification. Ones to look out for are Seasalt, Ascension Jeans, Junky Styling, Poppy Valentine and Kitty Cooper.

So who is all this aimed at? According to Minney, they might be “caring fashionistas or opinion formers”, while Thorne ventures that, “This idea is going to appeal more to a way of thinking rather than a specific age group, namely consumers who are interested in the kickback against fast fashion. It’s about making people who wouldn’t normally come into an Oxfam store check us out.” Or, as Frances Weeks, the Westbourne Grove store’s manager, puts it, “changing our perception of Oxfam from grubby shop to an umbrella of credible design and eco-fashion. There has been an increase in couples in their thirties and young families who come here out of choice, not necessity. It’s also going to attract fashion-savvy customers who are perhaps still not comfortable with the idea of buying second-hand; this shop will bridge that perception.”

Snappy interiors courtesy of Creative Resources, which did the shopfits for M&S (and who came on board for free), will do much to dispel the association between second-hand clothing and its shabby surrounds. “It’s going to look much more contemporary,” explains Shepherdson, “but we’re also using sustainable materials – it’s the shopfit to put shopfitters out of business.”

You do wonder why these shops are only in West London – that in itself seems a touch elitist. But, as Weeks points out, “You need the footfall, and designer donations are more common here.” If it takes off, similar concept stores will hopefully be rolled out around the country.

So, have Shepherdson and co found the solution to guilt-free, stylish shopping? It’s a little early to tell yet, although it’s hard not be swept along by Shepherdson’s enthusiasm. “You just want to delight people,” she says. Delight is not the first word that springs to mind when you think of an Oxfam store, but if anyone can change that, it’s undoubtedly her.

The new ethical-fashion Oxfam stores are at 245 Westbourne Grove, London W11 (020-7229 5000), 190 Chiswick High Road, London W4 (020-8994 4888), and 123a Shawfield Street, London SW3 (020-7351 7979). www.oxfam.org.uk

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