Lucy & Yak dungarees now on sale at bargain prices at new Junction 32 outlet shop

Instead, it gathers them together and sells them at what it calls its (im)perfect sales. These have proved so succesful that Lucy & Yak has just opened its first outlet at Junction 32, the discount shopping village near Castleford.

The 1,545 sq ft pink-painted store opened on September 6, selling a range of (im)perfect Yaks (Yaks are what Lucy & Yak clothes are familiarly known as; wearers tag themselves on social media with the hashtag #InMyYaks), as well as one-off samples and more, as part of the brand’s commitment to keeping clothes in circulation and out of landfill.

“Our (im)perfect sales have been hugely popular across the country, so we knew it was the right time to give them a permanent home,” says co-founder Lucy Greenwood.As organic dungaree brand Lucy & Yak opens its first outlet store at Junction 32, founder Lucy Greenwood tells Stephanie Smith how the brand fosters freedom and authenticity. “With our roots in Yorkshire, it only felt right to bring a store to the area, and this one’s extra special.”

Barnsley is home to Lucy & Yak’s distribution centre and head office, where half the office team is based. “It’s our fourth ‘warehouse’, if you count my parent’s basement, which we used when we first started the brand in 2017,” Lucy says. “We don’t manufacture in this space (our factories are in India) but our Technical Team including quality control is still based here, meaning a lot of the shapes and fabrics are designed in Barnsley.”

Lucy is Barnsley-born and bred. She and her partner, co-founder Chris Renwick, met in Newcastle and quit their jobs to go travelling in 2014 - they sold pouches made from pre-loved clothing on a New Zealand beach to get by. Once back in the UK, they bought a camper van to live and work in, and sold vintage clothes online. Then they designed their first dungarees and set out to find partners to make them. They started with 30 pairs which sold out in hours on Dopop. They launched a website, moved to Brighton and opened their first shop there in 2019 (Brighton is where the marketing and production teams are based). Now Lucy & Yak’s dungarees are staple wear for Gen Z. It also makes pinafores, cargo pants, playsuits, dresses, tops, tees and sweatshirts, and accessories. “Join the comfort movement” is the brand’s mantra and it offers sizes 4-32.

At the outlet, the products will not be 100 per cent perfect, but will be 100 per cent wearable, says Lucy, adding: “Our (im)perfects are the products that don’t meet our usual standards of quality and fit. It could be a small hole, print, dye or stitching fault or a slight measurement discrepancy - no (Im)perfect is the same.”

“When it comes to production, mistakes do happen, so it’s our responsibility to repurpose where we can. It’s all part of our aim to keep clothing on people and out of landfill - plus our customers can grab a bargain or two.”

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Lucy & Yak’s expansion follows recent store launches in Bristol, Norwich, Nottingham, Cambridge, Manchester, Cardiff and Exeter. Each shop also acts as a pre-loved hub. Lucy says: “Yak PreLoved is a buyback scheme currently available in our shops across the UK and will be available at the outlet, too. When me and Chris first launched Lucy & Yak in 2017, we realised that, if we wanted to be truly circular, we had a responsibility for the lifecycle of anything we created, even after the customer has ownership of the piece. In 2023 we launched our first buyback scheme, offering an easy way to give pre-loved Yaks a new life, or support customers to recycle them once they can’t be enjoyed anymore. For every item returned to us, you’ll get a voucher to spend online or instore. This has been really popular, so a big project for the teams is looking at how we can bring the scheme online. PreLoved will be launching online this autumn for our UK customers which we hope to offer worldwide in the future.”

Lucy says that the team is always testing new fabrics to look at broadening Lucy & Yak’s sustainable offering. “The majority of our products are made from 100 per cent organic, GOTS-certified (Global Organic Textile Standard) cotton, but we’ve been testing things like hemp and FSC-approved bamboo.

“New styles are also something we’re always exploring, and there’s some great pieces coming through for autumn/winter. My personal favourite is Baloo - a complete fleece dungaree - it’s unbelievably cosy.

When it comes to newness, we always start small to measure demand and if our customers love it, we’ll look at adding them to our core collection.”

Lucy & Yak’s core community has stuck with them from the beginning, Lucy says, adding: “We have so much to thank them for. We strive to create clothes and campaigns for every body, which speaks to, well, everybody. Our community may have grown (which we love), but the heart of the brand and values remain the same.”

The Lucy & Yak new autumn/winter 2024 collection features limited edition artist collaborations - “Supporting the next generation of artists,” Lucy says. “Keep an eye on our socials for sneak peeks.”

Lucy adds that she would like to give a special extra shout out to the Lucy & Yak community in Yorkshire “Thank you for all the support and sorry it’s taken so long for a shop to reach you,” she says.

“When customers say they found their identity when they discovered Lucy & Yak, that’s something that really stays with me,” she says. “It’s the freedom to be your true, authentic self, and we offer a space for that.”

Lucy & Yak main collection is online at lucyandyak.com. The Lucy & Yak outlet shop is at Junction 32, near Castleford.