The Other Side of the Pillow

At first the name may seem strange, but not if you’re into original Vans skate shoes and trainers, vintage sportswear and NOS (new old stock) designer sunglasses. Then you’ll know why this shop, situated on whisper-quiet Wilton Way to the north of London Fields in Hackney, is mining a rich seam of cool. The Vans range from £25 to £150 (for rare and one-off needlepoint designs from the late 1960s), with a whole (retro) fridge full of Vans with exclusive Disney motifs and designs at around £70 a pair. Owners Henry Davies and Maurizio Di Nino have a passion for all kinds of collectables from the 1960s to the mid ’90s: cameras, line-dancing shoes, tea sets, ’70s NOS Italian socks, or even a first-edition copy of Larry Clark’s book Teenage Lust.