Lesnoy Kyiv

Deep in the barracks around Lesnaya metro station there is a second hand market. Not the one you see from the street. These nice and spacious hangars look more like clothes' shops. Their signs say "cheap clothes from Europe", and so it is, but everyone knows it's second hand clothes, brought here by Red Cross as a humanitarian aid, sorted, washed, put on hangers and sold.

But let's set aside the illegal part of this strange business, because it's another long story, and look deeper into the barracks if you're brave enough. This is where you'll find the real Klondike. Hundreds of huge piles of unsorted clothes! And if you are lucky and not afraid to literally soil your hands you may find your nugget! It is no secret that many of Kyiv's hipster dandies buy their fancy outfits here. Some find it disgusting, of course. Me for example, I find it like a sort of sports.

Once every few months I come here and, if I'm lucky, I'll find my jackpot in one of these piles! This can be a brand new Cavalli jacket or a high class Levi's denim jeans for several hryvnas.