Knight Vintage founder discusses how he wants his shop to make people feel after struggles in Cardiff market
Jacob Knight, 26, opened his store in High Street arcade last month. Prior to this, he had a stall within Cardiff Market among various food vendors.
Knight grew up in Llanishen, Cardiff, where he described his high school as a “weird mix” of people.
He spoke about friendship struggles: “I never had that many friends in high school, not until year 10 did I really find a group.”
“I was going to gigs in high school with my mates, hardcore shows, lots of stage diving and also skating. Skating and music was my big thing”, he said happily. “Vintage became a big thing for me because I was skating and I couldn’t afford to go and buy new clothes because I was going to be battering them”, he laughed.
I still pinch myself every morning. I’m like, you’ve got your own shop!
Nothing To Lose
Everything began after a trip to Thailand piqued his interest in vintage clothing, he spent hours in a vintage shop getting inspiration, he travelled back to Cardiff with a mission.
“I had nothing else to lose. It was either going back to the job I wanted to get away from so bad, or just trying to do something for myself. So I was working part-time and then doing Knight Vintage pop-ups on the weekends,” he said.
Knight decided the next step for his business was opening a stall in Cardiff Market in 2020 to retail his specially collected wares. However, in 2024, he explained that food smells had gotten to the point of having to swap stock around due to the smell.
“I had to pull a lot of my good stock off the rails and switch it with some cheaper stock just because I couldn’t deal with the smell.
“As good as the food is in Cardiff market, for the type of clothes I sell, it’s not exactly great because it means it gets on the clothes and damages them.”
New Beginnings
He moved from Cardiff Market due to the food smells on the clothes and decided he needed a larger space for his business. With the new location in High Street arcade, he says: “I still pinch myself every morning. I’m like, you’ve got your own shop!”
Knight discusses his routine: “I’m big on my fitness. I’m big on my swimming. I like swimming in the sea when it’s freezing cold. Love it. At least once or twice a week, I’ll wake up, half five, get down to the beach at seven-ish, go for a swim and have a coffee at Barry Island, get on the train, come home, shower and open the shop for 10.30.”
He discussed social media and the role he wants his shop to have, saying: “I want everyone to feel cool. Everyone deserves it. It’s a hard world we live in. We have to live up to all these expectations of social media.”
Regarding his future, he explained: “At the moment, that’s a million miles away” while laughing, “but I’d love to open up a concept of a vintage shop, barber, tattoo parlour, and a speakeasy sort of thing. That’s like… Top-level.”