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With both high-street and high-fashion designers looking to the past for their style inspiration, and modern concerns of sustainability and individuality becoming a priority for many of today's consumers, vintage fashion is enjoying mainstream popularity like never before.

But where are the best cities to head for if you're a dedicated follower of retro fashion? London is a vintage mecca, with Camden Market and Portobello Road offering a vast selection of independent stalls and stores. The capital is also home to warehouse shops like Beyond Retro and the East End Thrift Store - great for those who love to rummage for their unique bargains.

Brighton, Bristol and Leeds are other UK cities now firmly established on the vintage shopping map. But the eclectic allure of pre-loved fashion transcends international boundaries, so which overseas cities offer the best hunting grounds for vintage lovers?

Los Angeles

As well as a vibrant variety of vintage clothing boutiques, Los Angeles is also home to a number of outdoor flea markets. On the second Sunday of every month, the Rose Bowl Flea Market takes over several fields the size of football pitches, with traders selling everything from vintage clothing and accessories to furniture and collectibles.

More permanent collections of vintage clothing can be found at popular stores such Wasteland, which sells remade and vintage designer pieces. American Rag is thought to be particularly good for menswear, while at American Vintage you can find embroidered Mexican dresses, silk kimonos, 1940s clothing and vintage T-shirts.

For those prepared to venture further out, Hidden Treasures in Topanga Canyon delivers exactly what it says on the tin. Looking as if it has been transplanted from Disneyland complete with totem poles, plastic dinosaurs and a treasure chest decorating the building, the shop sells affordable clothes, accessories and trinkets.

Amsterdam
Another city well known for its fondness for flea markets, Amsterdam is home to the permanent Waterlooplein market in the old Jewish quarter, and the Monday morning Noordermarkt in the Jordaan district. At both, second-hand and mid-century clothing can be found among retro homewares, books and antique curiosities.

As well as its popular weekly market, the bohemian Jordaan district also boasts dozens of independent vintage boutiques. Some of the best include Wini Vintage on Haarlemmerstraat, which offers hand-picked and affordable clothing and fabric, and Lady Day, which stocks original 1950s sun dresses, a good selection of children's vintage and a bargain basement.

Stockholm

Putting Scandinavia firmly on the vintage-lovers' map, the Bondegatan area of Stockholm is also renowned for its well-established retro stores, which trade in a wide range of mid-century fashions.

Lisa Larsson Second Hand is a favourite with bargain hunters, who search for one-off and designer pieces among the wide selection of clothes and shoes crammed into the small store. Band memorabilia, leather jackets and retro furniture can be found at Repris, while the city's three Beyond Retro stores pride themselves in serving up American vintage that hits current high street trends.

Tokyo
Japanese teenagers are known for their love of dressing up and quirky fashion. Those that parade in the Harajuku district have even earned an international reputation for it, so it's little surprise that Toyko rounds off our list of popular vintage-hunting haunts.

In Harajuku itself, vintage kimonos, Hawaiian shirts, sun dresses and retro T-shirts are all available at Kinji and Hanjiro, the latter being just one of a chain of large vintage stores in the city.

The area of Shimokitazawa is also popular with vintage lovers. Here another retro chain store, Chicago, sells classic Adidas jackets, while Haight & Ashbury specialises in more feminine pieces. Finally, in Koenji, the Ambitious store offers second-hand Levis, university sweaters and logo tops and S.O. Used Clothing leather jackets and band T-shirts.

Wherever your passion for vintage fashion takes you, when shopping for bargains it makes good sense to take adequate travel money with you - especially if you're planning on visiting street markets or smaller boutiques.

Having appropriate travel insurance will also help provide the peace of mind you need to really enjoy rummaging in some of the most unusual shops in the world. And if you regularly travel abroad to buy up stock for your own vintage shop, it may be worth taking out multi trip annual travel insurance.

Issued by Sainsbury's Finance

I'm welll aware that I might be about to write the most 'TMI' post on hippyshopper ever, but in the spirit of investigative journalism, I'm going to give this a go, and to provide you with all the details you'll need if you're planning to try the latest incarnation of the menstrual cup.

Like the Mooncup (see our review here), Diva cup and various other 'cups' that probably didn't make it into ladies' loos common parlance, the Femmecup is a re-usable female hygeine product that is worn internally and obliterates the need for tampons or sanitary towels - along with the waste they produce. You can use the same Femmecup for many years, it can be worn during all manner of sporting activities and it poses a lower risk of the dreaded Toxic Shock Syndrome than tampons...

So how did I get on?

If you're offended by talk of menstruation, I suggest you don't follow the jump to find out!

One of my new year's resolutions for 2009 has been to take packed lunches into work each day. I've managed very well so far; only forgetting on one occasion (which I didn't regret, as it gave me the chance to try some sushi that was frankly to-die-for).

What I lack is something funky to pack my sandwiches in, so I'm thinking about making this attractive and practical sandwich tote I found on crafty green blog Future Craft Collective. They made theirs out of a bird seed bag and have posted a tutorial, here.

Related: How to make a re-usable sandwich wrap

Something odd has happened in the past few weeks. I've found myself being told all about this brand new concept of "thrifting, crafting and recycling" and it's all thanks to India Knight and her book, The Thrift Book: Live Well and Spend Less (as well as her column in the Times). People who had previously enjoyed a mental zoneout whenever I starting harping on about re-using and making do, are now telling me all about it as though it's a shiny new idea - a trend that's sweeping the nation. And thanks to the Credit Crunch, it may well be just that.

But, while many people are just waking up to this notion that our society is a little too throwaway, there are still many people who have a big mental shift ahead. And I'm not talking about people who habitually burn baby seals, I'm talking about people who already consider themselves fairly eco-conscious.