1) How I Got started with Vintage –
Collecting runs in the family so hunting down vintage clothing became an obsession in my early teenage years and I could never fully give it up. My sister and I would raid my Mom’s closet and make our parents take repeated detours on family road trips to vintage shops we’d heard about. Vintage shopping truly was a hunt back before social media, google or even basic internet searches. A shop near my hometown called Grandma’s Attic was my weekly hunting grounds and regular trips to New Hope New Jersey is where I would find some of my more wild pieces. When I could sneak into the city I went straight to the Antique Boutique on Broadway and dove headfirst into literal barrels of rock tees, 60s Levi’s and endless racks of dresses. Sadly it is now an Urban Outfitters. Bummer.
Then I grew up and I worked for a variety of small business and fashion companies but owning my own business was always in the back of my mind. As I became very disillusioned with the modern fashion options and shopping experience, I felt I could only find great things when vintage shopping and thrifting. Opening a vintage store seemed like the only logical option. I wish I had 10,000 square feet to sell vintage everything for home, fashion and all seasons all at once. One day, fingers crossed.
2) Why the clothing swap –
The Clothing Swap feels like a natural event for a vintage clothing store to host. I am passionate about mitigating waste in all aspects of my life, clothing obviously being a big part of that. I have volunteered in thrift stores before and seeing the sheer volume of clothing that doesn’t even make it to the sales floor I felt there had to be a way to participate in the process to keep things out of landfills. So sustainability is half of the mission behind my swap. The other half is the people. Someone jokingly called clothing swaps ‘recession-core’ the other day and I couldn’t disagree more. I see the swap as a way for people to get back to the basics. Being good to each other without having to spend money shouldn’t be something that’s so hard to do. Hopefully it continues to create a sense of the community coming together.