Enthusiasts move from recycling to upcycling
By McKinnon de Kuyper
Millennials love to thrift. Whether Macklemore’s hit “Thrift Shop” set off this trend or shed light on it, it’s true, we will spend an entire day hunting for the perfect grandpa sweater.
“I love finding original pieces,” said Nicole Brunet, an employee at Via Gypset, an independent consignment boutique in Woodley Park. “I always go through the T-shirt racks because people bring in the funniest discarded shirts. I think part of millennial style is to have something different than everyone else.”
In the District of Columbia, a city with three H&Ms, three J.Crews and two Urban Outfitters just in Northwest, there are not many places to find unique pieces. Even Metro-accessible thrift stores are hard to come by. But in recent years, consignment boutiques have begun to pop up all over the city. Also called the “remix generation,” it is no surprise that the influx of millennials in the District is coupled with a wave of vintage stores.
Isabella Polles, a native Washingtonian, opened Via Gypset at the wake of the trend in 2012.
“I woke up one morning after a lot of contemplation and decided to start my own business in something I was passionate about, which was clothing and recycling,” said Polles. “I love fashion so much because it is a wearable form of art where you have the ability to transform your mood by something as simple as putting on a new dress.”
She said the District serves as a particularly unique place to run this type of business.
Consignment boutiques in NW D.C.
“This city. is extremely international so the variety and quality of clothes and accessories we receive come from around the globe,” said Polles.
Consignment shops offer unique creative and economic challenges for owners. Unlike thrift stores such as Goodwill, which benefit nonprofits, consignment boutiques are for profit. People donate their clothing to a thrift store, but consignment boutiques buy their items from sellers.
Brunet was previously unaware of the difference between the two business models. Now, working for Polles, she is a big consignment advocate.
“Honestly, why wouldn’t people consign their clothes,” said Brunet. “Everyone wins. It’s really cool to be in the store when a client comes in and goes through their items with us. Because it’s vintage, and we get a lot of really cool pieces, most of the things brought in have stories.”
For Becca Lamb, a sophomore at American University, buying used clothing is more than a trend, it is a lifestyle.
“In October, I decided that I didn’t need to be spending money any more on new clothes,” said Lamb. “I had pretty much everything I needed and so I decided I would stop buying clothes for a year.”
When she talks about her pledge, people often question how she is going to do it for a whole year. She has been surprised by how easy the switch is but she admits there are challenges when searching for specific items.
“I’m going abroad and so I’m looking for a good pair of Chacos,” said Lamb. “I can find them used but it’s hard… But it has been a really fun challenge because I’ve actually found a lot of venues to do that that I had no idea about before.”
Recently, Lamb began exploring online thrift stores. She says these sites help her satisfy her love of online shopping while still keeping up her goal to spend less.
“Looking at my own consumer habits and looking at my budget, I realized new clothes were something I was spending my money on that I really didn’t need to be,” said Lamb. “And considering ethics, environmental impacts and human impacts of making clothing, I decided that it would be okay to buy used clothing.”
Even after the year is up, Lamb hopes to maintain her pledge and continue to learn about ethical shopping.
“For me, ethical fashion is hunting down brands that support ethical practices, sustainability, fair labor and fair trade,” said Allie Gardner, a first-year master’s student at American University and creator of Ethically Beautiful, a website dedicated to the promotion of ethical fashion practices.
For her undergraduate thesis, Gardner performed research on the power structures within the fashion industry. She argues that fashion corporations have a social and environmental responsibility to engage in ethical practices.
“People can use fashion to express, identify, or define themselves, giving fashion great power in our lives as social beings,” says Gardner on her website.
On a personal level, her study reformed her own consumer habits. Now she only shops at ethical companies or purchases used clothing, which she refers to as “revolutionary” shopping.
“I’m really into upcycling, as opposed to just recycling clothes,” said Gardner. “It’s the idea that you buy something to add value to it. So maybe I’ll buy something used that doesn’t fit or isn’t perfect and then I have my little sewing machine and I go fix it up.”
Because of this, Gardner will more often choose thrift rather than consignment.
“I do more thrifting because I like to use my own creativity,” said Gardner. “If I go to a consignment store I’m sure I’ll find something that I could walk out and wear. But I like to able to buy stuff that needs a little help.”
Gardner and Lamb both see a distinction between thrift and consignment stores, choosing consignment when they are on the hunt for a particular item.
“Thrift stores are cheaper so it’s kind of more fun to see what I can find,” said Lamb. “But if I want something more specific, I know that I can find a real high-quality, nice item at a consignment store. But I have to be willing to pay more.”
In some cases, consigning can be pricier than thrifting, because, as Polles said, the customer is receiving “great unique items for a fraction of the cost that the consumer would pay elsewhere for the same piece.”
However, customers don’t always understand why price tags differ so greatly for used goods.
“Vintage clothing is often made by hand and with real fabrics such as cotton and silk, as opposed to much of today’s clothing, which is made with highly toxic chemicals and in massive factories with deplorable working conditions and wages,” said Polles. “Trying to explain why a brand new dress should not cost $25 to someone young can be a challenge because they have gotten used to this trend of buying more for less.”
Brunet said the higher price is worth it for the more personalized experience a customer receives within the boutique.
“There’s more thought that goes into picking what goes in the shop where goodwill and other thrift stores put everything they get, that’s in reasonably good condition, on the rack,” she said. “So you know if you go to a store like Via Gypset, you’re getting something picked by the style expert who runs the store.”
Polles is excited to add home goods and gifts to Via Gypset’s collection.
“D.C.’s high-priced rents are a threat to consignment stores, but I think the popularity of consignment will continue to rise,” said Polles.
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