Getting Off the Carbon Runway with Vintage Style and Resale Couture

Dress well, score a bargain, and protect the planet at the same time? That's the allure of upgrading your wardrobe at secondhand, vintage, consignment, and thrift stores. Since the clothes were manufactured long ago, there are very few global warming pollutants associated with your purchase -- far less than newly-produced clothing. Not to mention that retro styles are tres chic. Sometimes even the business is second-hand. A few years ago Cherie Wolter was at her favorite vintage store when the owner said she was thinking of selling. Wolter had been shopping resale and vintage all her life with a passion, so with half the inventory in her closet she took the plunge! Her store, Aura Vintage, in Wisconsin, outfitted performers from the Boston Symphony, Cirque du Soleil, even the traveling cast of the Phantom of the Opera. Her store helped people get stylishly outfitted without contributing to increased global warming pollution that arises from production of new apparel. Another way to save carbon emissions is to shop at one of the many online boutiques that showcase vintage styles and resale clothing...the planet will thank you for it and you've never looked better!

The Alliance interviewed Cherie Wolter for her perspective on vintage clothes.

"I started really going to used stores in junior high. It wasn't about saving money or the environment back then-it was definitely about the style. I was way into wearing my mom's clothes -- wool pencil skirts from the 50s, little mini dresses from the 60s. When I exhausted her supply I ventured out to Ragstock and Hippy Harrison. That's where I bought my first trenchcoat. Most of us like to buy things, we want to go out and consume. But with fashion that means you keep supporting all that waste and endless air freight trips between New York and China, not to mention questionable labor practices. Even then you spend $300 on a cheap tank top that falls apart or that you end up not liking.

If you go resale, you can afford to buy things that you wear a few times. Then you'll put it back in the hopper and someone else will pick it up. The environmental impact is minimal and your palate becomes a little larger because you can dabble a little bit more.

Resale vs Vintage:
There's thrift store retail and there is vintage. Function versus style. Some people just want clothes from last season. You can outfit yourself in pretty contemporary clothes for not a lot of money. And you know the quality is good. If stuff has made it to resale, it's usually well made.

With vintage you'll pay a little bit more. The store owner has done the digging for you, sorting the gems from the junk and making a few small repairs. My store was higher end vintage and a lot of people came in looking for something to wear for an occasion. They were going to a wedding or a reunion or on a special date.

If it was a dress from the 50s they could wear it complete 50s style, like a period piece, with accessories from that era. But most people felt more comfortable integrating it into modern times. If you're going to wear something on a regular basis you don't necessarily want to look like you're out of the 50s every day.

If you find a really cute 60s top, just put it with your regular jeans and shoes. It's the top that's cute; you don't have to wear it like Jane Fonda. Wear it in your style. Wear it with your regular clothes, mix it in.

That's the talent: Whether you go full vintage or economy resale, you've got to put it together. There is the whole environmental part of shopping second-hand, but then there's the style side. Standard retail is all about following the trend. There aren't many surprises so you end up looking like everybody else. With resale you find things that nobody else has. You're in a store of 5000 items and there is only this one and you found it. It's not just spoon-fed. You can create your own look.

My best inventory came one afternoon when a couple of two sisters from central Wisconsin walked in and said "We've got a van outside full of stuff. Want to come take a look?" The clothes belonged to their brother, now in his 70s. He had great, wild taste, with items dating from 1965 to 1990. There were tons of pants, turtleneck sweaters in every color of the rainbow and platform shoes. Can you imagine a bachelor farmer from Wisconsin wearing faux fur coats, hot pink tight pants, and leather jackets? He spent a fortune in clothing. And instead of ending up in a landfill or worse, new clothes get made that look like they're from the 70s, scores of people across the country are participating in solving the climate crisis and while cultivating their own unique style at the same time."

Cherie's quick tips for vintage buying

  • Go vintage when you're looking for a timeless look or a particular period look because vintage store owners pick clothes for style.
  • Weddings, parties, dates, reunions, and other events are good opportunities to buy -- and flaunt -- vintage.
  • Mix it in. Vintage clothes often look great mixed with today's clothes and shoes.
  • Sniff test. Most odors come out, but some -- perfumes, colognes, mothballs, gasoline -- are hard to shake, especially from synthetic fibers or wool.
  • Inspected by...you. Look carefully for tears, stains, rips, split seams and missing buttons.
  • One and done. Going to wear an item just once? Go vintage, then put it back in circulation after you're done.
  • Visit whenever you're in the neighborhood. You never know when someone is going to show up with a trunk of 70s or 80s fashions that you can't do without. Small towns often have antique stores and church resale shops with very unique items.