Vintage finds without the hassle

Alicia Robinson

For some store owners, each day at work is literally old hat. And old

pants, and old dresses and old shoes.

Clothing resale stores are showing that recycling can be

profitable. They’ve been doing big business with the younger set, and

people older than 30 are also scouring the racks for designer labels

at more manageable prices.

“Pretty much 95% of our business is all local kids,” said Cameron

Saliari, store manger of Galaxy Exchange, a Costa Mesa store that

sells used name-brand clothes. “They go to places like South Coast

[Plaza] and Fashion Island and they see that they can come here and

get it for a fraction of the price.”

Galaxy Exchange has been on Harbor Boulevard for four years and is

doing well selling high-quality used designer clothes, Saliari said.

But the store is now facing some competition from Buffalo Exchange,

which opened last month at the Lab Anti-Mall in Costa Mesa.

A shopper at Buffalo Exchange might find a shiny black vinyl shirt

next to a plaid button-up -- the kind often favored by grandpas.

“We have a very wide range,” store manager Jeanette Kimball said.

“We have current popular styles and we definitely have vintage. We

try to cater to a lot of different tastes.”

For people getting rid of clothes from grandma’s attic or their

own castoffs, resale stores offer cash or trade. The stores look for

quality -- clean clothes with no holes or stains -- when they buy

clothes from customers.

Buffalo Exchange prices clothes at about a third of what they

would cost new, with many items priced between $8 and $15 and

designer clothes up to about $80.

At Galaxy Exchange, the focus is more on high-end labels and

trendy clothes, with prices less than half the new retail price.

The older-style clothes and bargains on newer designer items both

attract customers.

“I didn’t even think about coming in here until I saw it said ‘new

and recycled,’” said Gabby Gaborno of Orange, who was browsing men’s

shirts at Buffalo Exchange recently. “I usually just hit thrift

stores.”

He prefers checked and plaid shirts that are a little broken in,

and even though companies are making new clothes in vintage styles,

they don’t hold a candle to the originals, he said.

“The attempts they make are pretty feeble,” he said.

Brenda Hymas said she goes to Buffalo Exchange because it’s

convenient, since she works at the nearby Gypsy Den Cafe. She’s

dressed the same way for years, so she looks to resale stores for

something other than whatever fleeting style is popular, she said.

“This I like because it’s a large variety,” she said. “You can

find some good finds here.”

There’s a big market for used and vintage clothes right now, and

one indicator is that many new clothes are copies of older styles,

said Nicole Bernstein, owner of Newport Beach vintage clothing shop

Swellegant.

While Newport-Mesa boasts a number of thrift stores, Bernstein

said it’s hard to find quality clothes in good condition there,

especially vintage clothes. People who deal in used clothes pick them

over and sell the best items, she said. Some Los Angeles warehouses

offer nothing but vintage clothes, and there’s even a market for used

American clothes in Japan.

That scarcity just spells more business for resale shops, which

take the work out of bargain hunting. Thrift stores may sell clothes

for a little less, but resale and vintage stores offer quality and

unique finds, Bernstein said.

“It’s a little bit more expensive, but people don’t have to search

all over town,” she said.

Kimball said she hopes her store encourages people who might turn

up their noses at “used” clothes to recycle. The company encourages

that customers forgo a bag for their purchases, instead letting the

store donate the cost of the bag to one of three local charities.

“I would like to think that we’re opening their eyes to being able

to find great quality pieces a little less expensive than new,” she

said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

[email protected].