Not Just Old Clothes
January 13, 2010 | by Leah | 2 Comments
By the end of the Second World War, the mass-production of clothing had been honed into almost the same machine it is today. Â Over the next 20 years, fashions in stores became more and more alike and people began turning to thrift stores and yard sales to find what they really wanted. Â The first vintage clothing stores opened in the 1970s. Â From then on, used clothing has become completely commodified, blurring the line between a garment that is “authentic vintage” and one that is just plain used.
Today’s vintage market perfectly juxtaposes old clothing with modern commercialism. Â That vintage sweater from Screaming Mimi‘s or Nasty Gal wasn’t always cleaned and styled and packaged up so nicely for you. Â It didn’t carry a $100 price tag either. Â No; after its first life in the 80s or 90s, it was pulled, crumpled and damp, from a bail of clothing in a rag house, worth only pennies.
A rag house is a used clothing retailer: unsold thrift stock is compacted into bails and shipped into their warehouse. Â They can receive bails of apparel, shoes, belts, bags, fabric remnants, etc.
The warehouse of EMR, or Environmental Material Recovery, in Los Angeles Read more