Happy Salvage Saturday! Today on the blog, we'll be walking you through how we find and upcycle our products using our five-step method with the example of this painted faux-leather jacket and white maxi skirt. "Find it, clean it, mend it, fancy it, style it!"
Step 1: Find it! We found the original faux-leather jacket at a second-hand store in the Midwest. We saw how much potential it had, whether it ended up getting painted, beaded, or decorated with patches. The skirt came from the collection of a former judge from New Jersey. She worked as a judge in the '50s and '60s—talk about a trailblazer!—and her daughter gave us this skirt and a variety of other pieces from her work wardrobe.
Step 2: Clean it! Even the best of clothing needs a bit of TLC before it reaches its new home. We got both the jacket and skirt professionally cleaned.
Step 3: Mend it! Luckily, both pieces were in good condition, so neither needed to get mended. When we do receive clothing that has seen better days, we make sure to fix buttons, clasps, and zippers as well as mend any holes. That way, all clothing is ready to wear when you buy it.
Step 4: Fancy it! The skirt was plenty fancy on its own, but we thought that the jacket could use a bit more pizzazz. So, we got artist HNRY KRMR to paint this white pattern onto the jacket. We've recruited a variety of artists and artisans to "fancy" up our clothing.
Step 5: Style it! We like to provide our customers with options about how to style certain pieces. We paired this jacket and skirt together because we liked how the black and white contrasted, but you can style it any way you'd like.
After this five-step process, our clothing is ready to embark on the journey of its second life!