A Vintage Vision: 26 Years, 10,000+ Items Saved, and the Power of Sustainable Fashion

Did you know the fashion industry is one of the biggest polluters on the planet? This Earth Day, as we reflect on our impact, it's more crucial than ever to make sustainable choices. And for denisebrain, this Earth Day is extra special—it marks my business’s 26th anniversary of offering a sustainable alternative through vintage fashion. Over the past 26 years, my customers have purchased 10,397 items from me, diverting them from landfills and proving that style and sustainability can go hand-in-hand.

I admit, this Earth Day feels different. While I celebrate 26 years of sharing my passion for vintage, I can't ignore the challenges facing our planet, including climate change, waste and pollution, deforestation and biodiversity loss. What’s one person to do? I have a few suggestions.

This Earth Day, let’s renew our commitment to rethinking our relationship with fashion. Here are a few actionable steps we can take:

• Support a local shop, thrift, trade with a friend or buy from a sustainable seller. Local shops often source more ethically and reduce transportation emissions. Thrifting extends the life of existing garments. Online vintage sellers are nearly entirely small business owners offering sustainable fashion.

• Learn a new mending skill. A torn seam, a fallen hem—even replacing buttons or zippers in a vintage manner. Extending the life of our clothing is a direct way to reduce textile waste.

• Next time you need a new jacket, pair of jeans, or bag, consider the vintage equivalent. Choosing vintage avoids the creation of new items and their associated environmental impact, and you might find a unique, high-quality piece you truly love.

• Buy one fewer item and find a new way to wear what you already have. Conscious consumption is the cornerstone of sustainable fashion. Plus you will become more creative in your sartorial choices!

  
  I wrote my book Wear Vintage Now! Choose It, Care for It, Style It Your Way to guide readers in making good purchases and caring for their vintage finds. I have been told that the tips and resources about which I wrote have help extend the life of garments, and the suggestions I make for wearing vintage have opened up possibilities. That’s exactly what I had hoped.
  
  

The environmental cost of fast fashion

A conscious alternative to fast fashion

The true cost of fast fashion has never been the small price tag, but the hidden environmental costs—water pollution, textile waste and carbon emissions—along with the human cost of forced labor and sweatshop conditions. Compare that to the circularity and lower impact of vintage.

More than ever, vintage fashion is not just a style choice, but a conscious decision against fast fashion, over consumption and the environmental damage it causes. Choosing vintage is a small act of defiance, a way to opt out of the cycle of disposability.

What I appreciate even more about vintage fashion after all these years is the legacy of design, craftsmanship, and durability it represents. The quality and longevity have proven that, with proper care, these clothes and accessories can continue to be loved and worn for many more years.

Even with the challenges facing our planet, I'm hopeful. Each vintage piece saved is a victory, and I'm committed to continuing to offer a collection that empowers people to make conscious choices, one beautiful garment at a time. I also believe in giving back directly. That's why a portion of every purchase supports Save the Manatee Club (over $20,000 raised!) and One Tree Planted (430 trees planted), ensuring that your vintage finds have an even greater positive impact on the environment. Join me in making a difference! Choose vintage, choose sustainability, and choose a brighter future.

Choose vintage fashion instead

What are your plans this Earth Day? If you're looking for a unique and sustainable addition to your wardrobe, I invite you to browse my Etsy shop, where everything is 20% off through tomorrow.

Earth Day and the Denisebrain 20th Anniversary

Today is Earth Day, and that alone is absolutely a cause célèbre! But it also happens to be the 20th anniversary of denisebrain, which I started on April 22, 1999. Why on Earth Day? I didn’t plan it that way, but I love that this day coincides because I believe that wearing vintage fashion is the most beautiful of recycling. I’m all for walking as gently as possible on our Earth. Did you know that I use 100% recycled-content tissue paper to wrap your items to ship? And that my web host MacHighway is wind-powered? And that I donate 10% of my sales to Save the Manatee Club?

On Earth Day, please consider wearing vintage (from me, or anyone else) as if the Earth depends on it—because it most likely does!

Twenty years of age—That makes my business officially vintage

I have BIG plans for this year, starting with a 20% off sale in my Etsy shop just today and tomorrow (April 22-23). Click HERE to jump to my shop and have the discount applied at checkout, or use the coupon code HAPPY20TH when you check out.

Now let’s get the 20th Anniversary party started, shall we?

denisebrain=18, Earth Day=47, The Earth=4.54 billion

Today is the 18th anniversary of denisebrain. I didn't plan this day to coincide with Earth Day in 1999, but it has always seemed fitting. After all, vintage fashion is the chicest form of reuse...recycling in style! 

Earth Day is now 47, dwarfing my little 18 years in business—and the Earth is estimated to be 4.54 billion years old, dwarfing most everything. I still feel that all we can do to honor our beautiful "home" truly matters.  

Please help me celebrate the 18th anniversary of denisebrain by using the coupon code 18THBIRTHDAY for 18% off any purchase from the denisebrain Etsy shop through Monday, April 24, 2017. 

...and celebrate the Earth every day by wearing vintage! 

Sweet 16 and even sweeter 45

Today is the 45th anniversary of Earth Day and the 16th anniversary of denisebrain.

On April 22, 1999, Earth Day was 29 years old and I sold my first vintage dress online. I wasn’t thinking “hey, Earth Day is a great day to associate with selling vintage clothing,” but it was my good fortune that the day coincided. I’ve always been interested in the beautiful recycling aspect of vintage clothing, so what a perfect day to get started.

Do you know how much you help the world when you don't purchase a new clothing item? To give one example, National Resources Defense Council states that just the water it takes to raise a pound of cotton (enough for one new t-shirt) is 700 to 2,000 gallons.

Some more good for the Earth:

• I wrap your items with acid-free tissue paper that is 100% post-consumer recycled
• The ribbons I tie packages with are made of 100% recycled cotton
• MacHighway, the website host for denisebrain, is wind-powered
• I donate at least 10% of sales profits to endangered species and environmental causes annually

Psst! Celebrate the 16th anniversary of denisebrain with a 16% savings in my Etsy shop. Just use coupon code SWEET16 through Friday, April 24

Earth Day, and the 15th anniversary of denisebrain

Although it was a coincidence, I’ve always thought that having my business’s anniversary be on Earth Day is highly appropriate. Vintage clothing, after all, is the most beautiful of recycling. If it isn’t on your list of things to do to save resources, consider the humble t-shirt. According to National Resources Defense Council, just the water it takes to raise a pound of cotton (enough for one new shirt) is 700 to 2,000 gallons.

Today, besides celebrating the 44th Earth Day, I am celebrating the 15th anniversary of denisebrain. 1999 now seems like a very long time ago, but that is the year I first hung out my virtual shingle and sold my first vintage dress.

Many things have changed since 1999. I wish I could turn back the clock to my younger self, but that’s not possible, and in many ways it wouldn’t be a good thing.

I can, however, offer my customers a taste of the past: For the next week I am marking down my postage costs to more or less where they were when I started. Some examples: A just over one pound package across the U.S. is now about $10, and for this week you will get the vintage rate of $3.95. For the same package going to Australia, pay $11 instead of $17. In my Etsy store you will find these rates already in place. In my web store it isn’t so easy to change the postage so I will reimburse you the extra postage paid during the week of April 22 through 29.

Enjoy my carefully chosen clothing from the past and a postage rate from the past this week while you do your part for the Earth.

Today is Earth Day

It’s Earth Day and a very good day to remind you that vintage clothing is a chic way to go green.

I also want to remind you that 25% of every purchase from any of my shops through the end of April will help endangered manatees through the Save the Manatee Club. Please read about how far they've come, and how much is left to do, by reading that organization’s Earth Day message.

This is also the anniversary of denisebrain, which I started in 1999 on Earth Day. 1999...can you believe it? I scarcely can!

An early effort

...and more recently.

Earth Day and denisebrain anniversary

Earth Day and I go way back—I remember being very excited about the very first one in 1970, and drew this poster for my father.


Fast forward to Earth Day 1999, when I decided to give the vintage clothing business a try. This is the first dress I sold.


You know that vintage clothing is generally better made and more interesting and beautiful than anything new, but today especially, remember it is recycling. That is one of the main reasons I love doing what I do.

Happy Earth Day!