In recent years, thrifting has become a favorite past-time for many, and for community members in Whitewater, Stellar Vintage brings them opportunities to do so. Hosted by Stellar Vintage, the very first Whitewater flea market was held at Thursday, Dec. 5 at Second Salem Brewing Company. From 4-9 p.m., attendees were able to get drinks or dinner and shop with over 10 vendors. Besides clothing, jewelry, vinyl records, books, candles, shoes and other things were sold at the flea market.
“As a vendor, I love talking to all of the people and seeing what they are interested in,” said Maddison Lahaie, owner of Cute As a Button Trinkets. “I go thrifting often, occasionally I go once a week. Everything that I sell, I’ve made or gotten second-hand.”
Most shoppers not only love finding new, trendy items- they love getting their clothing in a more sustainable way.
“On Earth, we have enough clothing for six generations of people, yet we are actively creating clothing every single day,” said Holly Barnett, co-owner of the vintage store Stellar Vintage. “With fast fashion becoming as big as it is, along with Shein and Temu, clothing is very accessible to people. The accessibility is exciting, but the reality is that these pieces are often not made with the best materials and and not made as effectively. So oftentimes, within two washes or so, they’ll break down and fall apart or shrink.”
According to the Center for Biological Diversity, fast fashion is an enormous, rapidly-growing industry with the number of new garments made per year nearly doubling over the past 20 years and waste occurring at every stage of the garment manufacturing process. This process harms wildlife, degrades land, pollutes soil and water and exploits the workers making these articles of clothing.
“Shopping at small businesses is a really important part of sustainability,” said Maren McDonnell, lead intern for the sustainability office at UW-Whitewater. “Wearing something again instead of buying it new extends the garment’s life cycle and prevents build up in landfills. Whenever something becomes trendy, major industries mass produce the item and the second it’s not trendy anymore, they throw the excess out into the landfills.”
According to Earth.Org, 92 million tons of fast fashion products out of the 100 billion garments produced end up in landfills each year. The United States itself has 3,000 active landfills to this day.
Compared to the mass amounts of waste produced by fast fashion companies, all of the clothing sold at Stellar Vintage is found by the owners or bought from community members. Upon entering the brick-and-mortar store on the corner of S. First St. and W. Center St., shoppers immediately feel welcomed.
With the walls covered floor-to-ceiling with clothing and vibrant colors, the atmosphere inside of Stellar Vintage is unmatched. A vintage television sits near the checkout counter, playing a VHS tape of a movie at all times, with indie music matching the calm shopping experience.
“As a queer-owned business, we aim to be very welcoming,” Barnett said. “My spouse and I want to make it a point to anybody that walks in the door to feel like they can wear whatever they want and feel comfortable wearing it. We source all of our clothing to be accessible for all body types, so our clothing sizes in-store range from extra small to 4-XL.”
Stellar Vintage plans to host more events throughout the year. For more information about Stellar Vintage or to see their daily hours, visit their Instagram or Facebook.
