At Home On Earth

SIMPLE / SMART / SUSTAINABLE / STORIES

Want to get your (secondhand) kicks on Route 66? The Chicago-to-Santa Monica route turns 100 in April, and to celebrate, we sent one of our Secondhand Sisters on a mission to find the coolest vintage stores along the way. Find outfits like those pictured here at Assassin Vintage in St. Louis, and check out more en route places in Chicago, Springfield (Illinois), Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Flagstaff, Venice (California), and LA. And if you can’t hit the road yourself — shop online! 

Make sustainable living simple with the Bluedot Living’s Green Home Deluxe Kit — a $170+ value collection of our editors’ favorite Earth-friendly products, free with your membership. You’ll also enjoy exclusive member savings, inspiring community connections, and more planet-positive perks.

“Thrift shopping is really just an extension of me being that same kid and going into a place that’s completely unconventional that has really endless possibilities in terms of outfits that you can put together, and really just expressing yourself.”

– Macklemore, rapper and creator (with Ryan Lewis) of the hit song “Thrift Shop”

When Char Kelly, one half of Bluedot’s Secondhand Sisters, was a tween, she would deconstruct the clothes she was outgrowing and reconstruct new garments. As a teen, with money from a part-time job, she and her older sister, Sophie, started thrifting — scouting both brick-and-mortar stores and online sites — and then restyling some of their finds. In that decade-and-a-half, Char says, thrifting has gone big time. Once the domain of the unfortunate and the creative, thrifting now has legions of fans. (Sweden has an entire mall dedicated to secondhand stores.) It’s no surprise, as secondhand shopping appeals on many levels. For those of us concerned about runaway consumption and its attendant climate impacts, secondhand keeps items in circulation instead of in a landfill. For those like Macklemore and Char, enticed by the “endless possibilities,” thrifting gives us access to clothes and styles we can’t easily find in stores. And finally, to those who don’t want to spend a lot, while thrift store prices have gone up to reflect their popularity, you can still find items considerably cheaper than buying new.

We’ve dedicated this newsletter to reducing and reusing. Are you a seasoned thrifter? A newcomer to secondhand? Scored a great find and itching to tell us about it?

Share your stories (and your pics): editor@bluedotliving.com.

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• Upcycling a Filing Cabinet

• Recipe: Anything but the Kitchen Sink Frittata

• Mr. Fix-It Mends a Screen Door

• Get Your (Vintage) Kicks on Route 66

• Dear Dot: Is Vegan Leather a More Ethical Fashion Choice?

• Find a Really Cool Vintage Picnic Basket

• Scoring Vintage Leather on Depop

• Finding Community in Vintage Sports Memorabilia

• How to Repair a Missing Button

FEATURED STORIES

BIG IDEAS AND LOCAL CHANGEMAKERS

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Dear Dot: Is Vegan Leather a More Ethical Fashion Choice?

Dear Dot,

I’m seeing a lot more references to vegan leather. Is leather bad because it’s an animal product? Is vegan leather a more ethical alternative? 

– Kylie

Dear Kylie,

When I was pregnant with Eldest Dot Child, I bought myself a pair of black “pleather” maternity pants and snakeskin boots, chasing a Blondie circa 1978 aesthetic. Problem was, those pants were hot … and not in the way Blondie circa 1978 was hot. As both the outdoor temperatures and the numbers on my scale soared, those pants — among the only items in my closet that still fit me — became like a waist-down sauna. If you are unfamiliar with women who are 8½ months pregnant, Kylie, let me assure you that we are not known for being easygoing. All of which is to say, Dot and vegan leather have a somewhat troubled history. 

But Dot has discovered some promising innovations in the vegan leather world. What are they? Read on.

BUY LESS/BUY BETTER: Vintage Picnic Baskets

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There was a time when holes in socks were darned, worn elbows and knees patched, and frayed collars and cuffs repaired. Few of us inherited those skills from our grandparents, which is where Repair Cafés come in. Scout out a Repair Café in your community — or organize one yourself! Bluedot has a number of stories about how they work: here, here, and here.

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Out With the New, In With the Old

When fellow editor Robin Jones went on vacation to thrift heaven (AKA Seattle), she came back with reports of a bustling secondhand shopping scene and thrift stores filled with treasures — and coming from Long Beach, California, she knows good thrifting. It seems that “Wanna go to the mall?” has become “Wanna go thrifting?” Malls across America are dying and, among Gen Z, secondhand shopping is on the rise. Why? 

As a 20-something who frequents thrift stores, hunting for clothes older than I am, I feel qualified to answer: First, the clothes are less expensive and often better quality. Also, thrifting allows you to find a sense of fashion that is true to yourself. Without racks full of cheaply made microtrends and celebrity campaigns plastered on the windows, it is easy to ask yourself “Do I like this?” (then, “Will I still like this six months from now?”) and come to an accurate conclusion. Most importantly, shopping secondhand is so much better for the planet. And it isn’t limited to your wardrobe — you can find sustainable upgrades for your dining table, your porch, or your garden at your local thrift store.

Enjoy the weekend, and we’ll see you next week.

–Emily Cain (and Robin Jones, Leslie Garrett, and Jamie Kageleiry)

Editors

Write us at editor@bluedotliving.com

Leslie Garrett has been covering climate stories for close to two decades.  She makes her home in Canada, west of Toronto. She’s still figuring out her favorite spot but it’s definitely near the water.

Jamie Kageleiry, a longtime magazine and newspaper editor from Martha’s Vineyard, says her favorite spot on earth is out on a kayak there, looking at birds.

Robin Jones is a Southern California native who served as an editor at Westways magazine for more than a decade. She lives in Long Beach and teaches journalism at Cal State Long Beach.

Emily Cain is a recent graduate of Cal State Long Beach, where she wrote and edited for the university’s award-winning magazine, DIG.

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