In a world that is seeing “fast fashion” produced more than ever before, awareness of the industry’s negative environmental impact has grown alongside it. With 3 million tons of clothing being incinerated and an average of 11 million tons being sent to landfills per year, the fashion industry acts not only as a means of overproducing clothes that may never find a person to wear them, but also as a direct detriment to the health of the Earth.
All of that is not to say that there isn’t pushback, and Iowa’s Vintage Fest and other events like it are examples of that effort. With secondhand clothing being more popular than ever, events like Vintage Fest not only provide a more affordable way for people to purchase clothing and an outlet for young people in fashion to form that community, but also a wake-up call.
Shayne Kelly, founder of Iowa Vintage Fest, seemed to have found his calling early on. Thrift stores and flea markets have been a part of Kelly’s life for as long as he can remember, he said, so it’s no wonder he’s been able to push his passion as far as he has.
“My parents loved going to the flea market, so we used to go there all the time as children, me and my sister,” Kelly said. “And, we weren’t even really buying clothes. We were buying stuff for our house. My dad was a musician, so he would buy a lot of cool stuff. I’ve really been around the world of flea markets and antiques, mostly because my parents loved that stuff.”
Iowa’s Vintage Fest kicked off on Saturday, Nov. 1, with almost 4,000 attendees and over 70 vendors filing into the RiverCenter in Davenport, packing it with clothing, movies, games and community. That community of vintage enthusiasts is one that is steadily being built in the Quad Cities thanks to events like this one, and 563 Vintage’s owner and operator, Justin O’Marrah, loves to see the growth occur locally.
“I think [community growth] is awesome because the Quad Cities thrives off of antiques and vintage,” O’Marrah said. “I feel like this is a location where people appreciate the finer, older things in life…I’m starting to see more people being inclined to sell or just explore [vintage items] more on their own, and it’s nice to create a space where we can all come together.”
The Iowa Vintage Fest is one that encourages people to be themselves and look for what appeals to them, he said, not what happens to be the newest or most popular release. More people are looking at secondhand clothing as not something to scoff at, but something to embrace because of not only its uniqueness, but its ability to push us towards being a more resourceful world.
First-Year Ronin Araucto knows how important it can be to find yourself through fashion. He said he has always loved the process that thrifting brings, as well as the community it can form.
“I got intrigued by vintage clothing because I saw other people getting into fashion,” Araucto said. “I thought it was a way of expression, and it was super cool. My friends started to thrift, too, so it was a great experience. I also really enjoyed learning more about thrifting.”
Kelly said that community and education were some of his reasons for creating the festival. He also said that those facets of vintage clothing are the reason that thrifting has resonated with multiple generations.
Kelly, who is also the founder and owner of Prison City Vintage, knows the effect buying secondhand has on the world around us. He believes young people are the driving force behind its spark in popularity, partially in hopes of seeing a better future.
“I think people [in their early 20s] in school are really connected to vintage,” Kelly said. “The entire planet’s future is at stake. We have brands overproducing, [and] brands that are making stuff when there aren’t enough people to buy it. Now we’re starting to figure out we don’t need to buy clothes since we have a bunch already.”
People of all ages are stumbling into vintage stores, trying to find their own style and sometimes unintentionally coming to that realization that Kelly spoke of: There are too many clothes being produced, especially considering how repurposeful clothing is.
The fast fashion industry is one that is growing very quickly, not only in volume, but in profit as well. Vogue projects the fast fashion industry to go from a $41.15 billion industry in 2023 to a $59.85 billion industry by 2030, so it’ll be hard to stop the negative effects it has had and will continue to produce.
That doesn’t mean the effort isn’t there, and Araucto said that this effort can be found in the small things.
“I think people just need to keep recycling clothing and keeping things in circulation,” Araucto said. “So many things can be used in so many ways. You can cut something up and make it completely new, you can find something old and find out you love this kind of look. I think it’s important to think about things like that with fashion in general.”
With more than 70 vendors having signed up to participate in a day-long festival filled with thousands of repurposed articles of clothing, Iowa Vintage Fest, while being a fun event to attend with friends, also doubled as a statement against the harmful nature fast fashion plays in a world that already feels to be on borrowed time.