Search and rescue

Three boutiques try to make vintage and pre-owned fashions new again

While making your holiday shopping rounds, you probably eyed some merchandise longingly, only to determine, "I don't need it."

After saying this aloud myself, a friend replied, "Of course you don't need it; you don't need anything. You just want it."

There's nothing like the holiday period to make us aware of our consumerist habits, the toys and clothing so shiny and new one day, so forgotten the next.

In our younger days, our parents might have limited our clothes shopping to twice-annual sprees just before the school semesters. These days, we've got our eyes open 24/7, if not at the mall, then online.

Yesterday's fashions can add up to a lot of waste, which should be enough to make anyone think twice as they clear their closets to make way for those Christmas gifts and post-Christmas sale items.

Luckily, in addition to thrift stores, an increasing number of retailers have taken on the mission of search and rescue, salvaging the best of fashions past in hope of finding new, loving homes for deserving togs. There are environmental rewards in shuffling our collective belongings from one closet to another -- delaying the journey to a landfill.

Look inside for a trio of retailers, each with a different take on pre-owned apparel.