Photo Credit: Nikki Larson
In a world with enough clothes, Bandit MKE’s mission is to give vintage clothing a longer life span and have garments for people of all shapes and sizes. Nichole Larson, Michelle Eigenberger and Liz Kiesling plan to open the new store at 1224 E. Brady St. in May. Their goal is to provide a vintage clothing source that is both sustainable and inclusive. Larson, who has bought and sold vintage clothes since 2009, told the Shepherd Express about the store would accomplish those goals and what to expect inside.
How does it feel to co-own your first brick and mortar vintage clothing store?
Amazing. This is something I’ve wanted for a long time. I’m a mom with two kids and I’m also in school full time, so the idea of taking on a brick and mortar by myself felt impossible. With the addition of my partners, it’s made a reality.
Why buy and trade vintage clothes?
We believe the world already has enough clothes and that one of the easiest ways that people can help protect and restore our environment is by purchasing those clothes. Textiles are one of the leading causes of methane gas emissions, not only during manufacturing but while they’re decomposing in landfills.
There’s already something for everybody out there and the service we offer is taking the guesswork out of digging through a million thrift stores to find something you like. We also stock a wide range of sizes because we understand that bodies come in many different sizes.
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How did you start trading vintage clothing? How does someone new to vintage clothing start a collection?
When I was a new mom with my first child, I was staying at home with her and wanted to make some money. I had a small collection of vintage to sell and this was during when eBay was booming and Etsy was just starting. I remember selling my first item. It only sold for $10 but I was beyond thrilled with that. I started thinking, this is something I can do. I can work on my own terms from my house. It just grew from there, soon I had a shop on Etsy and did pop up sales at festivals.
We don’t want our store to feel snobby or restrictive in any way. If somebody is coming to us to buy their very first vintage piece, we think that’s amazing and would never shame people who are just getting into vintage or don’t know anything about it. We welcome anywhere no matter where they are on their vintage journey.
People can come in and see what silhouette, colors and style they like. We’re not going to have gendered clothing, like a men’s or women’s section because those lines are being blurred more and more. We want people to be able to peruse a rack of button-down shirts, it doesn’t matter if they’re technically made for a man or woman, they’re for everybody.
How will Bandit MKE approach its goals for sustainability and inclusivity?
We plan to eventually add in locally made housewares like candles and incense. Whatever we do, we will keep it sustainable and local. One thing we will not do is have disposable bags. People are welcome to bring in their own bags, carry it in their arms or buy one of our reusable totes for $2. They’ve got our mascot, which is a little raccoon.
For inclusivity, we’re not going to try and size the clothes. If someone picks something up and they see that it’s an extra small or a large, we don’t want people to be deterred by that kind of thing. It’s a very personal decision what you want to wear and how you want it to fit. We have two dressing booths so people can try things on and see how they feel, rather than assigning sizes and being restrictive that way.
One of our taglines is we have clothes for Every Body. If someone wants to try on a skirt for example, we don’t want to say, well this is a medium and I’m a large. We want people to try on the clothing and see how they feel in it and look in it.
