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First vintage clothing store in Orangeville opens at the Village Refillery

July 6, 2023   ·   0 Comments

Vintage Hussy offers curated selection of clothes

By Sam Odrowski

The Village Refillery has expanded to offer Orangeville’s first vintage clothing store.

The business, which moved to 5 Mill St. after a fire at the Old Mill Hub (28 Mill St.) in late August of last year, is collaborating with the Vintage Hussy, dedicating a section of the bulk refill store to vintage clothing.

“Vintage clothing shopping has been growing more and more over the years and the refillery concept is new but gaining a lot of attention now,” said Bruna Zarlenga, who opened the Village Refillery at the Old Mill Hub in November 2020.

The expansion with the Vintage Hussy is in line with the Village Refillery’s environmentally friendly vision of reducing the amount of waste going into landfills. The store helps customers to lower the amount of garbage they produce by bringing in reusable containers to fill up food, beverages, household cleaners, cosmetics, beauty products, raw materials and oils. This cuts out the packaging that comes with these items at a grocery store.

And sourcing high-quality vintage clothing from thrift stores to resell through the Vintage Hussy helps reduce the environmental impact that comes with producing new clothing.

“It just goes with our concept so well,” said Zarlenga. “I want to be able to have a little bit of everything so people can come in and see that they can completely change their lifestyles one day and shop this way for everything.”

Owned by Toronto-based artist Montina Hussey, the store officially launched at the Village Refillery on June 2 with a pop-up market in conjunction with the first day of the Orangeville Blues and Jazz Festival.

The clothing industry is responsible for a lot of global waste, and many countries where clothing is produced, such as China, have humanitarian issues with workers being underpaid or using child labour.

Zarlenga added that the cheap fast fashion clothing producers also make products with potentially toxic chemicals that can harm people’s bodies.

The fashion industry is responsible for 10 per cent of carbon emissions each year worldwide and uses 93 billion cubic metres of water. 

Also, the fashion industry produces up to 100 billion garments annually, and as many as 92 million tonnes of clothes end up in landfills. 

With nearly 60 per cent of all clothing material being plastic, purchasing vintage and quality fabrics is one way to offset your environmental impact when acquiring clothing.

The Vintage Hussy is available online through Etsy but is excited to expand to a physical retail location.

The store is tailored to women but has a few pieces for men. The current lineup of clothes includes dresses, shirts, pants, and jackets – all very unique. Many of the clothes are colourful and can help create a fashionable appearance from a previous era.

If anyone has high-quality vintage clothing they’d like to add to the collection, they can bring it into the Village Refillery and have them sold to the Vintage Hussy’s owner. 

Zarlenga said she wants to expand the amount of clothing they have for men. 

She’s encouraging people to check out what the vintage clothing store offers if they want a specially curated vintage outfit.

“I feel like people will be surprised in terms of not only the pricing, but the quality of the clothing,” she noted. “What I like about it is the fact that I personally don’t love going to a thrift store and sourcing things myself and going through all the racks. But the Vintage Hussy does that job for you, and just brings in what is good.”

The fire at the Old Mill Hub eliminated the physical locations of over 25 local businesses and significantly impacted the Village Refillery.

“The next day [after the fire], the businesses, they all gathered at the Tap House, we were all crying,” Zarlenga recalled. “But the first thing I did was come here [to 5 Mill St.] because there was a ‘for rent’ sign on the door.”

After a few weeks of renovating the space to make it fit for the Village Refillery, previously operating as law offices, the store was back up and operating. 

Just a few doors down the road from its former location at the Old Mill Hub, the Village Refillery is still in downtown Orangeville, where there is foot traffic. But the amount of money spent there has slowed, according to Zarlenga, creating challenges.

“Business was really good when we first moved in until around December because of Christmas,” Zarlenga said. “Then once January hit, it just went right down.”

She told the Citizen she believes that inflation is making everyday life less affordable and could be leading to a slowdown in business at the Village Refillery. 

While moving to refilling products instead of buying them in a new package each time does require a lifestyle change, Zarlenga noted that her prices are competitive with grocery stores, and more people are becoming conscious of reducing their waste. 

“We have new people come in every day interested in what we do and wanting to learn more,” she said. 

“I think things are changing.”

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