Gorgeous vintage pieces line the racks of Woodley Park’s newest fashion store with eye-catching bright colors reminiscent of ‘90s style.
Emma Bartley, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, recently opened Environs Vintage, a pop-up store inside Via Gypset, a vintage and consignment shop.
Bartley has collected vintage clothing since high school, finding unique pieces in thrift stores and online vendors such as Etsy. She received some of her favorite pieces from a friend’s parents who gave her old clothing from the ‘90s.
Bartley grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, a suburban town that inspired her to create Environs Vintage. The term “Environs” came from a simple thesaurus search for synonyms of “suburbs.” Environs, meaning surrounding area, captured the essence of the store, and it stuck, she said.
“I like to think that living in the suburbs in high school catapulted my interest in thrifting,” Bartley said. “I would sort of, like, dig through these stores and find really cool pieces.”
Since coming to AU, Bartley has worked at vintage and consignment store Via Gipset as a sales associate. Bartley said she does a handful of other tasks, including buying merchandise wholesale, designing mannequins and picking out clothing from consignors.
This past summer, Bartley started her own Etsy store selling vintage clothing, which she found primarily at flea markets and yard sales. But, she said she felt there was something missing when selling vintage clothing online.
“What I really love about buying clothes myself is physically touching the clothing,” Bartley said.
With this inspiration, Environs Vintage was born. The shop is within Woodley Park’s Via Gypset, in a sectioned off area that is decorated, curated and managed by Bartley herself. She does not pay any rent to Via Gypset for the space, but she splits her profits with Via Gypset’s owner.
Environs Vintage is geared toward a younger crowd of high school and college age students who want to find unique pieces. The pop-up store is only open during the fall 2015 semester and will close mid-December 2015.
Where: 2311 Calvert St. NW
