Upon entering this clothing store on a corner in downtown Elgin, it is evident that it is like no other. Unlike other clothing stores with the currently trending products that are of suboptimal quality, Elgin Vintage is a vintage clothing store that focuses on upcycling clothes to avoid clothing waste.
The owner, David Hill, is a graduate of the St. Edward class of 2019. Hill officially opened his storefront of Elgin Vintage during his first summer home from college, but his clothing resale path started before. He began by selling shoes online, but soon switched to selling clothes because shoes were too much to invest in. Despite not being able to express himself fashion-wise while at St. Edward due to the dress code, he was still passionate about clothing and fashion and would spend time thrifting. After graduating from St. Edward, he attended Elgin Community College, then transferred to Eureka College, playing basketball at both. Having adopted a skillful work ethic from St. Edward and having grown his clothing resale skills through selling online, he was motivated to open his own store—marking the official start of Elgin Vintage. He was able to open the store full-time as soon as he graduated. “That always was a dream of mine, to open my own store. It’s really fun, it’s something I really enjoy,” says Hill, when asked about his experience of beginning his own business.
There were challenges for David when opening Elgin Vintage. Sourcing the inventory was a struggle at the start, since it was difficult to do by himself. Now that he has more connections online and in the area, it is easier for him to source things to resell in the store as opposed to searching around all day. A lesson David learned in the process was that there is more to a business than just the product. “I needed to not focus so much on the product, and more on marketing and advertisement to get my name and business name out there. Because you can have as much cool stuff as you want, but if nobody knows about it, it doesn’t really matter.” An aspect of his job that David enjoys is being able to meet and talk to new people every day and seeing their unique styles.
Having gone to school for environmental studies, David built his business around the idea of avoiding clothing waste by reselling and upcycling used clothes. “Sustainability is my passion, and it’s cool to let other people know about the information that I know, because clothing waste definitely goes unseen; it’s just something people don’t think about. It’s cool to spread that awareness and fight fast fashion.” Elgin Vintage’s philosophy of avoiding fast fashion is demonstrated by their array of unique and sustainable upcycled clothing.
In the future, David is looking to get more involved with selling clothing online from their website, elginvintage.com. He is also looking to open another location of the store, possibly in Chicago. Located on the corner of Spring Street and DuPage Street in downtown Elgin, Elgin Vintage is open Wednesday-Sunday from 12-7pm. Elgin Vintage makes it possible and accessible for people to try new styles while protecting the earth from the dangers caused by clothing waste.
