How hunting for the perfect vintage item led to true love

Few things are better than scouring through a vintage shop and finding the perfect pair of jeans. 

Mysa Kaczkowski and her partner Forrest Dylan are diehard vintage collectors who've spent years thrifting, and they know the thrill of finding vintage gems better than anybody. 

"It's the story of the person who wore it before. I love imagining where it came from, and giving it another story," says Kaczkowski.

The couple met at Eastside Flea in Vancouver a few years back. Now, they own Kool Thing Vintage, a vintage clothing store in Chinatown. 

They're trying to inspire shoppers to buy more sustainably by stepping away from 'fast fashion', and instead bag second-hand finds.

"It lasts longer. I will pick a piece, and the thing that immediately catches my eye is the colour, pattern, where it was made, what's it from," said Kaczkowski.

Thrill of the hunt

Kaczkowski grew up in Armstrong B.C., always loving fashion and wanting to stand out. She'd wear elaborate costumes — like 1950s prom dresses with matching hats and gloves — just to go to school.

"I thrifted my whole life, since I was a little kid with my mom … We were low income, and my mom was also kind of funky," she said.

Her love of vintage never went away. She moved to London, England for a few years and worked as a clothing organizer for a fashion stylist who worked with Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren.

Meanwhile,  Dylan's love of vintage started in his late teens. Now his closet is overflowing with shirts which often spill out into the shop.

"I met Mysa and we just became a force," said Dylan.

Although vintage clothing shops have been around for a while, this couple wanted to celebrate their love for the craftsmanship and put their own spin on it. 

They dig through thousands of pounds of clothing a day at factories

"It's like a thrift store on a million times scale," Kaczkowski said.

The work has taken over their life, but she notes if they didn't work together, they'd never see each other.

"The excitement of finding that thing ... and sharing it with someone who is as excited as you is pretty unique. I feel really lucky ... even when we wanna kill each other some of the times."

Fast fashion vs. vintage

A huge component of buying vintage is not buying clothing steeped in exploitative labour and waste.

"As consumers, we need to get to the whole story of our clothing. Where is it going? We just get rid of it, and we don't think of it past that point of buying," says Kaczkowski.

For Dylan, being a conscious consumer also means looking better, noting the quality of fast fashion isn't always built to last. 

Kaczkowski wants consumers to think harder about their sartorial choices.

"I see mountains of clothing just being disposed of... I take great pleasure in finding the quality pieces and knowing that they won't go in the garbage, and that we can reuse [them]."