Save the planet, buy vintage

RAPID CITY- Garbage Tale Vintage, located at 626 St. Joseph Street downtown Rapid City, is owned by Caitlin Hein. Hein opened Garbage Tale Vintage in February of 2022. Her mission is sustainability as well as environmentalism through fashion. Through her work she wants to keep clothes out of landfills.

There are many clothes nowadays and fast fashion is becoming a problem. Each item at her store has a story behind it, such as a person who wore a garment to prom in their twenties and now the dress can be repurposed and keep its sentimental value. Clothes have more meaning than just something that we wear and we pass the stories on by upcycling the clothing piece. 

Hein says her best customers are “all of them.” Her favorite way to connect with her customers is buying vintage clothes from a person and listening to their story about each piece.

When someone buys an item from the store the stories get passed along with the clothes. Hein says “An overseas item is paid for but made by people who are treated incorrectly and the clothes will not have a lot of meaning as opposed to a handmade item that has lasted for years. We can then pass the story on.”

Hein was born in Rapid City and grew up here. She is Sicangu Lakota, enrolled in the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. Hein had been upcycling since 2018 selling clothes from her own closet. Her clothes sold very quickly so she started selling her clothes on an app called Depop. Hein would go thrift shopping and do patchwork as well as hem-up clothes to sell. 

When covid happened it was hard to source pieces of clothing. Hein says “I already had been resourceful using older clothes from thrift stores, so I also made face masks from the scrap material I had and I would give them to friends and family. In the future I would like to incorporate more environmentalism into the shop, such as shipping. I always like to spread information to my customers about environmentalism, through social media or in person.”

Hein looks at herself as a leader for her little brother and sisters. She is a mentor and influence in her community. Hein is also learning as well as teaching. She has studied the Peak oil crisis in Cuba and it reminds her of how her great grandma taught her to be resourceful. She taught Hein about not using a lot of water, that we are in a water crisis and she told her “I won’t be here someday to protect my grandchildren.”

Hein has incorporated a lot of her teachings into her work. Hein remembers when she and her great grandmother would go to the CAP office to receive the elder box and there would be a free store. Heins great grandma would gather the scraps to make her granddaughter a star quilt pillow out of the free clothes. 

Vintage is becoming more popular and upcycling is becoming a trendy movement. Hein says, “A lot of young people wanted to do something to look nice and feel nice so every little bit helps the environment.”

Garbage Tale Vintage also buys Vintage Clothes for Cash. Hein tries to buy products as local as possible. When Hein buys local vintage she mends the clothes by patching them up. When we keep clothes we have for a long time it adds character. Hein says, “The possibilities are endless when it comes to Fashion.” 

Heins store was named Garbage Tale Vintage after her aunt would take her to White River and she saw Garbage Pail Kids in a gas station. Hein didn’t see Garbage Pail kids again until she was an adult. She now sells them at her front register at their shop downtown.

The jacket she has on display that says Native Pride was from the Rosebud Fair when she was five years old. Her grandparents got the jacket for her and they gave it back to her when she opened the shop. The crazy Indian license plate was her mom’s and it now hangs in her shop also near the register. 

Heins parents, grandparents and great grandma were a great support. Hein says, “If I want to shoot for the stars they will help me get there,” She believes family is important. 

Garbage Tale Vintage is a new shop and it’s growing. She has had a great first year and a half with the support of her friends and family. She also believes she couldn’t have done this without community. Hein is happy to be surrounded by a lot of native owned businesses such as Chef Kimberly Tilsen Braveheart across the street, the Tusweca Art Gallery owned by Jo Pulliam one block down, and her friend Sonja Holy Eagle who owns the Dakota Drum Company down the street.

Hein has received support from the native community and she is overwhelmed with joy. Hein says, “It is so fun to see the Nostalgia on the customers of any age. You may see something from your childhood or your mom and grandma may be excited to see something that reminds them of the past. The store is a walk down memory lane, like a museum of clothing and knick-knacks. You can shop for your friends, you can prepare for an event or party or even a wedding, whatever is the occasion you can find garments and make memories that hold a special place in our hearts. I like to go back to that feeling of nostalgia with clothing.” 

Hein says, “This was a new endeavor. Anyone who wants to pursue a career in design ‘Go for it.’ I have been upcycling clothes for years, making them more modern, adding more spice to the clothes. Bringing old clothes to life is what I did when I started up cycling. Taking something that is already there, and bringing a new lift to it, with sustainability.”

“My advice is go to thrift stores, hand stitch things. Most things were under five dollars. Add yourself to the item. This was my first time as a designer for Native Pop this year. I’ve worked on one other project called Project Runway, which united Native Pop and the Oyate Behavioral Health Program to the catwalk. We had different designers come up with a piece of clothing within eight hours. They would present their design after the eight hours and the models would walk the runway with the new design.”

Hein met Eunice Straighthead last year at the Pride in the Park Festival and this year Hein, StraightHead along with Ryia Lebeau created the brand Altar X Natives, which is featured in her store.

 

(Contact Christopher Piña at staffwriter3@nativesunnews.today)

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