Since 2005, it has been our passion to bring environmentally conscious fashion to downtown Ann Arbor - and beyond. We conserve the history of fashion through restoration and research.
Our Mission
Buying vintage clothing is socially responsible, as each garment purchased combats the 14.3 million tons of textile waste per year produced in the United States alone. 84% of textile waste is sent to landfills at a cost of $3.7 billion per year, and a majority of this unprecedented growth in textile waste is driven by fast fashion and consumer behavior. Fashion cycles – from catwalk to retailer – move at lightning speed with multiple cycles per year. Add on the fact that our culture is steeped in rapid consumerism - and you end up with disposable clothing.
Each item in the The Getup Vintage is hand-selected, cleaned, and cared for - as well as one-of-a-kind! With two buyers with well over three decades of vintage buying experience between them, every piece at The Getup is selected for style relevance in today’s world. We strive for classic styles, durability, longevity, and pieces that are just funky and fun! Every garment purchased from us is a piece of history - saved.
““If you feel the materials of a vintage garment versus something that’s at a Forever 21, it’s insane. A T-shirt at Forever 21 could disintegrate in a minute, but a nice cotton dress from the 1950s is beautifully made. It’s what you would buy couture now for thousands of dollars.””
1950s novelty print shorts getting a bath!
RESTORATION & CLEANING
After we’ve purchased some amazing clothing, the restoration & cleaning process begins. We make our own soap for the washing machine using a mixture of completely natural products (down to $0.27 per load with no plastic bottle waste)!
Many pieces of vintage are too delicate to go in a washer & dryer however, so we also do a lot of hand-soaking in the tub & use vinegar, baking soda, and the sun; as well as very gentle soaps designed for antique & vintage clothing. When we must dry clean, we use a local organic dry cleaner who does not use traditional harsh dry cleaning chemicals.
In tandem with the laundry process comes the repair process - it’s the nature of the game when you’re dealing with garments from anywhere from 20 to 100 years old! Even a piece that appears to be in great condition may have hidden needs once it’s been soaking in a tub, unleashing 50 years of hidden grime & dirt. Threads pop, seams split, buttons need to be replaced, hems re-tacked, new zippers put in, et cetera - we have a team of expert seamstresses that tackle these projects before the garments hit the sales floor.
Absolutely every piece on display in our shop & online have been laundered and repaired in the above methods. They are clean, fresh, and ready-to-wear out of the shop; have been looked over and mended; and is in the best condition it can possibly be restored to! Of course, the nature of vintage garments is that it has had a life before you. We can’t completely erase its history, nor do we want to. Small imperfections speak to the life the garment has already lived. One should be proud to wear a garment with history!
““Vintage is made to last, and the impact of reusing clothing is huge. Every piece that we save from a landfill is a small victory won for us. There is tons of clothing waste every day - we are just doing our small part to reduce that waste. We are all guilty of consuming too much clothing, but one vintage blouse will outlast one, three, five, maybe even ten or more new ones.” ”
What We've Achieved
100% of the energy used for our shop comes from renewable sources through DTE Energy’s MI Green Power Program
Proud member of the Vintage Fashion Guild, an international non-profit dedicated to the education, promotion, and preservation of vintage fashion, since 2017
Named Metro Detroit’s Best Vintage Store by WDIV / Channel 4’s “Vote 4 The Best!” Competition in 2018, 2019, 2020
All clothes are laundered using only natural products such as vinegar, baking soda, water, and the sun
We make our own soap for the washing machine using a mixture of completely natural products with no plastic bottle waste
Use of organic-process dry cleaners only when necessary
All garments cleaned & mended and ready for their next life with you!
In store: no paper receipts
In store: working on eliminating paper shopping bags