Most people acquire vintage clothing at vintage stores, on-line retailers and thrift stores. (Info below updated March 8, 2025.)
Vintage stores. These days, most vintage stores will carry more 1960’s, 1970’s and later styles of clothing (which is of course easier for the store to find) than 1930’s/40’s/50’s clothing. Clothing in a good vintage store is normally in good or better condition, but generally the better the condition, and the larger the size, the more the item will cost.
Local/Lexington area vintage stores. I’m sorry to say Lexington doesn’t have a really good vintage clothing store – you’ll need to travel to Cincinnati for that. But there are a few places in the Lexington area that do carry some vintage clothing items:
o Street Scene, 2757 Regency Rd., Lexington, KY; 859-260-1578. A variety of vintage items, what clothes they carry are normally 1960’s, 70’s, 80’s. Occasionally you can find something from the 1940’s/50’s.
o Feather Your Nest, 1317 West Main Street, Lexington, KY; 859-381-1505. Not a lot of clothing, but Mary and I have found some nice vintage items at this store. For watch and jewelry sales and service, check out A to ZEE, located inside this establishment; Phil is very knowledgeable and helpful.
o Pops Resale, 1423 Leestown Rd., Lexington, KY; 859-254-7677. Mostly vinyl records and such; some vintage clothes, although most of it is 60’s/70’s.
o The Domestic, 945 National Ave., Lexington, KY 40502; 859-309-3603. A variety of vintage items, not a whole lot of clothes, and what they carry is normally 1970’s/80’s/90’s.
o Wearhouse, 941 National Ave., Ste. 120Lexington, KY 40502; 859-354-9484. Mostly women’s clothes, mostly 1970’s/80’s/90’s.
Out of town vintage stores (just a few that we know of; let us know if you find a good vintage store or shop!)
Cincinnati – Mike and Mary try to visit one or more of these vintage stores on our trips to Cincy; all three establishments listed below are well worth a trip to Cincy:
o Talk of the Town, 9111 Reading Rd., Cincinnati, OH, 45215-3231; 513-563-8844.
o Casablanca Vintage, 3944 Spring Grove Ave., Cincinnati, OH, 45223-2639; 513-541-6999.
o Hi-Bred Vintage, 4041 Hamilton Ave., Cincinnati, OH, 45223; 513-240-4664.
Louisville
o Craft Union Vintage, 1519 Baxter Ave, Louisville, KY 40205; 502-416-8697.
o Nitty Gritty, 996 Barret Ave., Louisville, KY 40205; 502-583-3377.
o Fleur de Flea, 947 E. Breckinridge St., Louisville, KY 40204
Cleveland – Mike & Mary try to visit these vintage stores when we attend the All Balboa Weekend (ABW):
o Sweet Lorain, 7105 Lorain Road, Cleveland, OH; 216-281-1959.
o Flower Child, 11508 Clifton Blvd., Cleveland, OH 44102; 216-939-9933. Note: Flower Child also has a location in Columbus: 233 E. 5th Ave., Columbus, OH 43201; 614-297-8006.
On-Line Retailers.
o DanceStore.com. This web site sells Aris Allen shoes. These shoes come in some of different styles and colors. For the men, Aris Allen has styles with an all-leather sole & heel, which allows them to slide easily on the dance floor, and they normally have at least one model in a wide (E) size. For the ladies, they make several styles of the early 1940’s wedge shoe.
o Re-Mix Shoe Company. Reproduction vintage style shoes. Note: Re-Mix Shoe Company is often a vendor at national level weekend workshop events, i.e. the All Balboa Weekend (ABW).
o Muffy’s. On-line source for Saddle Shoes.
o Bleyers. Bleyers are made in Germany and used to be very popular with swing dancers, but I hardly ever see swing dancers wearing Bleyers these days, probably because of the easier availability of Aris Allen shoes. These shoes are lightweight, normally come with a synthetic type sole, provide good shock absorption, but are a little deficient in lateral support.
Mostly for the ladies:
o www.ModCloth.com. Lots of cool stuff for the ladies. This link also provides coupon and discount info for ModCloth.
o www.shabbyapple.com. Slightly expensive, but you can usually catch a few good sales.
Mostly for ladies, some stuff for guys:
o www.heydayonline.co.uk. A British vintage company that allows you to purchase vintage patterns made for your sizing.
Mostly for guys, some stuff for ladies:
o Simon James Cathcart (SJC), London, England. A little pricey, but high quality. I find their sizing can be a bit inconsistent. From their website: ” SJC is an apparel brand founded by Simon James Cathcart, it is supported by experienced collectors, buyers, designers and artists who share, develop and engage in the process of bringing the best garments we can to you. Our goal is not to copy vintage directly but to merge the finest aspects of several pieces into one to create the best example of that piece you could wish for.”
o Thomas Farthing, London, England. A little pricey, but high quality. From their web site: “At Thomas Farthing, each individual garment is designed with careful consideration of materials, colours and shapes, taking inspiration from our collection of 1930-40s archival pieces and photography. We work with skilled, long-standing manufacturers within The U.K. and Europe, each specialising in a specific field of expertise.”
o Chester Cordite, London, England. A bit pricey, but high quality. From their web site: “A modern take on classic styles from the golden age of 1930s and 1940s, producing limited edition suits and shirts with period influenced fabrics at splendidly affordable prices.”
For guys and ladies.
o RevivalVintageUK. This site offers decent quality vintage and reproduction items.
o Etsy and Ebay. Lots of sellers of vintage clothing/items on-line. More high quality items on Etsy than Ebay; and more sites for women’s clothing than men’s. A big advantage to these sites is of course the search options.
On Etsy, a couple of shops worth checking out are OverAttiredVintage and CityVintageClothes.
Thrift stores. Check out Goodwill or Salvation Army. The cost for shoes and clothes at these type stores is generally a good deal, but finding 1940’s/50’s clothing is difficult, as to be expected. Before buying any item at a thrift store, always try it on and check it thoroughly for holes, tears, stains, etc.
Shoe Repair and Tailor Services.
o Awesome Time Shoe and Leather Repair, located in Casablanca Vintage, 3944 Spring Grove Ave., Cincinnati, OH, 45223-2639; 513-541-6999. Tim does great work at a fair price – worth the drive to Cincy!
o Tony’s Shoe Repair, 144 W. Short St., Lexington, KY 40507. Haven’t used this establishment, but have heard good things about it.
o Bluegrass Shoe Repair, 820 Lane Allen Rd., Ste. 136, Lexington, KY, 859-278-3031. Mixed reviews on this establishment. Probably okay if all you need is to have hard leather (or chrome leather) affixed to the bottom of your dance shoes. Other than that, use one of the other two establishments noted above. Note this establishment does have a nice selection of shoe polish, shoe laces and other shoe related items.
o Juliya’s Alterations, 109 Springdale Dr #2 (off Harrodsburg Road, just across the Fayette/Jessamine county line, behind the Marathon Gas Station), Nicholasville, KY 40356; 859-312-9663. For altering the length of pants and sleeves of jackets, they do a good job at a fair price.
o Alterations & Sew Much More, 820 Lane Allen Rd., Ste. 143, Lexington, KY, 859-276-0226. An alterations shop that does good work at a fair price.