With the mission of “saving garments from landfill by keeping them in the loop,” Shop Loop is a Vancouver-based fashion brand founded by Jordanne Oletic that offers vintage and preloved pieces.
Setting Mind interviews Oletic to learn more.
Setting Mind: Why did you decide to create your own brand?
Oletic: I have always been drawn to fashion. I am currently working in the film industry as a Wardrobe Stylist. I started to explore styling for commerce, video shoots, and stills shoots to fulfill my creativity.
Over the course of my life, I have become more and more environmentally conscious. While I was trying to pare down my impact in my personal life, I couldn’t reconcile with the excess I encountered at work. I wanted to find a way to offer a more conscious styling approach for brands who strive to be more sustainable in all aspects of their work.
When styling for shoots, I would make a point to shop vintage, thrifted, and pre-loved. Although it took a bit more time and effort, I was still able to source beautiful pieces. Cue Shop Loop. I started to approach brands that I style for and pitched a low waste option for their campaigns.
So rather than shopping new garments at the mall and creating a larger carbon footprint – I source vintage, thrifted & preloved garments. To fully complete that loop I decided I would make it my mission to find homes for the beautiful pieces I sourced. These vintage & pre-loved pieces, as well as the other pieces I source become the collections at Shop Loop.
What is your background?
I studied Fashion Management at George Brown College in Toronto and started off my career in a retail setting as a Visual Merchandiser. One of the most challenging parts of working for larger fast-fashion retailers is the amount of plastic packaging constantly thrown in the garbage.
I knew when I started my own brand this would be a focus of mine. Shop Loop ships all garments in 100% compostable mailers, tissue, and stickers. After a few years of working in retail for large fast-fashion brands I got to a point where I was constantly feeling numb by my eco-anxiety.
I knew I had to make a change and leave the retail setting all together and began working in the film industry as a Wardrobe Stylist. From there I explored my creative passions through styling – photoshoots, music videos, album artwork, etc.
I remember during one of my fashion courses a professor said to me, “The hem of a skirt can only rise so high above the knee before it will fall back down to the floor again.” It was almost poetic. This stuck with me, and I didn’t know why.
Now with my environmental approach to fashion I’ve come to understand why I liked it so much. There is 60s, 70s, 80s fashion that were iconic for their time, but trends are cyclical – they always come back. One thing I love about today’s fashion is you can pull from any time period, it’s just about how creatively you pair things.
Why vintage and preloved? What are the benefits and negatives?
I’ll give a lightbulb. I’d recommend anyone who hasn’t explored sustainability in their clothing to read up on this topic. It’s really eye opening and not often thought of. You know, we’ve got reusable totes, or stainless-steel coffee mugs and straws but I think clothing is an area we often overlook. One of the main reasons why I love vintage and preloved is the low carbon footprint. You are also mitigating pesticide usage, harmful dyes and toxins, as well as water waste.
One of the negatives would be overconsumption. Fighting overconsumption habits needs to not only be addressed when it comes to shopping ‘new’ – constantly consuming products, creates a larger carbon footprint. We truly cannot consume our way to a more sustainable world. Always question your consumption habits.
Another point that people don’t often realize is that thrift stores are where low-income families shop. So, to go in and find things for a steal and use them for fashion purposes as opposed to function, you’re taking away something someone could potentially use and need in their actual life. This is something I appreciate about Intersectional Environmentalism – we are constantly learning how things affect people of different socio-economic status.
To combat this when purchasing items that are in high demand, like a winter jacket for example, I always grab extras and donate them to local shelters for people in need. In the future, I am going to offer a buy one give one program so my customers can help do the same.
Lastly, another negative that a lot of people may not be aware of ties into the current thrifting and up-cycling trends. Thrifting garments to re-work them into a new piece of clothing. A lot of the time people tend to think in terms of fabric and disregard the size of a garment when looking for pieces to up-cycle. This can be problematic as people who wear larger sizes, and plus size garments have a hard enough time looking for vintage in their size range.
I’m all here for up-cycling! I think it’s one of my favourite sustainable clothing ideas as of late – but if you are digging through thrift stores to find vintage to up-cycle please be mindful and only thrift in your size range. A conscious up-cycle if you will. I’d recommend looking in the housewares section for linens and home textiles – these make for great up-cycling fabrics.
Where do you find your vintage pieces?
Typically, a vintage reseller wouldn’t give up their trade secrets. The most important thing when it comes to sourcing isn’t location – it’s consistency. I think that anyone with patience, the right attitude, and garment knowledge can find beautiful pieces in any thrift store they walk into.
Personally, I always keep a ‘Thrift This’ list on my phone. This keeps me on track when I get that feeling of being overwhelmed. A tip for someone starting out thrifting – always check near the mirrors. This is usually a gold mine for great pieces that were tried on but didn’t exactly work for someone.
With the constraints of the pandemic I adapted as I was limited to my local thrift stores. I became somewhat obsessed with thrifting online. Etsy is one of my favourite platforms because they offset their shipping emissions. I think there are so many amazing resellers on this platform. With the expansion of online vintage sellers you literally have access to vintage pieces from all over the world.
Can you touch on the sustainability movement in Vancouver?
I moved from Toronto to Vancouver. The sustainability movement is almost in your face in comparison. When I first moved here, I felt immense gratitude to be surrounded by nature and constantly reminded why this matters. The mountains are so vast out here you can’t help but feel humbled. There are so many incredible vintage resellers here in Van, all of which seem to value community over competition. This is something that really makes me happy!
I went to my first climate march in Vancouver. It was incredible to march alongside Greta Thunberg and David Suzuki. There are so many like-minded individuals championing the sustainability movement here in Vancouver. It’s a great place to be constantly learning.
Where do you see Shop Loop in the future?
Firstly, offering the ability for consumers who want to make the switch to a more sustainable wardrobe. I know thrifting is not easy for everyone. I love helping people find pieces that they otherwise would not have found, all while reducing their carbon footprint.
Secondly, I want to expand my clientele and work with larger brands – offering them a zero-waste styling option for their campaigns, e-commerce shoots, etc. I want to show brands they can make zero concessions with style and have all the impact of sustainability.
Lastly, I’d like to expand my ‘Personal Thrifting’ one-on-one sessions. This concept is similar to a personal shopper, except everything I source will be vintage or pre-loved. My focus will be breaking down a client’s personal wardrobe, teaching them about fabric content on composition labels, and how to take proper care of the pieces in their wardrobes.
I strongly agree with Fashion Revolution’s motto – loved clothes last. By taking a look into our closets, we can ensure that we learn how to better care for the materials we wear so that our clothes last longer and maintain their quality.
Any final words? A message to your customers?
I’d start by saying any step is a good step. One of the most effective ways to reduce your carbon footprint as a consumer when it comes to clothing is to understand the impacts of the materials you choose. You are, after all, wearing your values. Natural fibres like hemp, organic cotton, flax, bamboo, etc. are the best options when it comes to sustainable fabrics. Avoid synthetic and semi-synthetic fabrics like polyester, spandex, rayon, etc. as they are known to contribute to the microplastics pollution in our oceans.
Always be mindful of greenwashing throughout the industry and continue to question your consumption habits!
I’ll sign off with a few resources that I’ve used to further understand the materials we wear and their impacts on the earth:
– The Slow Factory @theslowfactory – online courses including ‘Fashion & Waste’
– ‘Fashion’s Future and the Sustainable Development Goals’ by Fashion Revolution @fash_rev – available online at Future Learn
– ‘Loved Clothes Last: How the Joy of Rewearing and Repairing Your Clothes Can Be a Revolutionary Act’ – a book by Orsola de Castro
– The Sustainable Angle’s ‘Future Fabrics Expo’ @thesustainableangle
– Intersectional Environmentalist @intersectionalenvironmentalist
– Labour Behind the Label @labourbehindthelabel
– Atmos @atmos
Thank you for taking the time to read up on Shop Loop. Feel free to check us out on Etsy or follow @shop__loop as we join the rise of vintage fashion and the vintage consumer.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
All images in this article are courtesy of Shop Loop.
