HOLLYWOOD – A long-time costumer for TV and film, spurned by the lack of production work available for the past year, has applied her fashion sense beyond the celebrities she used to dress for hit shows and movies, to create a successful line of vintage clothing she has acquired through time travel.
Chloe Linda, owner of Retro Thrifter, an online boutique that sells used wardrobes, is set to net $1 billion in sales during her first year in business. Linda’s repurposed clothing line is out-performing other retailers, including Vanishingforest.com, within the niche industry of sustainable fashionwear.
Linda, 47, attributes her recent fortune to what she describes as a ‘time portal’ discovered inside her walk-in closet, filled with an assorted array of blouses, dresses, handbags, jackets, shawls, sweaters, and shoes accumulated over the last three decades, she revealed during a press conference announcing her company’s initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.
“A lot of people, if given the opportunity, would probably travel back in time so they could invest in an online retailer like Vanishingforest.com that would make them rich,” Linda shared with a throng of reporters. “As Americans, you see, our motivation tends to be very predictable—and boring. My experience was different. When the strikes started a year ago, sifting through my overstuffed closet, depressed, allowed me the chance to begin to rebrand myself. Selling vintage wear kept me connected to the fashion world I love during the entertainment industry’s downturn. The fact that doing so has made me rich has been an unexpected perk from a hobby I started just to keep me sane.”
Linda, who wore a 1990 Fugees T-shirt and acid washed jeans during her press conference, spent years shopping for actors as a member of one of Hollywood’s many craft unions responsible for the bulk of behind-the-scenes production work. Although the writers’ and actors’ strikes settled in late 2023, TV and film production remains down by 75 percent.
That’s because the studios are producing more shows and movies in other countries that have cheaper labor agreements. Meanwhile, American entertainment industry workers, many of whom who have not been employed for a year, are likely to be as desperate as possible during contract negotiations that are currently underway, according to Linda.
“People think that now that the writers and actors have settled, it’s back to business,” Linda explained to journalists. “The media—you—have done little to report otherwise. The truth is, craft unions make up most industry workers but are the lowest of the Hollywood hierarchy, so the studios are holding off on producing new shows and movies, so we are more likely to accept whatever deal they offer. Lucky for me, I have a walk-in closet that takes me back to better times, where clothes were cooler and better made, sometimes locally—like Hollywood used to be.”
Studio representatives were not available for comment about their current union negotiation strategy nor the quality of the clothing now available nationwide for most celebrities and members of the public.
For the past year, Linda has used her time portal to travel to the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s to stockpile vintage wear that she then resales in 2024.
“The idea was to sell repurposed clothes to help get by during this dark time in the industry,” Linda said. “Once I started using the dining room table and living room couch to store inventory, however, my husband insisted I rent a warehouse.”
Linda began to sell her merchandise through Shopify, and since then there’s been no looking back.
“We live in a society in which we create lots of waste,” Linda said. “There is huge disparity between rich and poor, and the problem is only getting worse. My merchandise aims to level the playing field by providing all people with the opportunity to look cool and feel good with the clothes that are most reflective of their personalities and favorite eras. Retro Thrifter is for the experienced shopper who has the wisdom to appreciate that when it comes to style, older is sometimes better.”
Elizabeth Taphouse, April 15, 2024
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