I’ve been thinking back lately on the original vision for Burke. In late 2017/early 2018, I had just come off of 8 years working for a corporate fast fashion retailer, where it had been chipping away at my soul. While I still enjoyed the visual and creative aspects of my job, the poor practices and products of the company no longer aligned with my values. I had worked so hard, and so long, for a company that valued profit, and I decided I could work that long and hard for myself with better business practices, and supporting independent brands that put people and planet first. I put in my resignation, spent a year working for a local small business to gain that experience, and started a business plan.
In short, Burke Mercantile was born!
I’ve been experiencing a decrease in business that is comparable to sales numbers from my first year in business. While the challenges to scale forward are often talked about in business, you don’t hear much about the challenge to scale back - which is a really important one for any fluctuating market. It’s also kind of a mind fuck. It’s a halt in a trajectory, most often unexpected because generally scaling back in business is not the goal. But it has given me an opportunity to go back to basics, and revisit my original business concept. I wanted to open a shop that educated folks on sustainable fashion, and offered them unique shopping alternatives to the fast fashion retailers dominating the market. I wanted to build a business with that goal that could sustain itself and pay myself a living wage. That was, and still is, the simple dream!
I remember when I was ready to start reaching out to brands about carrying them in the shop. I was so nervous, wondering why a brand would sell to a shop that didn't exist yet, that they couldn’t see? So I put together a visual inspiration deck to help visualize the aesthetic and concept of what I was hoping to achieve. I recently pulled up that deck from the archives, and could name nearly every brand I had represented in it just from the images — many of which became Burke brand partners at one point or another. While my aesthetic has evolved since then, so much of it still felt accurate and relevant. In fact, the color story of the whole deck is pretty spot on to to the color story represented in the shop today.
My own personal journey to sustainable fashion really started with a single pair of jeans. When I was working my corporate job and nearing my 30s, it was the peak of early Instagram, and I was starting to discover more independent fashion brands and learn about all the harms of the fashion industry. While this piqued my interest, I had been buying fast fashion with a hefty employee discount for years, and couldn’t fathom spending a couple hundred dollars on a single item of clothing. This was also in the early 2010’s, around the time when multi-brand platforms like Garmentory, Totokaelo and Need Supply (RIP) were becoming widely popular and discovery was made easy. I was constantly making discoveries and building wishlists on these platforms. My first investments were in bags and shoes, my gateway to sustainable fashion. It seemed easier for some reason to invest more into well made accessories. I bought the Pocket Pal leather bucket bag by Erin Templeton from Need Supply for $153 in 2012. It was the most expensive bag I had bought at the time, and probably the first real leather bag I owned. I carried that bag every day for a good 8 years watching it patina with beauty. I was still carrying it when I reached out to Erin about being a brand partner for Burke, which she has now been since the beginning!
I started buying nicer shoes from brands like Miista, About Arianne, and Tibi (also who remembers Solestruck (RIP)?!) and I was hooked. Many of these brands were also so small at the time, that as a consumer I could build a personal relationship with them, and that felt so special. I was lusting after many of the clothes on these platforms from the likes of Mara Hoffman (another RIP), Rachel Comey, Black Crane, but I still had trouble justifying the price tags. Then I discovered the Rachel Comey Legion Jean. This jean had become a cult classic nearly instantly, around the same time that the Jesse Kamm Sailor Pant was also taking off. I wanted the Legion Jeans so bad, but there was no way I was paying the $345 price tag for a pair of jeans. I immediately went in search of dupes (a practice I would NEVER endorse today!), and ordered a dupe pair from Nasty Gal and a dupe pair from Zara, convinced one would satisfy my desire. To no one’s surprise, both pairs arrived and were so incredibly cheap-feeling and ill-fitting that I returned both immediately. My sorrow continued but my craving for the jeans didn’t go away, especially after seeing them in an image of Leandra Medine, OG fashion blogger of Man Repeller, that lives rent free in my brain. So after a couple years of yearning I finally ordered the original Rachel Comey Legion Jean from Need Supply on Black Friday of 2015 at 25% off as an early birthday gift to self. The anxiety I had spending $259 on a pair of jeans was high, but I was so excited.
I’ll never forget the day they arrived and I first put them on. It was like nothing had ever fit me so perfectly at first try on. They looked exactly how I had hoped, and the lightweight 100% cotton denim fabric with the perfect wash was even better than I could have expected - especially after trying the dupes made in cheap stretch denim. I wore these jeans religiously again for the next 8 years, making them the best wardrobe investment I had ever made, and all of a sudden the value of sustainable fashion made perfect sense (and in case you’re wondering, they indeed are still part of my wardrobe 10 years later)!
A single pair of jeans was the start of transitioning my entire wardrobe away from fast fashion and toward independent brands. Today, my wardrobe is probably about 30% Rachel Comey, 30% Kowtow, 15% vintage luxury brands (shoutout to my favorite source @blossomvintage ), and 25% a mix of other independent brands including Baserange, Signe, Cordera, Atelier Delphine, and Carleen to name a few faves. Most of which were also all purchased from small shops I love around the country such as Hazel & Rose, The General Public, Continuum, Frances May, Idlewild, Mohawk General Store, and more. I am buying less overall, my clothes last me years longer, I can often resell and rehome them, and these brands have helped me really hone in on my personal style while being able to support small designers. Truly a win-win. And this really was the original intent for Burke - to share in this better way of consuming and dressing with like-minded community.
Over the past 6+ years of business, I’ve been able to expand my assortment at the shop to include home decor, small furniture, fine art, and more. But as the market continues through a rough patch, I’ve found my assortment dwindling back to the way it started. A curated selection of sustainable fashion and accessories, lifestyle items and small gifts from contemporary, independent brands. While I have the desire to still offer more, there is something comforting about returning back to the basics. Rediscovering the “why” of how this business began.
And so, as I enter a challenging season in business, I also enter one of my favorite seasons - Spring. Fall is usually the most celebrated season in the Fashion industry, but I have always been partial to Spring. Something about the plants reawakening, the sun warming, and lighter layers and fabrics and colors feels freeing and inspiring. I had to place smaller orders for this Spring, which made each selection feel even more intentional. While I’m going back to basics with business, I’m also thinking back to basics in wardrobe building. And that’s what you’ll find in our assortment as it trickles into the shop over the next month or two. Wardrobe essentials, building blocks, and versatile classics mixed with some special statement pieces. Natural fabrics, timeless neutrals, and everyday pieces. If you’ve been thinking about changing your buying habits around your wardrobe, I’d love be a place for you to explore that. I’d love to help you find the brands that can define your personal style and make you feel the most like you, even if they aren’t from Burke.
While I have a lot of anxiety about the future of my business, something feels serendipitous about this moment coinciding with new movements for corporate boycotts and economic blackouts. I started my business during the first Trump Presidency, and find myself at a crossroads with my business during the second - both times to revisit our ethics and how we contribute to the greater environment around us. I’ve always believed in a better economy. It felt like we were on our way there in 2019 before the Pandemic hit. And unfortunately with the effects of the Pandemic on the economy, and the growth of platforms like Temu and Shein, as well as Amazon, we all seemed to slide backward. This time may be a reminder for us that there are other, better ways forward. Another way I’m thinking about that at the shop is accessibility to more secondhand in fashion. And I’m excited to have given my friend Alden of Cool & Casual Studios a larger footprint at Burke to curate an expanded assortment of vintage and secondhand fashion. My own shopping habits have remained a healthy mix of new, independent brands, and secondhand and vintage clothing, and I want to be able to offer that to Burke’s customers too. It’s a natural evolution and addition to the original concept that wasn’t originally there, but felt like it always could have been.
Above is a sneak peek into the assortment coming to Burke over the next few months. I’d love to help you on your journey to dressing better, buying better, and supporting small. I invite you to join our email list HERE for announcements and first dibs on New Arrivals, visit us in store Thursday through Saturday at 435 E 1st St, in the East Village Arts District of downtown Long Beach, and shop with us online 24/7 at burkemercantile.com. My virtual doors are always open!
XO
-Maggie