Mar 06, 2022

R E L O V E D x Clara

Clara Infante

Mom of 3

Founder of Shop Copito

When did you start buying 2nd hand clothes and why?

My love affair with second hand clothes started when I was a teenager. I spent my summers at a YMCA camp near Cincinnati, Ohio and a friend there took me to my first thrift store when I was thirteen. I can still remember the odd smell of the clothes, digging through the racks… I wanted to dress like the kids at camp, they wore vintage tees and sports shorts. When I went home to Miami, I asked my parents to take me to goodwill… they were dumbfounded. My European parents didn’t understand why I would want to rummage through a bunch of old clothes when they could afford to buy me new ones.

How to have a sustainable wardrobe? What are you favourite 2nd hand shops? And, your favourite sustainable brands?

Sustainability is about making thoughtful purchases, investing in timeless and quality garments, and truly loving what you buy. I can’t always afford to buy new from my favorite sustainable brands so I either save up for the item I really want or I try to find something similar on a marketplace app like vinted. I also have a rule of keeping my closet manageable by selling an item before buying a new one, this added step/challenge keeps me from making impulsive purchases and I give myself more time to think about whether or not I truly want the thing which I’m planning to buy.

My favorite second hand shops for children are: R E L O V E D by repose, Phii, Little reshop, Coco Manolo and mouse Berlin. For women’s clothes I love: Curate and Rotate, House of Rowdy, Rewild vintage, Roam vintage, Alabama collect and vinted!

Favorite sustainable brands for kids are Repose AMS of course! I also love Bobo Choses, the Animals Observatory, The New Society, Nadadelazos, my Little Cozmo, Rudy Jude and Matona who plant dye their clothes! Jesse Kamm for amazing women’s trousers and lastly, Christy Dawn’s regenerative cotton farming practices and transparency in their pricing and manufacturing models blow me away.

There are times where shopping new is the best option, what do you have in mind before buying something new?

My own rule of thumb for buying something new is that whatever that thing is and wherever you buy it from, you wear it enough that you eliminate its carbon footprint. And if you are going to stop wearing it, that you find it a new owner who will. So don’t buy crap that no one will want to buy off of you or that you wouldn’t be able to rehouse!

What is the best 2nd hand item that you have ever bought?

I couldn’t pick just one as most of my wardrobe has been second hand for most of my life but from my recent purchases I would say my vintage Carhartt dungarees. I love how versatile they are, I can wear them with a pair of heeled boots and a beret when I’m going to the city or later them with all of my wooly clothes when I’m working in my very cold studio.

Photography by Marilo Mártin