MIX & RE-MIX – Ed’s Blog

 The October 14, 2018 NYT Sunday Business section featured a story entitled “A Working Woman’s Weapon”, which discussed a company called Rent the Runway ... the transformational bliss of borrowing clothes for the job. Pay a monthly subscription fee, which varies, a select five pieces to try on, wear, return or keep and purchase. These are newly-made pieces, but may have been worn prior (cleaned, of course, and returned to inventory).

 Working women of all ages know a certain stance: athwart the closet, brow furrowed, mouth drawn, listlessly dismissing garment after garment. A wardrobe full of clothes and nothing to wear.

 Dressing for work is work, and the cost – in dollars, time, distraction – is borne disproportionately by women.

 As one member of Rent the Runway said that despite the inconvenience of waiting for another shipment, she prefers this (online) process to trying on outfits in a store. “I would rather have the shaming of it all and the judging experience on my own,” she said.

 I have a lot of feelings about this article, so I’ll be coming back to it some more. But I want to remind everyone that before MIX, almost 15 years ago, there was Bonnie Penet Designs on Ebay, offering carefully curated gently used high fashion clothing. The success of that business became the foundation for the original MIX brick and mortar store, plus the “mix” of antiques, household goods and other fun merchandise.

 Today, the popular RE-MIX side of our Ypsilanti store at 128 W. Michigan features only high end gently used clothing and top-end recycled jewelry. Many pieces are the same popular labels we sell on the other new clothing racks in 130 W. Michigan. Despite the limited sizes, these are ready-to-wear pieces that can cost-effectively fill those empty spaces in a basic mix-and-match closet for any working woman.  And all are priced to sell.

 RE-MIX is always adding new items that offers real value worth a frequent look-see when you’re in the neighborhood.

- Ed Penet