Dead duds live

Cul de Sac boutique manager recycles
old threads into new cut

by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Carly Breger

Age: 29

Occupation: Business manager at Cul de Sac eco-boutiques

Bio: Before this gregarious Mile-End gal landed her gig running the Cul de Sac (cul-de-sac-montreal.com) eco-boutique chain, she’d done plenty of time on the community service beat, both as a volunteer and employee at a series of women’s shelters, daycare centres, Head and Hands and the like. Born and raised on the mean streets of Montreal West, Carly jumped into the big money of retail sales when she was hired last December to “move the Cul de Sac stores forward.” She now spends her days dealing with employees, clothing designers, working the sales floor and buying inventory. Her favourite places to hang are used bookstores.

The deal with Cul de Sac: “We sell vintage clothes, recycled creations like old flannel shirts that have been turned into pants, pants that have been turned into shirts, vintage jewellery, vintage furniture, all kinds of crazy things, mostly stuff from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. Basically, we try to keep everything really affordable so everyone can be able to wear something unique and hot and amazing for not a lot of money. So you don’t pay a lot for that crazy t-shirt or dress or crazy sweater for that crazy sweater party you’re going to.”

Where they get their inventory: “I’d rather not say for obvious reasons. It’s taken many years to build up our connections, but people do come in and sell us stuff. But truth is, we only end up buying a small percentage of stock from people like this. People tend to have an emotional attachment to their old clothes and I can appreciate that, but I have to look at it all objectively, because obviously we can’t sell items based on the previous owner’s emotional attachment and the stories behind them.”

Why should anyone shop at Cul de Sac when they can probably get the same shit at Value Village for a fraction of the cost? “Because we only carry nice stuff. In fact, I just came back from Value Village and I’m exhausted, you need hours to find nice stuff in there. I was there for two hours and only found two sweaters that weren’t even that cheap. Anyway, our store isn’t much more expensive and it’s only good, cool stuff that’s been totally checked out for any flaws when we sell it. And we’re right here in the Plateau so you don’t have to drive all the way out there.”

Does one need a certain disposition to work with the public every day? “Yes, but I love it. It’s like social hour all the time for me. Every day, I meet so many great people. I’m going to start taking burlesque lessons with this girl who came in last week looking for pasties. She was really nervous about taking the class so I told her I’d join it with her so we’d be in it together and both feel more comfortable about it. The truth is, in the end, I just want everyone who walks in this store to leave it feeling happy.”

Last book read: All My Friends Are Superheroes, by Andrew Kaufman.

Musical preferences: The National, Kings of Leon, Stevie Wonder.

Words of wisdom: “Cry it out!”

Comments: dimwit@hdot.net