Derby Day Onsie

Another cute little gown to add to my collection. I had heard at a baby shower that these were great to have on hand because you don't have to fumble with buttons or pants and they are easy on/off.

Where I've Worked

Yesterday I was browsing through some old photos and came across some shots we took of our old stores in Dallas, TX. Over the past 9 years we have opened 4 of our own stores and helped numerous others start theirs. Here are a couple of pics of the stores past...

This is a picture from the back of our first store in Deep Ellum looking towards the entrance. The Deep Ellum Store was open from for October 2000-January 2007. It is also where Ricky and I met and started "dating". It was our most profitable store and also the coolest in my opionion. We had to close down because the neighborhood went into a decline and people were afraid to come to the area. When we first opened we would be open until 1:00+ on Friday and Saturday nights and were pumping with business nonstop. Over the years the media got ahold of some unfortunate circumstances and less and less people visited the neighborhood. Business closed down left and right and we were one of the very last retail spots to oporate. LOTS and LOTS of awesome memories, Ricky even had an apartment behind the store for the first couple of years.



After noticing the decline in the Deep Ellum neighborhood we decided to open a second location at a new shopping center called Mockingbird Station about 3 miles away. Here we did the entire finish out to the spot which was a MAJOR undertaking. Installing a window front, bathrooms, AC unit, pretty much everything as it was a blank box to begin with. This location was open for about 3 years and we sold it when we decided to move back to San Diego in 2007.







Factory Vintage was our warehouse/store located next door to the Deep Ellum location. For the first year we just used the space to ship and pack orders and oporated our Particle Reconstruction line. But after we closed the doors to the Deep Ellum Store next door, we expanded and let people shop the warehouse and extremly low "bulk" prices. This was by far a biggest location at 10,000+ sq feet. It had an room for a few offices, a large particle workroom, a darkroom, screenprinting room, skateboarding half-pipe ramp, and tons and tons of racks and bins. There were even a few classic cars on display throughout the warehouse, a Jag and a Mercedes. We were oporating three locations at once in Dallas at one point and had a payroll fluxuating at about 20+people and interns.






These days we are running one location in Bay Park that houses Dust Factory Wholesale, Factory Vintage Retail, and Particle Reconstruction Clothing. It makes it much easier on us to have it all in one place. Check us out if you are ever in the area.

Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes

This is another baby vintage reconstruction t-shirt I made last week. I am getting pretty quick at banging them out now. I had actually made a few more, but forgot to photograph them before I gifted them to our friends Sean & Stef. I like to call this one our Jimmy Buffett onsie. He's definitely going to have to wear it whenever we go on our sailboat.

Ever since I was little I grew up listening to Jimmy Buffett tapes in the car, VERY reluctantly at first but then grew to love it as I got older. Since then my family and I have made it to 3 or 4 Buffett concerts over the years. You could definitely call my parents "parrot heads". So much in fact that a few years ago my Dad asked me to draw him a parrot for his very first tattoo, it turned out amazing! I drew the parrot and another artist (Dean, from Elm St Tattoo in Deep Ellum Dallas, TX) did the background that looks really tropical and rainforesty.

Custom Creations

You can purchase our designs at our store DUST FACTORY or custom design your own on our Zazzle website by clicking on the following link...

"For the past 10 years we have been sifting through thousands of pounds of recycled clothing a day to pull out perfect gems that can be resold in the ‘vintage clothing industry’. This by no means makes us experts in the fashion industry, but it does make us experienced. We see what fashion has done, good or bad, and through the years have developed a style of our own inspired by these relics from the past. We don’t feel that our Original designs are even on the same playing field as authentic vintage clothing. However we feel, as many do, that there is a ridiculous amount of companies that are putting out new t-shirts each year with designs that are just crap. We know that by the time they hit the used market, if they don’t end up in a land field there is no other place for them to go put be turned into a rag. We knew it was time to help bring t-shirt design back to its roots where it is focused on an element of design, not a brand, or a shirt that makes the person wearing it look like they were sitting under a flock of seagulls after they just ate. We know that most of our customers are creative so we felt it was important to give you a platform to decide where and how you wanted our design to appear on your tee. We also wanted you to be able to choose what color and type of t-shirt blank our design would appear on. We would prefer that everyone use the organic and bamboo t-shirt blanks, but we understand that in today’s economy not every body can afford them. Regardless a small portion of proceeds for each item in Dust Factory Original Collection sold will be donated to the Surf Rider Foundation in supporting their cause to keep the ocean clean.

Baby Vintage Reconstruction

I have been dabbling in designing baby clothes since I now have the opportunity to outfit a little one. I made this baby onsie using a vintage tee from the store and made a pattern from an outfit that I already had. It took the most time designing the pattern, but once that was done I did a mock up and then started working on this cute little thing. It turned out perfect! The tee was originally a XL long sleeve mens shirt with the mermaid on the front pocket area, and the waves on the back. Now I'm going to start looking through our old tees at home that we never wear anymore do to stains, or ill fitting size and turn them into baby clothes! I'll also make a pattern for a long sleeve, t-shirt style, and make them in a few different sizes. Once I get a few made up I may even advertise to make custom ones for sale. FUN!

Vintage Buy Trip

Went to LA today for a buy trip. I needed to pick up a bunch of dresses and tees for our reconstruction line Particle. Buy trips in LA are one of my favorite things to do in this industry. There is SO much clothing to sift through and I usually end up finding a couple of pieces for myself. Most of the womens clothing is in HUGE bins that I crawl up into and toss everything out that I don't need and the rest ends up in a barrel about 4 feet tall.

Today I spent 3 hours sorting through Antique dresses and 80's elastic waist dresses. I filled up two barrels which means it was actually a very small buy. Dresses are really hard to come buy because women are really picky when it comes to what they wear. Antique dresses in particular because I pick dresses only from the 40's-60's, which means they are a minimum of 40 years old. They also have to be in near perfect condition and of current size.

So now I have my work cut out for me for the next few days, literally. I will be washing, cutting, and sewing to fulfill Spring Orders. It's alot of work but I love what I do, and I am so fortunate to be able to work for myself.