Check it out here:

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-chris

At The Garment District & Boston Costume we’ve been stocking up to make those holidays that little bit more exciting. As we do every year we have Easter Bunnies and Leprechaun costumes to rent. But in addition we’ve stocked up on the little things – tights, tiaras, hats, wigs, scarves and face paint - something to add a little touch to any party or event you are going to.

So you’ve got your St. Patty’s day & Easter plans – but are confused by… Purim? Not at the Garment District where people have been shopping for Purim for many years. It’s a holiday not very well known outside of the Jewish community but even if you haven’t noticed Purim parties are getting bigger every year. Purim is a holiday where Queen Esther is remembered by dressing up in costume. Queens and crowns are staples – but as modern celebrations have taken hold our pope costume always seems to rent out for Purim as well.

At the end of the month The Garment District will be having our annual birthday celebration. We’ve been in business for 22 years – and are very thankful for another year. This year we will be celebrating on Saturday March 29th. We will have free coffee and cake for everyone who stops by (while supplies last). We will have more details on this event later in the month.

Thanks
Chris

So what is up next?

We are just back from the August clothing shows in Las Vegas. We made a number of good deals there that will be on the shelves in early September - new women’s tops, men’s shirts, belts, shoes and much more.

Our warehouse is stuffed with clothing (it’s never been this full before – seriously!) But instead of standing pat we have a large vintage shipment from the mid-west that should be in the building the 1st week of September.

We have so much Halloween inventory it’s hard to imagine. Double last year? It could end up being that much. We have worked very hard over that last year to increase the range and depth of our Halloween products so we can do our best to get you the costume you need this October. Last year our basement was basically un-utilized. This year it’s stuffed. I never thought we could fill our 35,000 square foot warehouse. I was wrong. It’s full.

So come by when you can & check out our new layout. I feel it’s a big improvement that will help your shopping experience. We work hard to make The Garment District a unique place to shop. Hopefully we’ve succeed.

-chris

2. Our new central staircase is almost finished. This will make it easier for our customers to shop on both floors at 200 Broadway. We’ve been looking forward to this project for many years. Check out the progress on our staircase cam.

3. We’re expanding Boston Costume’s space to provide you with a greater selection of wigs, makeup, costume accessories, and much more. This project should be done in a few weeks, and then we’ll start getting ready for Halloween!

4. Las Vegas. In August we’re heading to Las Vegas on our semi-annual buying trip. This is exciting because we get to see all the newest fashions and bring them back for our customers. You’ll see some of these purchases in the store in September, and more throughout fall, winter and spring. And we might even have time to catch a show or play a few games of chance.

5. Halloween - it’s never too early to be excited about Halloween! It’s our favorite holiday here at 200 Broadway, and it’s coming soon. Stay tuned for more.

And, as always, thank you for bearing with us through our construction process and for being the greatest customers in the world!

-- Chris

It’s actually quite astounding the volume of tuxedos we bought. We have so many tuxedo’s that we can’t possibly put them all out in the store at once so check back often as we will be constantly replenishing the store from this lot. What many shoppers might not know is that we have a third floor to The Garment District building. This is where we do most of our processing and seasonal storage. At this time of the year it is usually fairly empty. As the spring turns to summer we hang, steam & tag all our fall & winter clothing so we have everything ready for the next season. But with all of these tuxes and a huge multi-thousand pound buy of vintage clothing in addition to our regular supply we’ve got enough clothing to stock two Garment Districts. I’ve never seen it so packed up there.

From my vantage point the store is looking really good – with a great variety to choose from. Hope you get a chance to check out the tuxes.

-chris

Thanks,
Chris

So beginning on January 2nd the first floor will be transformed again. We’ve already started to redo our basement to store the thousands and thousands of costumes that are moving over. In the next few weeks you will see pieces of the transformation to fit Boston Costume into 200 Broadway.

We are not abandoning Boston forever, just for a little while. We plan on re-launching Boston Costume back in Boston in September 2007. Throughout the year I’ll keep everyone updated on this blog.

Come check us out in January and see what we’ve done.

-chris

All dressed up, new place to go: Boston Costume finds new fit in Cambridge
By Donna Goodison
Monday, December 11, 2006 - Updated: 04:28 PM EST

Boston Costume will be resurrected in Cambridge.

The owners of the Garment District, a large and funky Cambridge thrift shop that bills itself as an alternative department store, have bought the name, Web site and a huge amount of the inventory of the longtime Hub business.

Boston Costume has served trick-or-treaters and theater and TV productions since 1972. Founder David Bertolino is closing his Kneeland Street store on Dec. 31 because of skyrocketing rent.

“I’m thrilled there’s a future for Boston Costume,” Bertolino said. I built it up for 34 years, and it was kind of tragic to see it end, especially the way it was going to end. This is a great Christmas ending for us.”

Garment District President Chris Cassel plans to temporarily set up a Boston Costume shop by Jan. 2 in unused space at his three-story former factory at 200 Broadway St. in Cambridge. He hopes to find a new Boston location for Boston Costume by next fall. Cassel also is hiring Boston Costume’s manager and four other employees.

The inventory purchased includes Boston Costume’s vast selection of rental costumes and accessories, including props and displays for theatrical productions, and some retail costumes and other products, according to Bertolino.

Open since 1986, the Garment District sells new, used and vintage clothing and has operated its own Halloween and costume business for the last 10 years.

“What we don’t have is all of the rental costumes,” Cassel said. “We’re essentially keeping the entire Boston Costume collection of the rental costumes together. I gulped the first time I saw how big the inventory was.”

The new owners will contact Boston Costume customers who have rented costumes, including theatrical and educational groups from throughout New England, to inform them of the new location.

Boston Costume and the Garment District had been competitors.

“It’s sad when a place like Boston Costume goes out of Boston,” Cassel said. David has built a good thing. I think we can do a very good job at duplicating Boston Costume at 200 Broadway.”

Boston Costume is running a half-off sale of the remaining retail inventory until its Dec. 31 closing on Kneeland Street.

-chris

We’ve added floor space, which means more costumes and accessories than ever before and more cash registers so that you can check out and quickly. This year we have more staff to keep the place as clean and organized as possible, and to help you find what you need to create your best Halloween costume ever.

We still have the vast assortment of used and new clothing that you know us for – but we’ve added even more fun Halloween party clothing and accessories than any other year. We have everything you need, and prices that can’t be beat. Come check out the sexy vinyl outfits, lab coats, pirate costumes and accessories, hundreds of styles of wigs, hair dye, make up, and much more. Plus we have a great mix of period and contemporary clothing so that your costume can be totally unique, rather than just a packaged costume – buy a pair of used jeans, a used Western shirt, combine with a cowboy hat and a pair of spurs from our accessories section, add affordable used cowboy boots from the shoe department on the first floor, and you’ve got an authentic and reasonably priced cowboy costume that won’t look like you bought it at a chain store – and you might even wear the jeans, shirt and boots sometime after Halloween. At The Garment District you can mix and match new, used and vintage clothing and accessories to create your own unique look. Of course, we also have easy packaged costumes and accessories as well – but being creative is half the fun and our experienced staff can help you find what you need.

Why go to a smaller store with less selection, or a chain store and end up looking like everyone else at the party? At the Garment District we have the largest selection in town and we dedicate the most space to Halloween. As always, I recommend shopping early.
More hours, more space, more costumes, accessories and clothing, more fun – really, who could ask for more? I hope you can come by.

-chris

Though we love tradition - every year we try to do things that improve the store. When I think back all the little things we have done have really added up. Once upon a time we had shared dressing rooms, an elevator engine that made an amazing racket and only one cash register. This year we've revamped the front of the 2nd floor adding more retail space & hopefully improving the checkout process. As a result for the 1st time you can see a tiny portion of the back of the store from the front staircase. When I first saw this it really made me appreciate how big the store is.

Other than layout & floor space we've also worked hard to improve our clothing selection. This year we've enlarged the designer clothing section we started only a year ago. Also we've been selling more & more new clothing & accessories and have expanded these sections to keep pace. By expanding the floor space we are still able to keep the enormous selection of used & vintage clothing you've come to expect from The Garment District.

Every time there is some change in the store there needs to be a moment to reflect on the past. I had a customer say to me the other day: "I heard you were closing Dollar-A-Pound!" I assured her it wasn't true. To me Dollar-A-Pound is tradition. It's an experience different than anything you are likely to find elsewhere. Every year we like to make some type of improvements. 10 years ago we didn't sell new clothing. Now its the 3rd best selling section in the store. But that doesn't mean we leave our roots. We expand it, change it, mold it so next years experience is better than the last.

Hope you like this years changes.

-chris

The Summer Sale begins on Friday, July 28 and ends Sunday, July 30.

We have a huge selection of new, used and vintage clothing, shoes and accessories at 50% off our regular low prices.

Sale hours:
Friday, 11 AM to 8 PM
Saturday, 9 AM to 7 PM
Sunday, 11 AM to 7 PM

On Sunday night when the sale ends, we clear out what’s left of the summer clothing and replace it with all new fall merchandise.

All new clothes (at our regular low prices) Monday, 11 AM to 7 PM

Location: 200 Broadway, Kendall Square, Cambridge – www.garmentdistrict.com for directions by public transportation and car or 617.876.5230 x2 for recorded directions.

Please note: The sale does NOT apply to Dollar-a-Pound, the web store, or custom transfers.

Thanks,
Chris

“You’re never going to get the job,” I was reality-checked by my sometimes-cynical best friend. After all, the kids who work at the Garment District were always the coolest – with wild, daring style, and a radiating vibe of camaraderie. They were this super-cool posse – the clique you wish existed at your suburban high school, but didn’t.
I thought my interview went pretty well. My carefully-planned job interview outfit consisted of a florescent pink Cramps t-shirt, a leopard-print mini, and a pound-and-a-half of accessories. I worked at a dumpy Salvation Army in Wilmington the summer before college so that the GD would hire me when I moved to Boston for school. I got a call later that afternoon that they wanted me to work at the store and I let out a shriek of excitement.
I always worked Saturdays and was usually tired from the night before. Once I got to work, I would wake right up. There was great music playing (Johnny Thunders, Etta James, B52’s), lots of Boston rock gossip to catch up on, new clothes to be searched through and tried on, and always great people watching.
Another great thing about working (and shopping) there was that you could show up looking and feeling one way, and leave a completely different person. There are endless ways to reinvent yourself while retaining your own personal sense of style. The store has always been a safe and supportive environment to try on new personae and get creative. There are no rules: a box full of weird hats, a bin of billowy Technicolor silky scarves that can be tied into turbans, belts, skirts, or headbands, the costume section where children’s cowboy and fairy Halloween getups are often appropriated to inventive outerwear, and of course, racks and racks of clothes from eras bygone and revered, some gorgeous and some gorgeously ridiculous. I’ve taken that carefree and eccentric fashion aesthetic and carried it with me everywhere I go.
I work in fashion now, as a journalist in New York, and while people in the fashion industry muse over big designers’ DIY looks with “retro,” “rock ‘n’ roll” and “punk” influences – leather jackets pre-adorned with studs and pins going for thousands of dollars, silk-screened rock tee shirts on Olsen twins, fishnet stockings and skulls on heiresses, I always have to laugh. For those of us who’ve been picking that stuff off the GD’s racks and putting together on our own since our early teens, and sometimes getting flack for it from the outside world, seeing it now in magazine spreads seems rather surreal. And let’s not even dip into the 80’s new wave revival, the mod 60’s look that made Marc Jacobs a household name, the Almost Famous boho resurgence that
gave Sienna Miller her fashion-icon status or the rockabilly cherries and gingham thing that comes back every summer – the GD has been there and done that, and mainstream fashion always seems to follow suit months or years later.
And for those who refute the significance of fashion, see how it draws people together: cultures and subcultures often identify themselves with similar clothing, strangers stop one another on the street to compliment each other on it, people pore over issues of fashion magazines for inspiration and beauty, and we shop together as a form of quality-time with each other. The Garment District represents all of that in it’s purest form. It’s a place where people come together to find themselves and to have a good time with their friends all the while.
The world – of fashion and otherwise – needs more welcoming environments and innovative places where trends are born like the Garment District. Of course it’s lasted 20 years – and for the sake of young, vibrant fashion – here’s to 20 more.

Please join us on Saturday to celebrate The Garment District's 20th birthday!

Believe it or not, 20 years ago, in March 1986, The Garment District opened on the second floor of 200 Broadway in Cambridge. We are celebrating with a birthday party this Saturday, March 18th. Starting at 9 a.m. we will have FREE bagels and coffee for everyone who drops by (while supplies last). We will also a gift card raffle and in the early afternoon we will have birthday cake.

It may be cheesy to say - but we wouldn't have been here for the last 20 years if it wasn't for you - so please join us so that we can share our gratitude and snacks, and prizes.

Of course, there is no obligation to shop - but you might not be able to resist the temptation. We are just back from two major buying trips and some of the new merchandise is already here, and it's great stuff. Just in this week are new t-shirts, hats, bags and much more for spring, which is hopefully just around the corner. We have used cowboy boots just in from Texas. And, our 60s, 70s and vintage stock is particularly good right now -- especially an incredible lot of 60s clothing, some with the original tags still attached.

This year is particularly special to us -- in addition to our 20th birthday, we were able to purchase our home at 200 Broadway. This will enable us to continue providing you with the best new and used clothing, shoes, accessories and more for at least another 20 years. Thank you so much for being part of our success.

So, please, come celebrate with us on Saturday, March 18th. It won't be a party without you!

-chris