I first heard about The Factory through Emily Katz at our Style Portrait shoot. I asked her where she got this AMAZING 1930′s floor length dress and when she told me it was from a new and affordable vintage shop in my neighborhood, I couldn’t get there fast enough.

The Factory is more than just a vintage shop, besides an inventory of vintage and retro items that reflect the skilled eye of owners Mella Kaufman and Brendon Greenwood and buyer Laura Knox, there are pieces that have been altered, refurbished, or reclaimed to create an item that is entirely unique. They also have an in-house seamstress working three days a week on retrofitting clothes and collaborating with patrons to give old gems new life. The Factory’s emphasis on re-appropriation doesn’t stop at the clothes, the standing racks are made from old wood crates and the wall racks are repainted fence posts, to name only a few of the ways the store is inventively set up. The Factory is a shop to hit up often, with the price point, the gems are getting snatched up as quick as they hit the floor.

On Nouel: barn coat, $25; bikini top, $10; skirt, $12; boots, $40. On Natasha: wool sweater, $16; khaki’s, $16; ankle boots, $35; army backpack, $50.

On Natasha: 70′s dress, $24; boot, $20. On Nouel: 40′s dress, $22; cowboy boots, $35. Blanket, $280.

On Natasha: flannel, $14; Wesco boots, $35; aviator hat, $30. On Nouel: button-up, $13; Thinsulate boots, $40.

On Nouel: 501′s, $20; leather belt, $10; work boots, $35; patterned shoulder bag, $22. On Natasha: 501′s, $20; leather belt, $14; shoulder bag, $35.

Sarah Baker: What’s your fashion weakness?
Mella Kaufman: Quality material. If I find a piece of quality fabric I could just roll around in it on the floor, look at it in a pile, drape it over a door, cut it and wrap it around my neck like a scarf, or just throw it on my bed.
SB: What’s your favorite color right now?
MK: Since childhood, creams, tans, nudes and off-whites have spoken to me and I still have to go with that spectrum. There is something so classy, sophisticated and soft about these colors. I always think of that scene in Saint Elmo’s Fire, when Andy McDowell wears a cream woolly cable knit sweater in the snow with her dark curly hair and fresh flushed cheeks. As a little girl, her character and style typified everything I felt a graceful and sophisticated women was supposed to be.
SB: Dream alternate life?
MK: I know it’s a cliché but I want to live in the woods with the love of my life, not too far from Portland, in a simple house that has lots of windows and a fireplace. Maybe raise babies or at least have a dog, and do creative work from there. I guess that’s not really an alternate life, but instead where I’m heading.
SB: What is your theme song right now?
MK: Strange Religion by Mark Lanegan. The masculine softness in his voice and the melody, I could listen to it over and over again, and do. Listening to the lyrics, I love the description of a true connection with another person and how it can make you feel alive and hold the numbness at bay. ” Can you stay here next to me?, we’ll just keep drivin’.. Because with you I see a light” …didn’t know what it felt like to be alive, ’til you’ve been a friend to me like nobody else can be”.
SB: What’s your favorite thing about Portland fashion?
The ease of access to things to make art with, clothes to dress up in, items to put around the house.
SB: What three words would you use to describe The Factory’s fashion?
MK: Rustic, Classic, Re-appropriated.

Styling: Sarah Baker
Photographer: Lauryn Rachel Moore
Hair and Make-up: Shontelle Vincent
Models: Natasha Liegel and Nouel Riel