Vintage sellers

Noah Kalina

FOREVER YOUNG Antique mannequins survey the goods at Stinky & Minky.

Noah Kalina

What could your mother have been thinking when she gave your favorite rust-colored corduroy bell-bottoms to your bratty little cousin after you grew out of them? If she'd had just the smallest amount of foresight, she would have packed your entire fabulous childhood wardrobe in acid-free tissue paper and stored it in a cedar chest so that her future grandchildren could one day experience the cool thrill of slipping into a polyester Huk-a-poo shirt. But no…

The good news is that while your mother snoozed, other people were squirreling away their dated children's wear. At estate sales, auctions and department-store liquidations all over the country, straight-from-the-attic styles are being snatched up by vintage collectors and sold in stores around town. Some of the clothing is brand-new and still tagged—"dead stock" that a now-defunct store failed to sell decades ago; some is gently worn. TONY Kids went looking for the best shops for good-quality vintage kids' wear, and here's what we found:

Domsey Express
Thrifting in the city isn't cheap anymore, except maybe at Domsey's. And although this Williamsburg outlet may not be what it was 15 years ago—a giant warehouse of pay-by-the-pound clothes—great deals can still be found at the store's new location. The large section of kids' clothing, which is organized on racks and priced from about $1 to $3 per piece, ranges in quality, but it's well worth rummaging: Owner David Salm swears that Manhattan vintage buyers find some of their best pieces here, only to bring them back to the island and sell them at a premium.
431 Broadway between Hewes St and Hooper Ave, Williamsburg, Brooklyn (718-384-6000).

The Family Jewels
Since Lillyan Peditto opened her Chelsea store 23 years ago, she has amassed a collection of hundreds of kids' pieces that date from the Victorian era (an ornate Christening gown sells for $150) through the 1950s (plaid Western shirts start at $30). Peditto says that once in a while, parents bring in a special sort of child who, she can tell, "isn't going to shop at the Gap." For those in the fashion know, she offers boys and girls' clothes up to size eight.
130 W 23rd St between Sixth and Seventh Aves (212-633-6020).

Star Struck
Kids who've caught their parents' penchant for 1940s and '50s styles can get the retro-fab treatment at this Village favorite, where gabardine pullover shirts ($65 and up) appeal to Rat Pack—inspired boys, and flower-embroidered cardigan sweaters ($55) beckon girls who seek that prim-and-proper look. Owner Joe Markus says that his collection contains several hundred items, all of them never-worn dead stock. If you or your kid have something particular in mind, just ask him. Chances are, he can dig it up.
47 Greenwich Ave between Charles and Perry Sts (212-691-5357).

Stinky & Minky
If you're in the market for an original Izod windbreaker ($52) or a '60s A-line jumper ($52—$68), head to the city's only just-for-kids vintage store, where even the mannequins are antiques. Proprietor Maruska Saunders, whose children bear the '50s-era nicknames Stinky and Minky, has created a cozy environment for her extensive collection of department-store dead stock from England and the U.S. Thousands of impeccably kept pieces rotate throughout the year; additionally, Saunders designs her own line of vintage-inspired pieces, like a '50s-style brightly striped corduroy Marco suit ($125) and soft flannel baby pajamas meticulously copied from a style popular in '50s England ($48). "The clothes were just so much cuter back then," says Saunders.
171 Sullivan St between Bleecker and Houston Sts (212-253-2530).

Triple Pier Antique Show
Hard-core vintage junkies don't bother with retail. They go straight to the source: antique fairs and vintage shows where collectors from all over the world sell their wares. In November, Alice and Ron Lindholm will bring racks of their kids' clothes and accessories from their 30,000-square-foot upstate warehouse to the sprawling Triple Pier Antique Show on the west side of Manhattan. The Lindholms' company, Right to the Moon Alice, typically sells to movie-costume designers (remember the orphans in The Cider House Rules?) and retailers. Their collection includes several thousand kids' pieces, from 1960s Tom Sawyer paisley-print shirts ($15—$20) and cowboy-themed cotton coveralls for boys ($45), to bathing suits with ruffled skirts from the '50s ($20—$25) and chunky '70s-era sandals ($15—$25) for girls.
Passenger Ship Terminal Piers, Twelfth Ave between 48th and 55th Sts (www.stellashows.com). Nov 5, 6, 12, 13. Check website for times and admission price.

What Comes Around Goes Around
Between its store and its showroom, What Comes Around owns one of the nation's largest collections of vintage kids' clothes. You'd be hard-pressed not to find something irresistible among the vast selection of boys' swim trunks, buster suits (those little-lad outfits with button-together pants and shirt), gabardine jackets, cotton tops and pajamas. The company, founded in 1993 by college friends Gerard Maione and Seth Weisser, has more than 6,000 museum-quality pieces of clothing and accessories. Looking for a vintage lunch box, baseball hat or pair of sunglasses? It's all here. The clothing on offer spans most of the 20th century, from fin-de-sièle (a white cotton sleeping gown) through the 1970s (those corduroy bell-bottoms), in sizes from newborn to 10/12. Tags may be pricey, but they reflect the carefully combed quality.
?Retail store: 351 West Broadway between Broome and Grand Sts (212-343-9303; www.nyvintage.com).
?Appointment-only showroom: 13—17 Laight St between Hudson and Varick Sts, fifth floor, buzzer 28 (212-274-8340).

Whiskey Dust
If you're hunting for mini lassos, child-sized chaps or diminutive Davy Crockett caps, mosey on over to Whiskey Dust. Owner Hollie Bendewald says her late husband, Montana-bred Mervin, opened the Greenwich Village shop in 1988 because "New York needed an authentic Western-wear store." Today, the shop is still a mother lode of kid-sized leather and denim jackets ($30 and up), button-down Western-inspired shirts from the '50s through the '80s ($15) and vintage kids' cowboy hats and boots.
526 Hudson St between Charles and W 10th Sts (212-691-5576; www.whiskeydust.com).