Diversity Consignment Recycles Clothing and Customers (Can) Make Money, Too

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Diversity Consignment offers apparel for all sorts of styles.

Diversity Consignment at 713 Centre St.

After falling in love with the artist centric community of Jamaica Plains, owner Ian Drake opened up the shop that was originally called DVSTY Consignment at 713 Centre St. This is his second consignment store with ID Drake Consignment in Pembroke.

Drake supports a sustainable method of reusing and recycling clothing, as well as an open-ended shopping experience regardless of an individual’s identity.

“Any clothing article should and can be worn by anybody,” Drake said. “I figured we would cater to the artist as well and bring to that community a sense of independence while shopping.”

How Does Consignment work?

For those not aware of consignment, the process simply involves a consignor (could be you!) bringing in any clothing they have to sell, and having it placed for sale in the store. If sold, the consignor gets a portion of its price when sold.

Anyone is welcome to bring items to sell and a staff member will sort between items and posted items to sell up to a 30-day period. Within those 30 days, consignors will get 40% of items less than $100 and 50% of those more than $100. They get paid after the 30 days have ended and any items that don’t sell can be taken back by the consignor.

“Consignment is the true, direct, from person-to-person way of recycling clothing,” said Drake. “Consignment is the most sustainable way of recycling clothing.” 

He said his personal favorite aspects are being able to discover hidden gems in a vast array of different clothes that people bring in. He also enjoys getting to form relationships with customers.

More Than Just Clothes at Diversity Consignment

In addition to clothing, the consignment shop also sells art pieces from locals who wish to show off their work. Designers and artists can bring their own works to have it showcased and sold in the store, and have their bio included for customers to learn more about the artist.

“I think that giving artists a platform is the most important part of the whole concept,” Drake said. “Somebody can, if they put enough time and effort into building basically a brand around themselves, have the potential to support themselves.”

“We may see somebody’s custom creations, you might even buy from them for their custom creation, but you may not know who that person actually is,” said Drake. “I’ve always been very interested in getting to know people more in depth… who they are, what their personality is… aside from just their work.”

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