The Truth About the Garment District

Cambridge’s popular vintage store, The Garment District, could easily be mistaken for a drag show dressing room. Or RuPaul’s closet. But a soap factory? Probably not.

However, the warehouse-like store best known for its eccentric style and $1.50 per pound clothing is actually housed in a former soap factory.

The walls have long since been covered in fuchsia paint and Led Zeppelin posters, but according to the store’s co-owner, Brooke Fletcher, the building is “the last of its kind,” one of the few remnants of Cambridge’s industrial past.

The city of Cambridge takes that fact seriously. Though most of the surrounding buildings have been razed and replaced with condos, the Cambridge Historical Commission recently voted to consider the building for historical designation and protection.

Today, the store’s staff is as eclectic as its merchandise. Fluorescent-haired employees scurry through feathered and gingham racks of clothes, asking each other for price checks on jumbo Afros or extra pairs of bejeweled ruby slippers, in men’s sizes. “It’s the only place I know of where you can find cute vintage purses and cheap pleather go go boots all under one roof,” said an employee.

Fletcher is determined to keep it that way.

“No matter what happens, The Garment District has a right to continue operating and plans to stay here for a long time,” said Fletcher.