It’s time for the 5280 Top of the Town Awards and voting!

Don’t wait, vote today!  Vote under Shopping: Consigment Store

http://www.5280.com/tot/

Thanks for your support!

Is Rags an essential element of your wardrobe?  Please vote us Best Second Hand store.  Don’t wait voting ends this Friday!

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Our very own Digi Girl, Heather Smith, graces the pages of Fitness Magazine.  Yes, she really does bike around Boulder with her two babes in tow.  Be on the look out for her on her bike in some fabulous Rags fashions!

While the pinstripe crowd fixates on troubled assets, a stalled stimulus and mortgage remedies, it turns out that a more sure-fire financial fix is within our grasp — and has been for years. New research says a healthy dose of estrogen may be the key not only to our fiscal recovery, but also to economic strength worldwide.

We are proud and flattered – the Boulder County Business Report had some fabulous things to say about the work Margaret Miner of ten20 & Rags Consignments and Heather Smith of Lady Luxe Inc have been doing together on the social media scene!

Here’s the scoop:

Getting social with Lady Luxe
By Valerie Gleaton

June 26, 2009 — BOULDER – Most business owners recognize the importance of online advertising, but using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs to connect with current and potential customers is still a new frontier for many. For those who don’t know a “Friend” from a “Follower,” Heather Smith is here to help.

A self-described “social media maven,” Smith is the founder of Lady Luxe Inc., a consulting firm that assists companies hoping to increase their online visibility.

Smith, who recently became the social media strategist for international eco-cosmetic company Weleda, has revamped online marketing for local companies including Rags Consignment, ten20 nail salon, The T-BAR lingerie shop, Bundle Baby Shop and Jessie Walker Knit Goods.

“I call it ’social media for the socially responsible,’” says Smith, noting that the companies share a commitment to ethical business practices such as sustainability and fair trade.

This isn’t surprising, considering her background. Smith began her career in the natural products industry, and was so successful in launching and promoting her own beauty line that other companies began approaching her to consult on theirs. This led her to found JG Consulting (short for Jersey Girl Consulting) in New York. A few years later, Smith moved to Boulder with her husband. On Earth Day 2006, she launched Coco’s Shoppe, which she says was one of the very first online eco-boutiques.

“That was how I became more online savvy,” Smith says. “Then last fall the economy hit everyone hard, especially retail. You had to decide whether to relaunch, close up shop or reinvent yourself. That’s when I started to jump on board with social media. I wanted to use all the opportunities that were out there and also give them to other businesses. That’s what I’m doing with Lady Luxe.”

The economic downturn offered the perfect conditions to establish the new consulting firm. With low start up costs – “My Mac is my office,” Smith says – and business owners looking for ways to weather the recession, Lady Luxe was a fairly low-risk venture. Now, though she still owns Coco’s Shoppe, Smith says that most of her time is spent advising companies on how to take advantage of social media.

Smith says the first step is simply listening to the client to find out where they are and where they want to go. For instance, when Margaret Miner, owner of Rags Consignment and ten20, told Smith that she wanted to make her companies’ Web sites more dynamic, Smith converted them to WordPress blogs that also linked to Facebook and Twitter profiles.

“She’s does a fantastic job,” Miner says. “We’ve gotten a lot more interest in the Web site and feedback and interaction from customers.”

“All of a sudden, items we featured on the Rags site would immediately sell out,” Smith says. Customers who weren’t planning to come in that day would, just because of something they saw on the blog – that’s what’s so great about social media.”

Other companies have more specific goals. Smith says that T-BAR owner Debra Caplin already had a great blog and Twitter presence, but wanted more media attention for the shop.

“We got her on Daily Candy in a month,” Smith says proudly, referring to the popular e-mail newsletter that professes to be “the insider’s guide to what’s hot, new and undiscovered.”

“Give me a challenge, and I’m gonna deliver,” Smith promises. “I work on a case-by-case basis, so whether you want the full service where we build your whole social media platform, or just a la carte, I want to listen to what people are doing already and then fill in the gaps.”

However, though increasing sales and garnering glowing reviews is great for business in the short-term, Smith says the most important aspect of social media is its power to create brand loyalty through communication with customers.

“Businesses just need to get out there and engage,” Smith says. “Find your friends, find your fans, find your followers, and find your niche. You’ll get the customers who love you already, but you’ll also find those likeminded individuals who will soon love you.”

A Truly Green (and Frugal) Fashion Choice: Thrift Stores

by Karla Zens

It feels like a new socially responsible fashion line emerges every week: handbags made from organic hemp, sunglasses fabricated from 100% renewable materials, jewelry crafted from recycled gold and responsibly mined gems. Green fashion is almost mainstream: you can purchase your organic cotton t-shirt from Barney’s…or from Old Navy. Don’t get me wrong, these are all wonderful developments, but they continue to feed our insatiable appetite for consuming “new stuff.”

It’s time to start thinking about a fashion choice that doesn’t come with a “feel good” eco sound bite: your local thrift store, vintage shop, or a clothing swap between friends. With the economic downturn, shoppers have started to wean themselves off Macy’s and learned to love pre-owned designer merchandise. (Oh, and if you’re turned off by thrift store cooties, I’ll help you get past that a bit later.)

For the eco-minded out there (those of you who shop locally, bring your own bags to the grocery store, monitor the parabens and bisphenal A in your life), it’s time to take note: besides being a way to snag high-quality, fashionable threads for a bargain, second hand shopping is one of the most socially responsible shopping choices you can make.

Just consider today’s most rampant “disposable fashion” item: a cotton shirt, available for less than $20. This fictional shirt started out as cotton in a pesticide-laden field in the US. It was shipped to China, where it was milled, woven, and then dyed using harsh chemicals that leaked into the local water system. It was cut and sewn by children working in appalling conditions, before being shipped back to the US and sold. It’s a process that keeps the price low at the expense of quality, the environment, energy resources and labor practices.

And even your sweat shop-free, organic, vegetable dyed, carbon offset garment has consumed energy. Some virgin materials were likely used. The item was produced, packaged, and shipped, perhaps several thousand miles. It was likely marketed in some way, maybe on the pages of a magazine that was printed on virgin paper.

Comparatively, no energy is spent to create a second-hand item. If you purchase a shirt from a thrift store, you’re basically saving it from landfill (according to the EPA Office of Solid Waste, Americans throw away more than 68 pounds of clothing and textiles per person per year). Another benefit: second hand products have also likely finished “off-gassing” their most noxious chemicals. Many new items such as clothing, carpet and furniture release potentially harmful gases (including VOCs: Volatile Organic Compounds). Off gassing usually decreases as products age, are washed, etc., making second-hand items a safer option for your home.

If you think thrift stores are home to nothing but pilled sweaters and 1980’s prom dresses, think again. You may have to weed through a lot of fashion crimes, but you will find amazing designer clothing that looks like it’s never been worn (and quite often, it hasn’t). I have found a drawer-full of pristine cashmere sweaters, designer handbags (including a gorgeous white Ferragamo purse), Ellen Tracy blouses and a Benetton suit with the tags still on…along with a closet-full of other fashion scores. Oh, and I rarely pay more than $8 for any item! And if you’re tired of “throwaway fashion:” items that wrinkle, bunch, tear along the seams and shed buttons, go to your thrift store, where you can suddenly afford cashmere, wool, silk and designer labels.

Thrift stores are also a fantastic way to support your local community in these tough times. Your money is almost always going towards a charitable cause, and the stores themselves often serve as job training programs.

Not into wading through heaps of junk? Head to a chic vintage shop, an upscale consignment store, or a resale chain such as Buffalo Exchange or Crossroads Trading Co. You’ll pay a slight premium for the benefit of an organized and well-edited shopping experience, while still reaping the benefits of thrift store shopping.

Finally, if you’re squeamish about thrift stores and the “pre-owned” factor: have you have ever stayed in a hotel? Are you sure they washed the comforter or wiped down the remote? If you eat food from restaurants, do really know what’s lurking under the salami in your sub sandwich? And if you’ve tried on pants in a store, chances are they’ve made contact with someone else’s crotch, and you’ve been exposed to just as many cooties as you’ll find at the average thrift store. Carefully inspected and then laundered, second hand fashion is cleaner than the escalator handrail at the mall.

So give recycled fashion a try: it’s cheap, chic and truly green.