For the past few months, I have been in a program with LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) learning about museum collections management, authentication and conservation.

This program has been breathing life into me and I am inspired.

While I have been continuing my studies in art history and will soon be pursuing a graduate degree in the subject, I am also a vintage reseller and the care and attention that is given to ancient artifacts and textiles at a museum level can be and should be applied to our vintage items. After all, these garments are pieces and fragments from the past and they will not survive without proper care and attendance.

I have found that a lot of the ways I have been able to connect firsthand with what I’ve been learning in the LACMA program come from my experience with handling vintage and antique items. Some of which that have passed through this very website=)

In an effort to implement some of the things I have learned through this program, I have decided to exclusively use archival tissue for shipping out pieces. Okay so, what is archival tissue and why is it important? Archival tissue is acid-free and pH-neutral. The acid-free aspect of this tissue is important because it helps prevent items from yellowing and breaking down over time. This applies not just to textiles but paper too! pH-neutral paper is important because it aids in preventing color transfer between materials and helps maintain an item’s vibrancy.

Aside from these important aspects of preservation, this tissue paper is eco-friendly aka reusable! I urge you to continue to use it to wrap your garments in. .

For a long time, I was sewing little muslin bags and shipping pieces out that way. While those muslin bags were reusable, there were no preservation benefits, so I am happy to pivot how I’ll be wrapping your garments.

I stepped away from uploading items to the site for an extended period and am currently still taking a hiatus from selling at markets. I was personally feeling overwhelmed with being constantly sold to whenever I logged onto social media and I was having a really hard time coming to terms with where TSL stood amongst all the chaos of capitalism. Therefore, I decided to pause because I was unsure how to approach online selling and communicate without feeling like I was contributing to the very source of my anxiety.

My break helped me clarify my intentions and approach to this special company. I want people to be happy with their items and it is important to me to offer timeless pieces that can live life with you through the many stages of your life.

The idea is to become more selective with the pieces we buy and to take care of the ones that we decide to let into our world. And with that being said, it is so important to properly take care and respect those items.