Clothing shopping in San Francisco
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Upper Playground
Blend into the SF scenery with locally designed Fillmore neighborhood hoodies, Barbary Coast pirate tees and knit Muni caps. Men’s gear dominates the main store, but there’s an even more impressive selection of locally designed tees in the women’s annex, and slick graffiti art in Fifty24SF Gallery next door.
reviewed
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Mission Statement
Finally: locally designed, fashion-forward clothing and accessories that keep real people, real bodies and real budgets in mind. Sofie Ølgaard’s drop-waisted silk sheaths are drop-dead gorgeous, Vanessa Gade’s circle-chain necklaces bring a touch of infinity to your neckline, and Estrella Tadao’s reconstructed ’70s men’s jackets revive radical-chic Maoist placket pockets. The counter staff at this collective are designers, so if that yellow bamboo-fiber wrap cardigan doesn’t fit just so, they’ll get one made to order for you on the spot.
reviewed
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Loyal Army Clothing
Food with high self-esteem is a recurring theme on this San Francisco designer’s cartoon-cute tees, totes and baby clothes: California rolls brag to nigiri sushi, ‘That’s how we roll!, ’ smiling custard declares ‘Girls just wanna have flan!’ and a grumpy bran muffin surrounded by uber-adorable pink cupcakes protests, ‘Muffins are cute on the inside.’ But the most popular character is the San Francisco fogbank: most of the clouds are silver and smiling, but there’s always one that has fangs.
reviewed
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Super7
After tiresome T-shirt trends of self-promotion (‘Porn Star’) and retro-irony (‘Virginia is for Lovers’), it’s a shock to find piles of limited-edition T-shirts this original. ‘Superterrific Animal Friendlies’ announces one Super7 T-shirt with an unlikely superhero team of cuddly owls, bats and monkeys; ‘Martial Art Garfunkel’ proclaims another, with the ‘Mrs Robinson’ crooner striking a karate pose. Godzilla fans cannot miss the selection of rare action figures here.
reviewed
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Crossroads
Pssst, fashionistas: you know those designers you see lining Fillmore St? Many of their creations can be found used at Crossroads for a fraction of retail, thanks to Pacific Heights clotheshorses who tire of clothes fast and can’t be bothered to hang onto receipts. That’s why this Crossroads store is better than the other ones in the city (including Market and Haight Sts). For even better deals, trade in your own old stuff and browse the half-price rack.
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Needles & Pens
Do it yourself or DIY trying: this scrappy zine/craft/how-to/art gallery delivers the inspiration to create your own magazines, rehabbed T-shirts or album covers. Nab Sara Thustra’s silkscreened zines with drawings of every household purchase for a year, Maria Forde’s ‘advice portraits’ of neighbors and their wisdom (eg ‘don’t wax on what you can’t wax off’) and recycled T-shirts screen-printed with portraits of famous suffragists.
reviewed
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Good Vibrations
‘Wait, I’m supposed to put that where?’ The understanding salespeople in this worker-owned cooperative are used to giving rather, um, explicit instructions, so don’t hesitate to ask – Margaret Cho is on the board, so you know they’re not shy here. Check out the antique vibrators on the back wall, and imagine getting up close and personal with the one that looks like a floor waxer – then thank your stars for modern technology.
reviewed
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Mingle
To break up the khaki monotony of the Gap and wrest free of H&M trends, get out there and Mingle with SF designers. Local designers keep this boutique stocked with hot Cleopatra-collar dresses, mod ring-buckled bags and plaid necklaces, all for less than you’d pay for Marc Jacobs on mega-sale. Men emerge from Mingle date-ready in dark tailored denim and black Western shirts with white piping – the SF version of a tux.
reviewed
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Custom Originals (Al’s Attire)
Hepcats and slick chicks get their duds at Al’s, where vintage styles are reinvented in rocker gabardine, noir-novel twill and philosophical tweeds. Prices aren’t exactly bohemian, but recent finds in the sales rack include men’s thin-lapel jackets and halter dresses that would make Marilyn Monroe gnash her teeth in envy. Ask about custom orders for weddings and other shindigs.
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Secession Art & Design
Every weekend is an open studio event at this local designer/artist collective. Permanent installations include Colleen Mauer’s loop-de-loop earrings and Heather Robinson’s mysterious paintings of spoons and hammers poking through ornate wallpaper; recent gallery shows featured Anna Simson’s abstract, color-blocked cityscapes and graffiti artist FuryOne’s gritty, dreamy spray-paint portraits.
reviewed
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Gama-Go
Every one of SF-designer Gama-Go’s products seems calibrated to hit the fascination nerve: a bacon-printed billfold, T-shirts with owls balancing on dandelions, and a brown hoodie with a rampaging baby-blue Bigfoot. Gama-Go is distributed nationally, but here in the showroom you’ll find 70% off last season’s lines and $30 Mysterious Fortune grab-bags of sample and discontinued goods.
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Delilah Crown
The crowning touches to SF style are the screen-printing, pin-tucking and vintage fabrics used in owner Kristina De Pizzol’s silver-crown-label designs: patch-pocket skirts with contrasting stitching, yellow shifts with vintage orange buttons, and mushroom-silkscreened T-shirts. Baby mini-tunics and gypsy skirts make tiny tots look like the charming end results of the Summer of Love.
reviewed
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Dema
BART from Downtown lunches to Mission art openings in vintage-inspired chic by San Francisco’s own Dema Grimm. House specialties are nostalgic bias-cut dresses and tie-top blouses with buttons that look like gumdrops. Like any original designer, Dema’s not dirt-cheap, but you get what you pay for here in squealed compliments; check bins and sales racks for deals up to 80% off.
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Eden & Eden
Quirkiness is an SF style trademark that can either be achieved through an MFA program or a quick stop at Eden & Eden. Everything you might dream up after diligent study of pop art is already here: a necklace that looks like a giant zipper, shaggy-haired orange tea cozies, a cushion that says ‘blahblahblah, ’ and hideous apartment buildings on elegant bone-china plates.
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Dark Garden
Not sure what to wear to your Victorian-theme wedding or your Marilyn Manson tribute band’s debut? Dark Garden might have your answer, as long as you don’t need to take any deep breaths and can get help with the lacing (not exactly a cinch, no matter what they tell you). Corsets are made to order and surprisingly comfortable, especially the va-va-voom velvet numbers.
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Community Thrift
When local collectors and retailers have too much of a good thing, they donate it to Community Thrift, where proceeds go to community organizations – all the more reason to gloat over your $6 ikebana vase, $7 ’80s mohair cardigan and that $35 art deco cigar humidor you found out back by the furniture. Donate your own unused stuff and show some love to the Community.
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Bluebird
Even tiny terrors look adorable in Bluebird’s flouncy, fun frocks and shoulder-tie sundresses inspired by the 1940s and ’50s, when kids weren’t expected to strut around like baby Britney Spears. Designer/owner Stephanie Scarpulla is also a vintage clotheshound, so you’ll find striped ’60s mod minis and dreamy 1970s Gunne Sax maxidresses for women here, too.
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Margaret O’Leary
Ignorance of the fog is no excuse in San Francisco, but should you confuse SF for LA (the horror!) and neglect to pack the obligatory sweater, Margaret O’Leary will sheathe you in knitwear, no questions asked. The San Francisco designer’s specialties are warm, whisper-light cardigans in cashmere, organic cotton or eco-minded bamboo yarn.
reviewed
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Residents Apparel Gallery
Local designers at design-school prices make eclectic SF chic easy at this certified-green cooperative boutique. Take your pick of limited-edition screen-printed tees, locally made designer dark denims (no sweatshops here, thank you), clever reconstructed vintage dresses and designer jewelry in silver, gemstones and recycled comics.
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Goodwill ‘As Is’ Shop
‘Ooh, that wedding dress would look fierce with some blood on it!’ Getting to the bottom of the bin before the regular crowds of emerging designers, vintage resellers, drag queens, serial costume-partiers and the rest of San Francisco’s fashion rebels isn’t always easy, but every item costs $2.50 and the commentary is priceless.
reviewed
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Sunhee Moon
Minding your girlish figure so you don’t have to, Sunhee Moon creates svelte shirtdresses and flattering tree-print tunics to make those curves work for you. You’ll never need to wait for a sale, since there’s always a rack with 20% to 50% off – yet another excuse to splurge on locally designed, free-form hoop earrings.
reviewed
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Ooma
Feel-good style is what Objects of My Affection is all about: ticklish coral waterfall earrings, springy Poetic License wedges, and locally made, sweatshop-free Del Forte organic denim. Better still, most items are in the affordable double-digit range, including laser-cut wood bubble earrings by local designer Molly M.
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Mission Skateboards
Street creds come easy with locally designed decks, tees to kick-flip over, and Toms canvas shoes, where for every pair sold, one is gifted to kids in need (140,000 pairs donated to date). This shop is handy to Potrero del Sol/La Raza Skatepark, and for newbies too cool for kneepads, SF General.
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Doe
Upgrade from the ‘I escaped from Alcatraz’ shot-glasses to Doe’s signature belts featuring the fogged-in Sutro Tower on the buckle, Jill Bliss stationery with unruly California poppies and mushrooms in the margins, or a gold outline of the state of California with a gem inset in (of course) San Francisco.
reviewed
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Wasteland
The catwalk of thrifting, this vintage superstore adds instant style with funky bell-sleeved Custo shirts, Pucci maxi-skirts and a steady supply of go-go boots. Hip occasionally verges on hideous with acrylic sweaters and patchwork suede jackets, but at these prices, you can afford to take fashion risks.
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