Erin Beatty has been busy. Late last year, she opened a Rentrayage pop-up in Kent, Connecticut, where she resides. “It’s small town vibes, but Kent feels up and coming,” she said. “There’s a store called Peggy Mercury, it has all these art galleries, so I was like, oh, this is the place to open.” The store immediately outperformed the website. “I realized, ‘Rentrayage is a retail concept’; we have the home goods, we have the fashion; it’s a lifestyle sustainability story.” No surprise, she decided to keep the pop-up space going.
In the past year, she’s also shifted some of her production to Pakistan, which has enabled her to bring some of her prices down. “It’s a lot of work, but I think it’s going to make the whole concept a little bit more accessible because people love the clothes,” she explained. “Right now, the way they’re produced, it’s almost couture-esque, and I thought about leaning into that, making it this thing that feels like every piece is so special, but it’s just not my aesthetic, it’s not who I am. I’m too practical.”
It’s that practical feeling that grounds her collections season after season. For fall, all her signature styles are in the mix—the pieced-together chore jackets and curved wide leg jeans; the chopped men’s tailored blazers reassembled as oversized baggy jackets or fitted cropped ones; the bottom half of men’s jackets turned into mini skirts. Novelty this season was found in a mod-ish wool dress and separates embellished with silver grommets, and a witchy long dress and blouse in a black semi-sheer deadstock fabric. Cotton poplin shirts with delicate embroidery on the collar or on a patch on the front of a shirt were inspired by vintage napkins, bringing her upcycled clothes and home goods vision together full circle.
