by Keri O’Meara
Vanessa King was getting ready for work on the morning of February 20 of this year when she received a text from a friend of hers which read “Dude, Preloved Just burned down.” I guess I am not going to work today, she thought.

But she was not out of a job.

Preloved’s owner Julia Grieve, wanted to keep all of her “phenomenal employees,” so she brought them part time over to production “to work in the trenches.”

And there was a lot of work to do. The night before the fire, Preloved’s designer Peter Freissen had the uncanny foresight to move all his samples from the store.

Watching images on the television of flames bursting out of the store she had lovingly owned for 14 years, Grieve’s survival instinct kicked in. She thought: L’Oreal Fashion Week. With Freissen’s samples still intact, “we were planning fall 08 as spring 08 was burning,” she says.

Just over a year later, Preloved is showcasing this collection at its new location on Queen street across from Trinity Bellwoods Park. Old Preloved customers and anyone who loves reworked vintage will appreciate what the new store has to offer.

It might seem a bit excessive to pay anywhere from between 130 to 180 dollars for a dress made out of your grandpa’s old slacks but it’s the detailing that makes these pieces special. Upon closer inspection a cute little pleated skirt- The Butterfield- is made of three different men’s wool trousers. The lines are super clean and the colours are bright and varied. The Sweaters are very distinct, cozy and great for layering. Don’t forget, each piece is made of a different fabric so they are all originals.

Some favorites include the L’Amour dress with belt, the Margo sweater dress and the feminine military jacket, Bergman. From the babies line, Me Me, the Jackie O style trench, aptly called Bouvier, will make anyone’s biological clock tick.

The fire was devastating Grieve says, but she could not imagine a better place for the new store. “As my mother likes to say: you have have to make Lemonade out of Lemons.”

And Grieve and her team are certainly squeezing up a batch. Less than a year after the fire, Preloved is busier than ever with a new, bigger and better store in Toronto; one in Montreal; a huge wholesale clientele, including Anthropologie in the U.S; and a Handcut (Preloved’s wholesale line) store in Sydney.