The large three-story building in Old West Lebanon can largely go unnoticed. You may have
passed it on your way to shopping in the newer, shinier, ever-expanding West Lebanon.
However, through the doors of Consign and Design, you are catapulted to another time with
Displays of vintage skis, framed maps, briefcases, traveling bags, posters, and pins fill the first
Deep in the third level of the store, I find Dustin Meltzer, owner, and founder of Enfield Cottage
Vintage, set perfectly amongst his Americana backdrop, in a wide brim hat and vest, devilishly
It used to be across the street. I’ve been collecting vintage clothes for years now. I found this
space, rather, I ended up in this space because my mom had a booth of her stuff in here, I had
all these clothes piling up at my house and I can’t not buy them when I find them so I kept
I’m really just a picker at heart. So, I’ve always just really loved clothing and I’ve always been
inspired by the vintage designs of men’s clothes because that’s what I wear. And when I was
working at J Crew I found the clothes that I was drawn to were all designed or reproductions of
vintage styles. So, I realized you could go out and find the originals of the time. The quality is
just as good. Sometimes there is a story with it, like a rip or a button that isn’t like all the other
Let’s see how the progression lead here, I went to KUA. I was a boarding student there. And I
remember when I first started going to school it was the first time in my life I had to think about
what I had to wear and how I dressed in a really intentional way because the school had a dress
code. So I was thinking about it as here is this framework and how do I still feel comfortable
dressing within it and that just got me really interested in clothes. It was something super
Yes, which is weird because I work there now and the kids sort of hate it. But it lead me to J
Crew, which was my favorite store to shop at the time. It was preppy and had all the things I
It was my part-time job all through college and when I graduated. I was always just drawn to
men’s stuff there. And so when I graduated college, I moved to Chicago. It was the first time I
had ever lived in a city and I started working at the J Crew there. I became a sales associate
and moved into what they call a personal shopper, a personal stylist. I was doing that in
I was like THE men’s guy and I really got into it. There was this kind of emerging
American-made, vintage-inspired menswear culture that was happening in the men’s fashion
world at the time, around 2012, so I started getting into vintage clothes and also tailoring. Like,
how do you make things fit the way you want them to fit? How do you construct things out of
So, I think a lot of people have these feelings whenever they are working for a big company, like
“I sort of like what I’m doing but I feel if I were to do this on my own it would be a lot better.” So I
started having all these feelings of maybe I should open my own store one day. I was also
thinking about when you’re tailoring things are you designing them? I started having this
convergence of creative mindedness and business mindedness and wanting to make
But I was also wondering do I actually know enough about this industry to do this? So I went
back to school to The London College of Fashion. I spent a year there studying fashion design
What was really cool is that same year, J Crew went to the UK so I was able to continue to work
for them. I was there right at the beginning, right when they were opening the store. Like, the
timing could not have been better. Keep in mind, through applying, making all these decisions to
leave Chicago, where I’m gonna leave all my stuff and get rid of my apartment, it all kind of lined
up really nicely so that I was right there when the store opened. I was there for opening day and
I got to spend a year in London having this really cool retail and cultural experience.
I’ve seen you’ve gone to a few of the biggest fashion weeks in the world. Tell me about
I’ve always been a photographer too so I started taking photos of people on the street, going to
the big fashion events like London Fashion Week and I got to meet all these really interesting
people. I approached it with this mindset that I’m just going to pursue everything. I’m not going
to be passive about anything if I have the opportunity to pursue it, I’m going to pursue it.
One day at J Crew this guy came in an interesting Barbor jacket, it was like this printed plaid, I
had never seen anything like it and I asked him about it and turns out he was the Head of
Menswear design. He invited me up to the Barbor factory for a tour which is like 3 hours out of
After culminating a ton of stuff, I thought, I gotta get rid of some of this. So I started an Etsy
So this came about because in the 40’s my grandfather bought a camp, like truly a cottage, on
Mascoma Lake and my family would come here for all of our summers. We all lived in
Massachusetts and we’d spend a few weeks and when my dad was a kid it was the whole
My grandmother was originally from Hanover Center so it was kind of like a homecoming for her
but it just sort of represents this nostalgic summer life. When I was living in Chicago my uncle
came across a bunch of color negatives from the 60’s that were all photos that were taken at the
cottage and so I put my photographer hat on and scanned all the negatives and went through
that whole process and there are all these awesome photos but the fashion in them was like so
similar to the stuff we were selling at J Crew at the time and so similar to the things that I was
drawn to that I was really like getting into that cycle, the cycle people in fashion always talk
about all the time where those older designs were becoming current and cool again.
Prior to moving to Chicago, I would find time every summer to come home and spend time at
the cottage with my friends so it became sort of like this really sacred place for us and the
So the same way your family circled back to the cottage, fashion circles back to its own
Yeah. And you know, this part of the world is really important to my family. We’ve had this spot
in Enfield for over 75 years, that's how long it’s been in my family. It’s where my grandparents...I
mean, that’s where they honeymooned. They spent their honeymoon at this place and my dad
grew up there and I grew up there. So even though, I am from Metheun, I went to KUA like my
grandmother and my dad and I sort of grew up at KUA and spent summers there. So this area
It is, yeah. I also think it’s also a really important moment right now in fashion for vintage
clothing because we are thinking more about waste. There is a lot of waste in the fashion
industry and I think a lot of people right now, especially young people, are thinking about how to
be less wasteful but also retain high quality. People are thinking about buying things that are
Yeah, so it’s going from this mentality of if a button rips off the pants you throw them away to if
you rip the knee, you patch it... I think the future of fashion is going to be interesting because
these are all considerations that goes against a lot of the big things that have lead us here
within the fashion world like stories about high-end fashion companies that would literally burn
their clothes at the end of their season because they would rather not donate them so not to
That huge clothing factory in Bangledesh that caved in and killed 1,100 people 7 years ago... I
think the more we hear about the way this industry has gone, I think people are interested in
Yeah, it’s great to hear it’s not just about style, it’s about the impact of it, a lot more than
Yeah, and the quality is here too. I mean, there used to be a huge clothing factory in Lebanon
where the AVA Gallery is for like 100 years. It was called HW Carter & Sons and they closed in
the mid to late 80’s but they would make jackets and plaids, overalls and denim, vests, work
pants and they were there for like 100 years doing that. They closed around that time when all
the factories were closing, I think that is that sort of the turning point to where we are now with
the waste. But I think it may be hopeful for that same cycle we were talking about, that we’ll
circle back to this more intentional, waste-free, ethical way of approaching clothing and fashion.
Yeah. It’s so cool when you find something that could be sold at a retailer right now but it’s
actually 40 years old and made by some brand you’ve never heard of that doesn’t exist
I think denim. I mean, jeans, jean jackets are never going to fall out of fashion. Wool. Heavy
wool coats especially in this part of the world. Flannel shirts are something that is practical but
you can also express yourself. T-shirts and sweatshirts are interesting because they were
introduced as low fashion, utilitarian but they’ve become high fashion. I mean, that’s the whole
story with denim, it was introduced as a durable pant that you could wear in a coal mine and
now you can go buy a pair of denim for over $1,000 and its super designer high-end. So, I think
denim is definitely something that will never go out of style. And also be universally acceptable
And so you have a wide range of things, is there a certain time period or brand or is it
So, its a blend of things that I’m drawn to from my time at J Crew and in London and then there
are things that are unique and unexpected that I just really like because I’ve never really seen
I think what is most interesting to me is 50’s, 60’s, 70’s because when I was starting at J Crew
we were sort of coming back into that cycle but I’ve noticed there are a lot of younger people
that are interested in the 80’s and 90’s even early 2000’s for fashion which is hard to believe is
When I think about the things that I wore when I was a kid, that stuff doesn’t really interest me. I
don’t know why but I’m not interested in finding a pair of Jenko jeans and selling them. For me,
it's about the stuff my dad would have been wearing when he was a kid. I dunno, maybe I
should talk to a therapist about that but that’s the time period I’m interested in because it’s sort
of like that moment of the untainted American dream. Like postwar, pre-industrialization where
people in our country were making things and that was a viable job. Manufacturing in our
country is not nearly as big now as it was then. And you could make a proud living just, like,
People back then also weren’t as concerned with having lots of stuff. It would be; “I need a pair
of jeans” and it would be their pair of jeans until they couldn’t wear them anymore. I’m also
interested in having one good thing instead of having a bunch of things that aren’t the thing I
That’s an interesting question. It’s a hard one for one piece of advice. I used to have a lot of
personal styling clients who would ask for advice. I think it’s about wearing clothes that make
you feel good. And I don’t mean wearing sweatpants all the time because different occasions
call for different, sometimes specific things but what I mean is finding things that make you feel
confident. That when you put them on and look in the mirror you’re like; “ yes, that is what I look
Clothes that make you feel happy, like on a practical level. I like to have pockets. I like to be
warm enough. It’s mostly about finding things whether, through story or quality, color or pattern,
when you put them on you just feel BETTER.
As he rearranges a display, he looks at a poster of John F. Kennedy hanging above some
“I love this print of JFK, well, it’s not a print, it’s a print on canvas...but I mean, what a style icon.
You can find Justin and Enfield Cottage @enfieldcottage or visit him at Consign & Design at
35 Main Street, West Lebanon, NH 0378.