For Moth Oddities, community is at the center
“We have so many different interests and they all revolve around community.” Says Yana Pietras of Moth Oddities
collage by Bel Moran
Moth Oddities began in 2014 when couple Yana Pietras and Ian O'Neill began collecting and selling vintage clothing on the road. In 2021 they opened the doors to their first storefront. In 2023 they also opened Moth Studio, a workspace dedicated to creativity, sustainability, and experimentation, and centered around community. “We love community, that’s huge for us.” Says Pietras. “We have so many different interests and they all revolve around community.” Currently, the studio is occupied by Three Circle Shop, a sculpture studio based out of Minneapolis, in collaboration with Pietras’ late mother Michaela Mahady. Previously the space has held a holiday market, a leather-working class, and much more. In the future Moth hopes to continue the community events with other pop-ups, movie and board game nights, and a night market.
Sustainability is another focus of Moth Oddities’. Fast fashion is a rapidly growing industry. The number of new garments made per year has nearly doubled over the past 20 years, and global consumption of fashion has increased by 400% (The Center for Biological Diversity, 2024). One way consumers are trying to combat this is by shopping for used and vintage clothing. Though born out of a love of old clothes, there are a lot of benefits to running a vintage shop. “We’re saving things from landfills. Buying vintage, buying used, prevents waste from accumulating faster,” says O'Neill. “Vote with your money, not throwing your money at Shein and H&M and all these places that are destroying the environment and filling up landfills all over the world.”
Originally, the couple traveled around the United States in their Jeep, which they affectionately named Eleanor. They gathered vintage pieces along the way and sold them at pop-ups and events across the country and online. “For the first five years we said yes to everything, every opportunity that came our way,” said Pietras, “and learned a lot.” It was a process of trial and error. After returning to Minnesota, the couple became stockists, or people who stock other people’s stores with their finds. It was through these ventures that they met their future vendors and collaborators, even adding Italian vintage pieces through a collaboration with a buyer Pietras had met abroad.
In 2021 they opened their storefront. “You kind of end up weaving together the things you like, and then it just becomes the brand,” Pietras explains. What’s next for Moth Oddities? “Work-life balance!” the couple answers with a laugh.
Resources
About Us. MOTH ODDITIES. (n.d.). https://www.mothoddities.com/about
About. Three Circle Shop. (2023, October 30). https://threecircleshop.com/about/
At what cost? unraveling the harms of the Fast Fashion Industry. At What Cost? Unravelling the Harms of the Fast Fashion Industry. (n.d.). https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/population_and_sustainability/su stainability/fast_fashion#:~:text=The%20pollution%20introduced%20by%20the, change%20from%20anthropogenic%20greenhouse%20gas
