F

or brothers Ryan and
Dylan Burke, 24 and
21, leaning into the
zeitgeist for nostalgia has
manifested itself into a newly
opened brick-and-mortar
shop called The Vintage Vault,
located in Clawson’s down-
town shopping district.
Older brother Ryan,
whose passion for authentic
retro apparel started when
he was attending college in
Kalamazoo, waxes poetic
about items produced years,
even decades before he was
likely a glimmer in his par-
ents’ eyes.
“Each of these items has
a story, a backstory; and I
love being able to recall them
when someone asks about an
item,” Ryan explains during a
recent Friday afternoon at the
shop. “When someone comes

in and asks about a vintage
T-shirt and I can demonstrate
what makes it authentic,
whether it’s the stitching or
the way the graphic was pro-
duced, it’s great.”
There’s no doubt Ryan
knows his trade. In addition
to the store, the older Burke
brother is a team captain at
the Detroit-based company
StockX, a high-end online
peer-to-peer reseller, where
he provides expertise in the
authentication of an item’s
value.
He says he began selling
vintage clothing, which is
defined as something more
than 20 years old, back in
2016, out of his dorm. Ryan
says he would collect items
from other vintage stores,
estate sales and garage sales
and resell them online.

Brothers Ryan and Dylan Burke,
each younger than most of
the items they sell, tap into the
lucrative love of nostalgia.

What’s Old
... is New!

BRYAN GOTTLIEB CONTRIBUTING WRITER

38 | AUGUST 11 • 2022

business SPOTlight

TOP: According to the Burke brothers, the mer-
chandise at The Vintage Vault is positioned to
showcase individual items and typically does
not stay on display for more than two weeks.