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.