Don’t be fooled by the large green “Up in Smoke” sign hanging above the doors of Baton Rouge’s newest thrift shop, Rouge House.
Despite what its exterior suggests, Rouge House doesn’t sell vapes or cigarettes, but it isn’t any ordinary thrift shop either. In addition to its selection of second-hand clothes, the shop offers unique art, jewelry, clothing and other goods created by 21 local vendors from around Baton Rouge.
Samantha Abshire opened Rouge House in June, right next door to her sister’s restaurant Fork N Spoon on Brightside Drive An artist herself, Abshire designed the space for artists to have an opportunity to sell their work in a brick-and-mortar shop.
“I’ve met so many people over the past three years doing the pop-up events, and I kind of wanted to help them be able to show off their products too,” Abshire said.
Many of the featured vendors are friends and fellow artists that Abshire has encountered through various events in the Baton Rouge art scene. Other vendors applied to sell their goods at Rouge House by filling out an application link posted on the Rouge House Instagram page, @rouge.house.br, where Abshire does most of the business’ advertising.
From intricate crochet items to racks of upcycled clothes to hand-made clay jewelry, Rouge House displays a wide variety of talent from Baton Rouge creators. For a lot of the artists, it’s their first time selling their works in a physical store.
“They’ve just been doing art as a hobby, and now they’re taking themselves more seriously with it because they have a place to actually put their stuff,” Abshire said. “I’m going to be more focused on cycling out vendors too, but a lot of it right now is just people who I find really, really creative and people who I think deserve to be in a store you know?”
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Cana Brumfield is one of the 21 artists who’s work is featured at Rouge House. She shares Abshire’s earnestness for sustainability, which is reflected in the upcycled jewelry, decor and t-shirts. Although Rouge House has only been open for a few short months, Brumfield has already experienced encouragement for her work by supportive customers and other artists. Her business can be found on Instagram @luna.leaf.studio.
“To me, Rouge House is one of the first local artist collectives in Baton Rouge that I’ve seen,” Brumfield said. It’s really nice because Baton Rouge has a lot of artists, and there hasn’t really been a space for artists to get together and share their work and bounce ideas off of each other. So it’s really nice to have that space deep in the heart of Baton Rouge.”
In addition to promoting local artisans, Abshire started Rouge House to support sustainable shopping. The business accepts public donations of clothing and accessories, which get sorted, tagged and set out for sale.
“I focus pretty heavily on sustainable fashion and slow fashion because fast fashion is such a problem right now,” Abshire said. “I’ve always been a thrifter. It is important to me, and seeing all the waste nowadays, it continues to get to me. I just want to be able to do my own part.”
Abshire receives lots of help from friends who want to do their parts as well. Viviana Lobue, another passionate thrifter, has been on board with the concept behind Rouge House since day one. She, Abshire and other keen helpers worked from January until the summer, repainting, cleaning and preparing the shop.
“I think it’s really special that we are able to showcase what community can do because that is how we were able to pull this off, ” Lobue said. “We both have other jobs and this is still something of a passion project.”
Through Rouge House, Abshire doesn’t just build a sense of community; she also finds ways to give back. She and Lobue started a community closet with the excess clothing and home items donated to the business. The extra goods are placed in boxes outside the shop and are free to take for those who need them.
“That was also something that was very important to Sam, especially on Brightside and the area that it’s in, to give back to people there,” Lobue said. “So we put a lot of stuff in the boxes.”
Abshire has quite a few plans for the future of Rouge House, right after she replaces the old smoke shop sign, of course. She and Lobue’s next vision is offering on-site and potentially immediate alterations to thrifted garments to help eliminate future waste and encourage second-hand shopping.
“It’s sometimes as simple as you try on a pair of pants somewhere and they’re too long,” Lobue said. “And if you can just get them fixed at that moment it’s a lot easier to deal with than not having the pair of pants at all or like having to find someone to fix them and stuff.”
Abshire has big ideas for the future of her business, but what’s most important to her is continuing to allow the Baton Rouge art community to flourish.
“I’m just ready to explore this new era for me,” Abshire said. “Honestly, I’ve never been one that was worried about making money, I’m more worried about making a community and having friends and having a culture. I’m from a very very small town, so when I moved to Baton Rouge I didn’t really know anybody. Now that I’m a little bit older and I’ve been in the art scene for a while, it’s crazy to me to think that I’ve built up this community of people. It just feels really good and I want to continue to expand on that.”
When she isn’t helping customers or sorting clothes, Abshire is behind the counter working on her own art.
Right now she is working on a line of upcycled clothes, which she prints on with hand-carved lino blocks. Her clothing line features garments with slogans like “Shop local, or else.” Abshire sincerely hopes you’ll follow this advice.
