Meet Holly Thomas and Krista Haywood.

Holly and Krista are the founders of Butler & Claypool, a retail and design collective in DC. Holly’s full-time gig is DC editor for Refinery29, and Krista is a government contractor. FamousDC had the chance to chat with the two about thrifting, pop-up shops and all things fashion. Here is what they had to say.

1. Can you give a brief explanation of Butler & Claypool – its’ beginning, the name, mission?

Holly Thomas: Krista and I met through our boyfriends, who are bandmates, and we started the business in November 2010 after we realized we had a shared love of thrifting, salvaging, and repurposing secondhand finds. The name comes from our individual backgrounds: Butler is my family name, and Claypool is the neighborhood where Krista grew up in Indiana. We thought it had a great old-fashioned, slightly masculine ring when we put them together. Our collective has three additional members — Rachel Cothran, Kristin Guiter, and Betsy Lowther — who each contribute a unique sense of style. Our boyfriends source a lot of menswear items for us when they’re on tour, as well.

Krista Haywood: Our mission is fairly simple: to provide a well-curated shopping experience for the consumer. To accomplish this, we get to do what we love — some call it digging, we like to call it treasure-hunting. At the end of the day, our goal is to bring a carefully selected collection of highly original and unique pieces to the community.

2. What has been the overall reaction to Butler & Claypool from local DCers?

KH:  We feel truly blessed to have been received so warmly by the local community.  Everyone — from local artists to bloggers to other vintage shop-owners — has been so supportive and welcoming.  It really feels like we are filling a gap that vintage shoppers are excited about, and that’s what inspires us to keep doing what we’re doing.

HT: It makes us really happy that people enjoy the atmosphere of our pop-ups — so much so that they want to sit and have a drink, flip through a coffee table book, and chat, which is exactly the kind of environment we want to create. Media outlets and bloggers have been real champions for our brand, too, and the reaction has been 100% positive.

3. You have a store on Capitol Hill – what can shoppers find there?

HT: Our showroom on Capitol Hill is available for by-appointment shopping seven days a week, and we try to have one weekend day per month where it’s open for drop-ins. You’ll find our full collection of in-season merchandise, plus our line of handmade jewelry.

4. Any pop-up shops coming up?

HT: We’re planning a special menswear pop-up with Hugh & Crye for early December, and we’ll have another mini pop-up that will focus on cocktail party outfits just before Christmas.

5. The First Lady wants to go shopping, where do you go?

HT: After our showroom, where we’d outfit her in classic cocktail dresses, we’d head to Hu’s Wear, Muleh, and Relish.