The Cherry Pit is a Vintage Lover’s Dream
Story and Photos By Shelby Rodger
With climate change worsening to unthinkable degrees every year, exacerbated by the fast fashion industry, one question plaguing Gen-Z trendsetters is whether there is a stylish and sustainable solution. The answer is yes—vintage!
Located in the lower level of The McCarthy Mercantile in downtown Syracuse, The Cherry Pit brings cute, trendy, and most importantly, sustainable fashion to shoppers in the Salt City. Founded in 2021, the collective is a collaboration between three vintage brands—Fawnd Vintage, Metamodernity, and 1PercentVintage. The shop is community-focused and recently did a giveaway on their Instagram featuring their signature Cherry Pit reusable totes designed with both sustainability and fashion in mind.
Cherry Pit co-founder Michelle Pfaff moved back to Syracuse in 2020 to continue her career in fashion after graduating from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Her brand Fawnd Vintage was founded during the pandemic when she started selling vintage clothing out of her house, but her passion for sustainable fashion developed much earlier.
“I got into fashion during high school when fast fashion started growing,” Pfaff said. “My addiction to shopping fast fashion is actually what led me down the path of studying sustainability and ethics in college and learning about the horrors of fast fashion. I started thrifting a lot.”
Pfaff met Abigail Minicozzi—owner of the brand Metamodernity and other half of The Cherry Pit—in 2020 when they both took part in weekend pop-ups at The McCarthy Mercantile. Founder of Wildflowers Armory, Michael John Heagerty wanted to open a permanent vintage shop in the mercantile and encouraged Pfaff and Minicozzi to collaborate. The two settled on the name “The Cherry Pit'' because of the shop’s location in the basement—or “pit”—of the commercial building.
To further promote community engagement and inclusivity in fashion, Pfaff and Minicozzi host clothing swaps at the shop every couple of months, where they also accept donations for Vera House in Syracuse. The next free swap is scheduled for Friday, May 20. Pfaff recommends participants bring five to ten mint condition items to contribute to the swap. Participants are allowed to leave with as many new items as they bring.
When curating pieces to sell in the shop, two things Pfaff loves are leather and silk. She also goes for vintage pieces that might not be trending at the moment, but nevertheless remain timeless.
“I definitely adapted to Syracuse style, as well,” Pfaff said. “Syracuse is a lot of t-shirts and sweater vests. We’re just discovering that everybody loves cowboy boots—and I do, too. So, we’re learning new things about the customers and what’s trending around here.”
Pfaff said the two main types of customers to come through the shop are women working full-time looking for professional attire, and their younger counterparts still dressing for college. With Pfaff being the older co-founder, she knows exactly what “downtown working women” are looking for and focuses on this. Meanwhile, Minicozzi is still a sophomore fashion design student at Syracuse University staying on top of the newest trends for college students.
“Our main goal from the beginning has been to divert people from shopping fast fashion,” Pfaff said.
The Cherry Pit is located at 217 S. Salina St. and is open Tuesday through Sunday of every week.