Button Rescue

Give your buttons a second life.

Somewhere in a drawer, a tin, or a box inherited from your grandmother, you have buttons that deserve to be used. We want to rescue them.

Buttons used to be made to last – real materials, real craftsmanship. We're here to save those buttons from the back of a drawer or, worse, a landfill, and get them into the hands of a maker who will put them to use on a handmade coat, a custom dress, a shirt sewn with intention. From your stash to theirs.

Curated Buttons accepts donations of vintage, antique, and quality buttons – horn, shell, mother-of-pearl, brass, Bakelite, glass, and more. If they're beautiful, interesting, or hard to find, they deserve a chance at a second life.

What we're looking for

  • Vintage or antique buttons with character
  • Quality materials: natural horn, shell, mother of pearl, metal, glass, Bakelite, ceramic
  • Buttons saved from old garments, estate collections, or inherited stashes
  • Minimum of 4 matching buttons per style. (We would love to take all the random singletons, but must exercise restraint!)

Not sure? Take a look at the buttons currently listed under Second-Life Buttons for the vibe. You will find a mix of buttons sent to Curated Buttons and those we've found in thrift shops, our friends' houses (shhh!), and online marketplaces.

What we can't accept

  • Basic plastic craft store buttons or white shirt buttons
  • Unsortable odds and ends with no mates
  • The single extra button from every item you've purchased from Banana Republic since 1990. (We all have a box like that.)

How it works

Show us what you've got. Submit photos by email or book a short video call to make sure we can resell what you have.

We'll let you know. If your buttons are a good fit, we'll send you our mailing address.

Ship them our way. You cover shipping, but we will give you some advice on minimizing postage. Often plain old snail mail works. For those in Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa, a meet up might also work!

Get rewarded. Once we receive your buttons, we'll send you a 20% discount code to use on your next order. Codes are valid for one year and transferable, so you can pass the thank you to a sewing friend.

Buttons are not returned once received, so please only send what you're ready to part with.

Ready to rescue some buttons?

Send some photos to cheryl@curatedbuttons.ca