BY ALAN GORSUCH for WEEKLY VOLCANO | 10/2/2026
Tacoma’s Antique Row on Broadway is one of our most walkable shopping districts. Among the antique shops there are several other small shops with both new and used items. This week we are introducing you to the proud and hilarious owner of Dion’s Haberdashery, Dion Teague.
Weekly Volcano: OK, name, backstory. How did you get started in the vintage fashion industry here at Dion’s Haberdashery?
Dion Teague: My name is Dion Teague, and I wasn’t always unemployed. I mean self-employed. I once was a contributing member of the greater American workforce. Boy, am I glad that’s over.
I worked for years as a clinical psychologist, 18 of them. That was draining enough, but my new job back in ’85 or so, indirectly, is what got me to where I am today. I’ll elaborate.
Originally from L.A., with a new job in Tacoma as a caseworker for a labor rehabilitation firm, I was sent into the hills of the Morton/Randle/Packwood forest industry to help rehab injured loggers, some of whom were not looking to be rehabbed.
There I was, suit, tie, shiny shoes, climbing out of my car in the soggy hills of Mount Rainier, up to the mud-caked porch of a double-wide or field office full of loggers wearing timber garb: flannels, boots, canvas, Carhartts, overalls, oilcloth, heavy-duty Northwest-appropriate gear, sturdy all-weather stuff.
Each time they were done laughing, and while the theme from Deliverance played in my head as I ran back to my car, I always left the keys in the ignition. I told myself I had to find more suitable attire.
Thus began my affinity for Pendleton, Filson, Eddie Bauer, Hudson Bay, and any and all rugged gear that would fit Northwest life, including any American-made denim: Levi’s, Wranglers, Lee’s, Big Mac, and Handy Andy.
One of my latest interests has evolved into accumulating all of the old letterman sweaters from local knitting mills like Seattle Knitting, Jantzen from Portland, Skookum Knitting Mills out of Centralia, and Centralia Knitting Mills. But right here in Tacoma, right across the street from my old shop at 746 Broadway, we had Quality Knitting Mills, which made most of the letterman sweaters.
Of course, my proclivity for vintage fashion, obsession, as my wife Lynette calls it, didn’t end there, as you can see: hats, shoes, luggage, men’s leatherwear. I’ve always specialized in coats and heavy jackets, probably because of my earlier fashion-shaming episodes within the timber industry.
WV: Do you sleep in long johns now?
DT: No, I haven’t gone that far over the edge.
WV: Tell us about your cowboy outfit.
DT: Oh, that. I’m trying to forget. I had this entire 1950s kid’s cowboy getup. Just for fun, I put it on and was outside my store when I saw a thief steal a whole armload of clothing off Kersten’s racks over at Stories, her shop.
So I started hollering and chasing him down the street. So there I was, little holsters and chaps flapping, pistols gleaming, hanging on to my too-small cowboy hat, clattering down Broadway, yelling my head off.
After about two blocks, I realized I looked like an idiot, so I stopped and walked back.
WV: I hope none of those loggers saw you.
DT: Stop it! I told you I’m trying to forget . . .
WV: Do you sell any vintage women’s fashion?
DT: Just enough to lure them in, as a couple, you understand.
WV: Smart marketing. This is your newest location?
DT: Yes. Two years. Each one bigger than the last, beginning in 2018 inside Sanford & Son Antiques. But it all started because I needed a different wardrobe. I fell in love with this stuff. It’s hard to find because 99 percent of thrift stores, clothing-oriented, are geared toward the ladies, back then especially. There’s more for guys now, especially here.
WV: Are you a hoarder?
DT: That question’s a little below the belt, don’t you think? Well, maybe. Just a little bit. [Grinning.]
“Yes! He’s a hoarder!” comes from somewhere in the rear of his quite large store, presumably from his wife, Lynette.
WV: Have you ever found money in the pockets?
DT: Yeah, all the time. That’s what she’s doing now.
“Woo-hoo!” comes from somewhere behind us.
WV: You have any dirty magazines?
DT: None you haven’t seen, Alan.
Dion’s Haberdashery, 745 Broadway, Tacoma, WA. Instagram: @d.haberdashery
