At ORA Industries in Gardena, vintage Levi’s jeans, Champion sweatshirts and American workwear form part of an inventory intended for another life in retail and design. Since 2012, the wholesaler has supplied premium American vintage clothing to buyers in the United States and overseas, combining garment selection and preparation with wholesale distribution and design research.
ORA’s business sits within a fast-changing clothing market. In a U.S. survey conducted by GlobalData for ThredUp’s 2026 Resale Report, 58% of Gen Z respondents said they check secondhand before buying new. The figure covers resale broadly, but it helps explain the attention surrounding vintage and the businesses that supply it.
Los Angeles has a strong claim to being a global capital of vintage fashion. Events such as A Current Affair bring together international dealers, while the region’s shops, sourcing houses and wholesalers connect older clothing with new buyers. ORA operates within that network, concentrating on the premium end of American vintage.
Experience behind the selection
ORA is led by founder David Dray, whose career spans more than 25 years in fashion. His background includes work with Von Dutch by Christian Audigier, Ed Hardy by Christian Audigier, Antik Denim and JT Racing. Those labels connect his professional experience with denim, graphic-driven fashion and American motorsport culture.
The company positions itself as a leader in premium American vintage, with an operation that serves retailers, brands and designers. Its selection covers garments intended for everyday resale, scarcer pieces for collectors and clothing that can serve as a reference for a new collection. A collector may look for an original tag or a discontinued wash, while a retailer is more likely to weigh size run, price point and how many similar pieces are already on the floor.
What premium vintage means at ORA
ORA’s denim selection includes Levi’s 501, 505, 517 and 550 styles, alongside workwear from Carhartt and Dickies. Champion Reverse Weave sweatshirts, Harley-Davidson apparel, Nike sportswear and vintage band T-shirts extend the range into sport, motorcycle and popular culture, alongside licensed NFL, NBA, MLB and NASCAR jerseys, tees and jackets.
Leather jackets from makers such as Schott and Brooks sit alongside denim jackets from Levi’s, Lee and Wrangler, military field jackets in classic M65 and M51 cuts, and branded outerwear from Nike, Patagonia and The North Face, with hats and sneakers from Nike, Adidas and Puma rounding out the assortment.
According to ORA’s description of its process, garments are hand-selected and cleaned in-house before being offered to buyers. Most garments are washed as needed, while leather jackets are cleaned as needed or upon request. That preparation is central to its definition of premium vintage. A recognizable label may attract interest, but the fabric, construction and condition of an individual piece determine how it can be worn again or used in design work.
The Gardena operation divides its selection between a warehouse floor and a curated showroom. Buyers use the floor to explore the broader inventory; the showroom holds scarcer and more collectible pieces. The arrangement accommodates both a retailer assembling a regular assortment and a buyer searching for an unusual garment.
Those needs can overlap within the same store. A familiar sweatshirt or pair of jeans may provide dependable everyday stock, while an uncommon jacket gives an assortment a point of difference. ORA’s approach places both within reach of wholesale buyers, who can assess the garments against their own customers, price ranges and retail concepts.
Supplying retailers beyond Los Angeles
ORA works with buyers in person, through remote video appointments and through orders prepared to an agreed brief. Categories, grades, quantities and budgets guide the selection for those orders. The different formats allow an overseas buyer to source from Gardena without traveling to the warehouse, while preserving the option of individual selection for buyers who want it.
Its consultation service supports department stores, independent boutiques and fashion brands developing a vintage offering. A retailer can outline a concept and the stock it needs, leaving ORA to source and curate an assortment. That work connects the company’s knowledge of available garments with the practical requirements of building a collection for sale.
A resource for designers and remakers
Through its Designers Lab, ORA also makes vintage clothing available as a design reference. Designers can examine denim washes, fabrics, pocket details, prints, construction and fit while developing collections. A physical garment allows closer study of how those elements work together, including details that photographs may not fully convey.
The company also supplies production-scale vintage orders to upcycling and remade-fashion businesses worldwide. For these customers, existing garments become material for another product. ORA’s sourcing work begins with the intended project and the types of clothing suited to it, extending the role of its inventory beyond conventional resale.
These activities connect with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s approach to circular fashion, which includes resale, repair and remaking. Their environmental value depends on keeping garments in use and reducing demand for new resources. A secondhand sale alone does not establish how much impact has been avoided.
At ORA Industries, the next use of a garment may be on a boutique’s clothing rack, in a designer’s reference collection or as material for a remade piece. Its place in Los Angeles’ vintage trade lies in supplying those different routes, supported by more than a decade of sourcing and preparing American vintage clothing.
Retailers, designers and remakers interested in ORA’s current inventory can book an appointment at ORA’s Gardena warehouse or reach the team directly at [email protected].
