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House of Dow, a local vintage resale shop, has been a safe space for the transgender community, even before owner Alan Dow came out as transgender himself.
Selling pieces from the 1920s to current LGBTQ+ merchandise, the small business has clothing for everyone, but also serves as a haven for everyone.
“House of Dow is a vintage resale shop that I started a little over 10 years ago with help from some friends. I was always buying and selling vintage clothes and decor and jewelry, so I wanted to have a central place for all of it. Over the years, it’s expanded into also being a place where not only can you find interesting and fun things, but we also have a lot of community-focused things that we do here too,” Dow said. “We do a lot of stuff for the trans community because I am transgender. But we also do a lot of stuff with the queer community. We do things for mental health; we do immigrant outreach; we do fundraisers; we do art shows and movie nights. So, for us, it’s become a lot more than just a clothing store. For us, it’s become a community space.”
When Dow first opened the store towards the end of 2016, he had not yet undergone his transition. It was finding clothes for all bodies that first had him questioning his gender.
“Before I realized that I was trans, I was helping people find clothes that they felt good in. An area we really excelled in was helping trans people who were still trying to figure out what their style was or what they looked good in. It was incredibly fulfilling and I was always trying to use trans models when we did fashion shows,” Dow said.
Before Dow realized he was transgender, he still held events for the trans community. He held fashion shows, trans clothing swaps and donation drives for binders, bras and makeup. It was the connections he made in the community to whom he reached out to first when he realized he was trans.
“The first people I reached out to were the trans guys who had been the organizers of the trans clothing swaps with me,” Dow said. “I was trying to express to them that I had that deep existential crisis of realizing I’m a trans man, because I was like, who else can I talk to about things? It’s not such a big deal to so many people, but it is such a big deal to yourself.”
It was after meeting these people and learning the difference between gender, sex and sexuality that Dow realized that, to be “happier,” he had to go through his own gender transformation.
“I wish I had known about other trans people like me before, because until then, I hadn’t examined how gender and sex were really different. Trans is always lumped in with the gay community, but it’s also different and people can be trans without being gay or be trans and be straight or be trans and be lesbian. There are all different kinds of ways to present and being trans has nothing to do with who you love,” Dow said. “With other people around me who were openly trans, I started to see it wasn’t based on their sexuality and I realized it’s just about being happier in another way. As somebody who constantly said, ‘I hate being a woman,’ I wish somebody had told me earlier that you don’t have to be.”
Of course, even surrounded by an accepting community, coming out and transitioning was still scary to Dow. Even today, he wishes others were more accepting and vocal about the LGBTQ+ community as he is.
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“It’s really scary because you’re like, ‘What if I’m wrong?’ And then I might be doing something to harm the community,” Dow said. “When people try to erase us or complain about pride, that’s when the importance of visibility comes into play. You would not believe how many times I have done TV and news interviews and begged them to mention that I am transgender and they omit it every time.”
Although faced with scrutiny, Dow has still kept House of Dow as a haven for all. After coming out as transgender, people of all ages have come in to feel just a little more welcome in the community.
“We had parents driving their kids here from out of town, being like, ‘I wanted to bring my kid here;’ ‘I wanted to find a safe space;’ ‘They’re trans;’ ‘they’re non-binary.’ Lots of shy kids were awkwardly being introduced to us behind the counter and it was phenomenal,” Dow said.
While being excluded from groups due to transitioning, Dow realized he had a whole new group of supporters in the queer community.
“I parted ways with certain groups that made it clear they weren’t interested in lifting up trans people to the same level as everybody else. And that’s hard, but I’ve also found there are so many other beautiful, vibrant people. It’s people who want to dress up and express themselves, as well as people who want to do shows and play music. It’s people who want to get together and go out for a sense of community,” Dow said. “So as much as it sucks when you get excluded from certain communities and it feels like your world gets smaller, as you come out, whole new worlds open up that you might not have ever been exposed to before.”
After his transition, Dow still makes supporting the LGBTQ+ community one of his main goals. As Toledo celebrates Pride Aug. 14 – 16, you can support this transgender-owned business by buying Pride merchandise made by queer artists.
“90% of our queer pride stuff… is from companies with products you can’t get on Amazon. So all of our queer pride stuff is unique. Portion of the profits all go back to small businesses. We use queer local artists from Ohio whenever we can, and we have started to carry from trans owned clothing and accessory lines,” Dow said. “For us, it’s not just about having pride gear, but it’s also about having pride gear that supports other queer people and doesn’t send money to organizations that work against us.”
House of Dow is located at 1501 Adams St., right on the Toledo Pride’s parade route. A full list of hours can be found at houseofdow.com.
