WHY now?
I always wanted to sell old stuff. In my 20’s, selling was a way to get some quick cash, replenishing some bucks at the Buffalo Exchange after a weekend of daiquiris. Over the years, I’d accumulate too much, or have weight fluctuations followed by fits of total reinvention, and out my clothes would go. Sometimes I’d dabble with Depop or Etsy, but it seemed so tedious and slow. Throughout all of this, I maintained a healthy routine of thrifting every day off, always on the lookout for something special. I’d daydream about having a shop, then let it go.
Secondhand clothes exploded into a bajillion dollar market. I never saw that as an inspiration, more of an over saturation. So many cool girls in my social sphere started hawking their clothes on instagram, and while I always had the underlying thought “I could do that..”, it never seemed like a viable option. I didn’t want to model clothes, or create a brand per se. I didn’t think I was fashionable enough. Plus, I had a job managing a stressful restaurant that left me with very little energy for any other endeavors.
All of this was a trap. I was tired from the job, but more tired from not doing something that I liked, I did have taste, I just had a hard time looking beyond what I’d normally worn or what I thought I ‘should’ look like, or what my brain told me people expected me to look like. I was always too afraid to express my style and so it shriveled into the back of my psyche.
5 years ago, I met Steve, a fellow thrift freak with the coolest taste in housewares. We fell in love, and would hit up thrift stores and flea markets in our spare time. We’d daydream about forming our own thing, roaming the country selling goods at flea markets and such. We’d look at elder eccentrics and see ourselves. Steve was already on the motorcycle swap circuit, and started bringing vintage housewares and tees to sell alongside the Harley stuff. I joined here and there, but still felt like it would be impossible for me to do full time.
A breaking point came, as it always does. I’d taken a vacation to Berlin to visit a dear friend and had ample time to reflect and reassess. I came back to the US with a mission - to do what I liked doing, and to be my own boss. Steve had the vision, the name, the experience, and the drive. Now, I finally had the open mind. We got a business credit card, made a site, and rented a storage unit. Fuck it, it’s on. The goal is to do as many markets and Etsy sales as we can, to keep going, too (please!) be able to open a shop. Finding pieces that light me up is the fruit, but the face to face aspect of seeing people excited to buy something I lovingly selected is the juice.
-EJ OF SO
