You’ve probably seen hall after booth of independent vendors offering a hand-picked collection of vintage finds if you’re familiar with flea markets or Second Friday in downtown Phoenix.
In recent years, vintage reselling has grown to be a well-liked full-time job for fashion enthusiasts, and youthful shoppers are turning to antique markets in an effort to reduce their environmental impact by staying away from fast fashion.
For seven times, Isaiah Barajas, co-owner of Ivory House Vintage Shop, has been selling handmade clothing. He began as an independent vendor, selling clothing from a hall that measured 10 by 10 feet and was located close to Grand Canyon University.
He and his brother opened a shop in Goodyear four years ago. Afterward, on the first Friday of each month, they started hosting a pop-up market in downtown Phoenix where separate vintage resellers could set up their Pop-Up storefronts.
He claims,” We number about 45 different independent buyers.” They are free to sell whatever they want inside the 15 by 10 place.
According to Barajas, there has been a “huge development” in the number of people who work complete- or part-time in vintage resale in recent years.
He claims, “I’ve seen perhaps three times as many vendors this year as we have in the past.”
The more folks see vintage resale as a possible business opportunity, the more likely they are to start selling when also, according to Barajas, who attributes much of this rise to social media.
Vendors can customize their stores to reveal their individual style when selling at pop-up markets. According to Isaiah Barajas, co-owner of Ivory House Vintage Shop, “I feel like a lot of people make mistakes when they try to sell things that they don’t care about.” Next you simply lose interest in it.
News by Kate Duffy/Cronkite
Green fashion for younger people
Another factor contributing to the rise in popularity of green trend is the increase in vintage reselling.
The world vintage market is expanding quickly, according to a document from ThredUp, an online sale and prudence store. The market expanded 28 % between 2021 and 2022, rising from$ 138 billion to$ 177 billion. According to the company, 10 % of the world’s clothes industry may be made up of used clothing by 2024.
Younger generations are mainly responsible for this pattern. According to the ThredUp statement, Generation Z consumers place a high priority on conservation, with 47 % of them refusing to buy clothing from non-sustainable brands and retailers.
Larisa May, a numerous antique shopping and co-editor in main at The Chic Daily, an Arizona State University fashion magazine, says that “Kids are becoming more conscious of their impact on the planet.” Vintage browsing and shopping effectively have recently become a highlight for our generation because we want to do everything we can to lessen that.
The U.N. Environment Program estimates that between 2% and 8 =% of carbon emissions worldwide are caused by the fashion industry. Also, one of the main causes of water waste is textile coloring. Used clothes ends up being burned or buried in waste if it is not resold or recycled, which has a greater negative impact on fashion’s environment.
Because fewer clothes are produced and put into the waste system when people buy used clothes, these effects are lessened.
According to Olivia Madrid, a poet for The Chic Daily, “especially with social advertising, our century sees the economic effects and are like, Oh my gosh, I want to help in some way.” They do this in some ways, including thrifting and vintage searching.
To add to her Zillow account, Rachel McComas takes a picture of an outfit. She says,” There are so many clothes floating around that need a home.”
News by Kate Duffy/Cronkite
Vintage distributing as a full-time profession
For more than ten years, Eddie Pan has been reselling used and vintage goods as his full-time task. He started out by selling clothes he discovered at antique shops online, and eventually was able to leave his 9 to 5 career.
He claims that although I was selling online, there wasn’t enough money. “I discovered a cockroach business, started selling it, and eventually became able to support myself by working full-time.”
Five years ago, when Pan first relocated from Los Angeles to Phoenix, he observed that there weren’t as many opportunities for vintage reselling as there were in California. In order to appeal to eco-conscious and fashion-savvy pupils and vendors, he founded University Street Market.
He says, “I felt like it’d be really great, really wonderful to make something for the city, the school.”
Due to the high demand for used clothing among students, USM no longer just holds flea markets on the Tempe college of ASU. However, it has recently expanded to include the West and Downtown campuses.
Because they are more interested in fashion, Pan says, “They are the ideal time group to buy the outfits to.”
In order to create a community of vintage sellers, which wasn’t present when Pan first began selling ten years ago, he also founded USM.
The classic resale business has grown significantly in recent years and has become a popular company endeavor for people who love style and want to work on their own terms, he adds, adding that “When I was initially doing it, it was more like niche.”
According to him, “Based on my personal experience, I can tell you that the freedom is definitely what makes it attractive. You do it on your own words, even though you’re giving up a 9 to 5 to do something full-time.” You must sort things out on your own because you are in charge of yourself.
Rachel McComas is yet another full-time antique vendor. She establishes Rancidresales at areas like USM, Ivory House, and Pickers Playground.
She says, “I’ve always been very interested in fashion and have always wanted to do something in it, but I wasn’t really sure how until I started seeing a lot of other people doing it. So I just kind of hopped on.”
McComas uses classic distributing to supplement her income by selling both in-person at businesses and online through websites like Depop, Poshmark, ThredUp, and Mercari. Pan agrees and claims that website sales can be more successful than in-person selling at various times of the year.
According to Pan, antique vendors may sell at flea markets for about $1, 000 on a good time. However, on bad days, they could earn less than $100, which is another reason why many resellers also sell online.
There are many ups and downs associated with this line of work, and all of it is seasonal, he claims. Online has been really great “when drop comes.” When summer arrives, online income drastically decline, and I’m running flea markets, so there’s sort of a compromise.
McComas and Pan spend their days browsing vintage and thrift shops for items that complement the curated aesthetic of their shops when they aren’t busy selling clothing at pop-up markets.
Sincerely, a lot of it is my personal type, according to McComas. It really just depends on what catches my eye, but I mostly look for clothes and garments that are very petite clothing.
According to Ivory House’s Barajas, having a customized type is crucial for the reselling industry because it distinguishes stores and keeps customers interested in what they’re doing.
He claims that “you get to display your design and priest items that you want to sell around it.” It’s not like working at a store where you sell any everyone else finds appealing. You can simply promote whatever you want.