Meet Felipe Jacob, a senior at Leeds School of Business and owner of HammyDownVtg, a vintage and streetwear shop. Coming from Brazil and Miami, Felipe didn’t grow up around snow and his desire for something new and love for snowboarding, Felipe decided to attend the University of Colorado. His degree focuses on Marketing Research and Analytics and he is stepping more into data research.
New to me, old to you
A Miami native, Felipe was always interested in fashion,but it was during his freshman year that he heard about thrifting for the first time. Thrifting, also known as buying used clothing, has grown in popularity in recent years.
In 2016, Felipe started posting and selling clothing he thrifted on Instagram. Not long after, he began jumping around on different apps such as OfferUp and LetGo, but trying to stay on top of all of the apps was overwhelming. He wishes he could have done something differently to make it a bit more organized, but he learned a lot.
“The most difficult part of my business is maintaining an inventory. The thrifting process is extremely time-consuming and unpredictable.”
He now specializes in selling through Depop and Etsy and sees the benefit of fewer channels of distribution. He posts items based on his knowledge of the apps, such as fees and other capabilities. From there, he can better decide where to position his items in order to ensure his profit margins are not being jeopardized.
Thrifting through inner America
Last summer, starting in Colorado and working his way towards Miami, Felipe and a friend visited over 100 different thrift stores. He wishes he could have found a lot more, but “of course the experience is everything that matters.”
Felipe once found a “Tupac Shakur” 90s tour shirt from the 1990s. He purchased this authentic vintage shirt for only $3 and turned around and sold it for $300.
At the beginning of his journey, thrifting was grabbing whatever looked cool. But as time progressed, he started to learn that there are certain things that make a shirt vintage. He called the tags, “the beauty of vintage clothing” and talked about how tags and stitching are unique to specific time periods. As technology and clothing production have changed throughout the years, discrepancies appeared. It is interesting to see how things most people don’t think about are so critical to the vintage culture. It is not just about the clothing itself, it's also about the history behind it.
Shifting focus
891 pieces, 2 Thriftcons, and 2 flea markets later, Felipe noticed thrift stores have caught on to the tactics of thrifters. He’s finding stores are increasing the prices of their clothing which cuts into his profit margin. He loves the uniqueness and niche of this market, but thrifting business is unpredictable. While still thrifting, Felipe is now focusing on designing his own clothing and modeling vintage pieces through Instagram.
Find Felipe on Instagram @patek_felipe or follow @hammydownvtg Instagram, Etsy and Depop: @hammydownvtg
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