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The Art of Picking with Ken Pickart
121 Plays3 years ago
This week, we chat about becoming your own boss, developing a love of clothing, and the 2010s heyday of #menswear.
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Transcript
Introduction to Apocalypse Duds and Ken Pickart
00:00:00
Speaker
Hi, I'm Connor Valor. And I'm Matt Smith. And you are listening to Apocalypse Duds here today.
00:00:11
Speaker
We are joined by the secondhand sniper, the persnickety picker, the emperor of eBay, the big dog bidder, the secondhand chic, the menswear mercenary, the god of grail, the righteous lord of Ralph Lauren, the engineer of garments, the entrepreneur with the thrift store score. Here's Ken Pickart. Ken, how are you doing today?
00:00:36
Speaker
I'm doing great. I think that's my new Instagram bio right there. That's amazing. Dude, yes, it's yours. It is yours. Take it. Yeah, we this has become one of the things that we love to do in the like, kind of run up to the show is to just figure out this like, ridiculous shit that we can say about every person.
00:00:56
Speaker
Yeah, I really enjoy the engineer of garments. It's amazing. I got to take credit for that one. Yeah, that was mad. Hell yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome.
Ken's Early Life and Family Influences
00:01:08
Speaker
So Ken, where did you grow up and where do you live now? I grew up in Rhode Island, and I currently live in Vermont. OK. Yeah, what part of Rhode Island, or what place in Rhode Island, I guess I should say, because it's tiny. Yeah.
00:01:25
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Well, I, you know, I always say like, you know, if you're explaining where you live in Rhode Island to someone who has never been to the state, you, you either live at the beach or you live 20 minutes from Providence and I fall into the 20 minutes from Providence camp. So it's, it's all kind of, you know, all right. Yeah, totally. Totally. So I spent some time in Providence. It's a cool, cool little town. All right. Yeah.
00:01:53
Speaker
Yeah, no, I really like Providence. I actually did grow up like from age five to about 12. I lived in Providence proper and then we moved to the suburbs, although I kind of just consider all of Rhode Island a suburb when I turned 12 or somewhere around there. So yeah, to be more specific, I live right on the Massachusetts border, which
00:02:18
Speaker
is a lot of Rhode Island as well, but, you know, it gives you a sense of, you know, a lot of our, like, my mom is a teacher in Massachusetts. My dad works in Massachusetts, even though we lived in Rhode Island, so. So it is geographically very tight. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And then, you know,
00:02:40
Speaker
when I graduated high school, I went to college in Boston. And, you know, at the time being in the small state that only takes an hour to drive, like going to Boston felt like this really a far away place. But now that I've moved even farther away from home, I realized that, you know, it's only an hour drive from Boston to where my parents live. And that's actually very close to each other. So that's the beauty of New England in general. Yeah, exactly.
00:03:08
Speaker
you know, outside of outside of maybe Maine, I guess, which is kind of big, but like compared to southern states, not really. Yeah, well, and the other part with Maine, too, is that, you know, it's only the southern half that's really populated. And most people actually don't live in the majority of Maine. So how did you dress while you were growing up? And how did your parents dress? Did that have some influence on you?
00:03:34
Speaker
Yeah, I definitely think that my parents had an influence on me in that way.
00:03:40
Speaker
Growing up, I don't necessarily remember my younger years. I really only start to think about how I dressed in my teens. But to give you some context, I went to a Catholic private school and we had a dress code and this was from first grade to senior year. Oxford shirt, khakis, optional sweater if you're feeling cold. As I got into high school, I think it was a polo shirt.
00:04:08
Speaker
You know, all of these things are embroidered with the school's logo. So my day to day was wearing that and of course you know summers or time off I kind of had some casual clothing, but it wasn't something I really thought about at all.
00:04:24
Speaker
in regards to like how my parents dressed. My dad is a big outdoorsman, you know, grew up, he was a rock climber, mountain climber, and then kind of got into environmental science. And so he's kind of always had this, you know, outdoorsman clothes, REI, that type of thing. And he would, you know, occasionally have to wear a, you know, a sport coat and tie to go to work, but that was kind of the odd meeting. And then my mom
00:04:53
Speaker
She's a knitter, so she makes her own sweaters. And I think that definitely influences her style. I do know in like the 80s, she was really into kind of the Ralph Lauren preppy thing. And kind of as I was growing up, she kind of, you know, started to introduce more of a bohemian kind of hippie vibe. And I think, yeah, that kind of combo of like preppy and hippie, I think actually describes my mom. My mom's like, whole personality pretty well, you know, so.
00:05:23
Speaker
That's kind of awesome in like a in ways like a very New England type of Environment that you were in but also exactly you know Also, there's there's a little bit of the counterculture there and the like crunchiness of yeah Yeah, I guess most people wouldn't necessarily think about in New England Yeah, no, there's definitely like my grandmother was a big deadhead and oh
00:05:51
Speaker
And my mom would go to shows with her at one point. And yeah, like there's definitely kind of like a, you know, a bit of a hippie culture that kind of comes with living in New England. That's kind of maybe lesser known or kind of the intersection of that with kind of like yuppie culture and kind of a really interesting Venn diagram there. So. Right. Yeah, totally. Totally. And wait, Ken, just out of curiosity, how old are you? I am, that's a good question. No, I'm 30.
00:06:21
Speaker
You're 30, 31 now? Yep, 31. Okay, all right. So yeah, that like, I guess your mom probably would have been going to like, some of the, you know, 70s, 80s dead shows. Yeah, she was I think like they were kind of when my mom would go with my grandmother to dead shows, I want to say it was in the like late 80s was kind of when they would go to a lot of Jerry Garcia band shows too when the dead wasn't playing so
00:06:50
Speaker
Yeah, it's pretty sweet. I've actually kind of like gone through, you sat down with my grandmother and kind of been like, what shows were you at? And had to show her how like, there's recordings of every show online, and I would play her some of the shows that she went to. Oh, dude, that's amazing. Or are you into like, the dead? Oh, yeah. Yeah. You know, it's something growing up, my mom had kind of fallen out from that scene and just like, didn't listen to it at all when I was growing up. And it was only maybe four or five years ago.
00:07:17
Speaker
that I started listening to the dead and really fell in with them and then I had to start talking to my mom and my grandmother about their stories and you know kind of hearing their experience with the band, which was really cool.
School Uniforms and Style Evolution
00:07:28
Speaker
Oh, hell yeah. I do have a follow-up question to the uniform Catholic school thing. Yeah, absolutely. What shoes did you wear?
00:07:40
Speaker
That's actually kind of an interesting question because the rules were always kind of changing around like what shoes you were supposed to wear. I distinctly remember for maybe the first grade to about third or fourth grade, we were supposed to wear dress shoes. And my mom took this as buy me a pair of Doc Martens.
00:08:05
Speaker
because you know I think she was like you know you're a kid you need something that can get beat up you know why are they putting you in dress shoes when you're a child so I wore I think I had a pair of black Doc Martens like the classic Oxford um that I wore um and then I do remember there being a point which was really exciting is that they allowed us to wear sneakers but they had to be all black or all brown and you weren't allowed to have any like colored branding on them so that was very key now I remember being really excited because I was
00:08:35
Speaker
you know just starting to get into skateboarding around when I was eight or nine and I remember being really excited that I got an all-back black pair of ES skate shoes which were I don't remember who skated for them at the time but it was somebody that I idolized and it was really cool to be able to wear my skate shoes to school and then going through high school I think it was kind of a similar rule where it was you know you could wear sneakers but they had to basically not be particularly gaudy although I definitely remember kind of in my
00:09:05
Speaker
later years at the school, we would really not pay attention to that. And that was kind of when, you know, the really loud, you know, Nike dunks and that kind of thing were coming into popularity. And I did, we definitely wore some loud sneakers and, you know, we'd kind of be told like, Hey, take those off. Stick them in our lockers for the day. And yeah, it's like you got to back up here in the locker that are just exactly choose. Yeah. Oh, that's so funny.
00:09:33
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So it was, you know, definitely interesting. Like, you know, and I think, you know, thinking back in high school, like a lot of like how I dressed outside of school was more or less just kind of aligning myself with like my music tastes and my skateboarding, you know, so it was like, you know, you'd wear a skate tee and skinny jeans or a band tee, you know, kind of like black or red or black jeans with you had a colored shirt on that kind of thing. Cause I definitely kind of fell into that kind of like alternative rock, like,
00:10:01
Speaker
emo, quote unquote, wave that kind of happened in the mid 2000s. So okay. Yeah, we talk a lot on the show about the, like, the correlation between being in some sort of subculture, be it music or skateboarding or whatever. And then also being into clothing, because I think they're beer related.
00:10:24
Speaker
Oh, yeah, yeah, no, I definitely think so.
College Years and Thrift Shopping
00:10:27
Speaker
Because I think like, you know, people who aren't necessarily tied to a subculture, like, I mean, I guess I can't speak for those people necessarily. But, you know, my high school was like, you know, outside of, you know, we'd have dress down days or, you know, after school dances, that type of thing. And, you know, a lot of my classmates would wear, you know, Abercrombie and, you know, Birkenstock Boston's and they kind of had this uniform, you know, polo shirts, rugby shirts were really big. And like, I never
00:10:53
Speaker
identified with that so I feel like you know having to think about like okay I you know I want to be different so how do I if that means I'm different of course you know looking back I think I dressed like a lot of my friends and a lot of people at that time who kind of were into these types of bands or you know kind of identified with skateboarding and that kind of thing totally so is there a point that you've realized that you are more interested in clothing than your peers
00:11:25
Speaker
Um, you know, I, it, uh, it took a, took a while. I would say, you know,
00:11:32
Speaker
I definitely like starting to get ready for college. I started thinking more about, you know, okay, I'm not just going to wear band tees all the time. And, you know, I don't, you know, I don't have a uniform to wear every day. So I, you know, that was kind of when I started getting into thrift shopping. Although, you know, I can't say I knew particularly what I was doing back then, but I would, you know, buy flannel shirts. I remember there was a leather like rider jacket that I had. Actually, I think it was like a cafe racer.
00:11:58
Speaker
That I had that I wore and that was kind of like my freshman year of college like I really bought a lot of things from thrift stores and I also right before I started college. I had a summer job working at a Levi's outlet.
00:12:12
Speaker
And I think that kind of also started planting the seeds of being into clothes. I bought a pair of, well, they give you a pair of jeans when you start to work there. So you have a pair of jeans to work to your job. So like 501 shrink to fits or? I did. Well, so yeah, that's what I was going to say is that I got a pair of 501 shrink to fix. You were allowed to pick out anything. And for some reason- Okay, gotcha. I didn't know if there was like a- Really drawn to that.
00:12:37
Speaker
Yeah, like, I was, I was some, for some reason imagining just like a massive table with a bunch of sizes of 501. Yes, this is the employee uniform. Yeah, right, right, right. This and a flannel shirt and some work boots, man, you're good to go.
00:12:53
Speaker
That would have been, our store would have been a lot cooler if that was the case. You know, we were in like an outlet mall that was, you know, very much like our customer base was like foreign. We would kind of get like, you know, people who are on visiting United States like would get on a bus and get dropped off at our outlets and then come shop. So, and when we, yeah, when we start there, they would be like, you know, it'd basically just be like pick out a pair of jeans in your size and you get, you know, you get comped to them.
00:13:22
Speaker
But for some reason, I decided to go 501 shrink to fits. I don't know how I knew about that. But I just thought it was really cool. And yeah, that was kind of my first foray into like, you know, work wear and denim and that kind of thing. All right. Where was this was in a random mass. So if you've been to Providence, like that's kind of the closest like outlet mall.
00:13:52
Speaker
So we were wondering then, as your sort of burgeoning interest in clothing grew, how the message boards in time sharpened your interest
00:14:17
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I think that's, that's really like how I got into all of this. Uh, you know, I had a Tumblr, uh, and I was, I don't, I honestly don't know how I started following menswear blogs. I, you know, I, one of the early ones I remember looking at was put this on and kind of being intrigued by it. I, I'm sure it had, I, you know, I remember kind of having a Tumblr.
00:14:40
Speaker
Right around when I graduated high school. So, you know, I definitely think there was, you know, trying to figure out how I should dress now that I'm going to college and I don't wear my uniform anymore. I think that added a play in it. And maybe that's how I came across this stuff. But that's really how I got into it was just reading blogs and kind of being into Tumblr.
00:14:59
Speaker
you know, I eventually made a Style Forum account because I had some questions to ask people. Now, I don't remember what those were, but you know, whatever, you know, how to size something or something like that. I think that's how everybody had signed up for Style Forum at some point in their past. Oh, totally. Totally. So, and then, you know. Also, just shout out Time Board and Style Forum because you guys
Influence of Fashion Blogs and Online Communities
00:15:22
Speaker
formed the basis for Avat.
00:15:24
Speaker
like we wouldn't be doing this fucking show if there was an upward stop forum. Exactly, no I mean it was I definitely like I started getting into menswear right when there was you know like a quote unquote menswear boom and it was you know really interesting and you know at the time I think I was
00:15:39
Speaker
you know, reading a lot about like Ivy style and that kind of like classic thing. And then, you know, simultaneously, like, you know, in Boston, we had the Ralph Lauren rugby store and it was kind of like spitting back out Ivy style for younger people. And I was eating that up. I mean, I, any spare Christmas money, whatever money I had, I would spend at, you know, the rugby sale and get as many pairs of chinos as I can, which is, you know, really funny thinking about it. He went to arts school spending his money there.
00:16:08
Speaker
The University Chino, I love that. Yeah, I had at least three or four pairs. And yeah, it's just funny because, you know, I also like leaving out part of the stories that I went to art school and I studied printmaking. So it was kind of funny that I was getting into these kind of like classic, like preppy styles while I'm going to the school where, you know, people are dressed however the hell they want. You know, a lot of people kind of dressed like, you know, associated with subcultures, be that like punk or, you know, that type of thing. And then I kind of took that, like,
00:16:38
Speaker
Oh, to go against the grain here, I'm going to dress preppy, you know, and wear it. And, you know, and I do, there is a precedent for that. You know, I think like David Hockney is someone who, you know, dress kind of has this like classical sense of dress, but is an artist. And I find that really fascinating. So. Yeah. I mean, guys like him and like Warhol and, you know, like the, the people that are, that have been, I don't know, iconic.
00:17:07
Speaker
darlings and for anyone that's like into clothing like they all had their own thing going on and they were like oh like I love Brooks Brothers I love you know a prep kind of like trad vibe and so yeah you know they kind of turn it on
00:17:25
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And they're definitely kind of people that you associate with, you know, having a uniform. There's also like, was it Bill Cunningham, who was the kind of, yeah, street photographer who always wore the, you know, French, French blue short coat. And that kind of thing really appealed to me as, you know, kind of having this like,
00:17:41
Speaker
I'm a creative person but like I wear you know a kind of wear clothes that follow rules but then you know I don't follow rules in my creative process that kind of thing. I think it really resonated with me in college and I also started working like you know part-time and then eventually came full-time as like a desk job in an office being an administrative assistant and it was also convenient that my clothing tastes were business appropriate.
Building a Business with Style Bidder
00:18:06
Speaker
So right right yeah I feel like
00:18:09
Speaker
you know, you were going through this in college while I was like in New York, kind of in the menswear industry at this point. And like, we both had very, very similar ideas about shit. Like, I definitely got a French word jacket because one, I thought they looked cool as fuck. Two, I saw Bill Cunningham. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Like, Oh, this, this is actually something that like people are into. And yeah, it is rad.
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah, no, absolutely. So where did the style bidder idea come from? Yeah, I mean, you know, honestly, like, it kind of predates, like my selling used clothes online kind of predates a style bidder that kind of came a little bit.
00:18:58
Speaker
further along down the line but you know as I said I was a college student who was getting into clothes and you know that I'd spend my money on sale clothes and then I started you know I knew about thrift shopping you know just from high school and you know kind of looking for something to do and then kind of started going to all these thrift stores in Boston and being really blown away by the
00:19:20
Speaker
you know, it's kind of classic menswear stuff that ended up in Boston, you know, at that time, you know, I would be reading online about Brooks Brothers, you know, sack cut sport coat, and then I go to the thrift store and I'd find one and I go, wow, this is amazing. And, you know, especially with Boston kind of having that classic like trad, you know,
00:19:39
Speaker
population. So yeah, I think like the first time I bought something specifically to sell though I found maybe five or six Hermes dress shirts and you know I didn't know if they were real or not. I didn't know if they were
00:19:56
Speaker
they definitely didn't fit me but I said hey these are five dollars each like I feel like I should take them home and you know post them on style forum and see what people think and that was the first time I sold something I think I actually posted it to like the style forum thrift thread like is this a thing you know because that's kind of a trope a trope in the style forum thrift thread and I think I actually had someone DM me and say yes I would like to buy those from you and I said holy cow like I could be buying stuff and selling it and uh
00:20:23
Speaker
You know, it was always kind of a part time thing that I was doing, you know, kind of outside of school when it happened free time I'd pop into, you know, a thrift store and pull out some stuff for me some stuff to sell and, you know, put it on eBay when I had the time and
00:20:38
Speaker
It wasn't really until I graduated college that I really kind of came up with the idea of it being called style bidder, the idea of having like branding and a website and kind of, you know, this could be something more professional than just like me doing something in my free time. So I have a few extra bucks to buy some more stuff from the thrift store, basically. Yeah.
00:20:59
Speaker
So go ahead. No, no, no, you're the guest. Oh, yeah. I mean, I was just going to say, is that like, you know, specifically like picking out the name, like style bidder kind of happened as my partner, you know, my now fiance, then girlfriend, like she was working for a marketing software company. And like, one of the things that they have you do as part of your orientation is, you know, the software hosts your website and they have you create your own website with their
00:21:26
Speaker
product and build your website on it. And, you know, my partner was like, oh, you know, do you think that, you know, you would want to do your eBay thing on this? Because it's, you know, I'm basically getting free access to, you know, a product that costs
00:21:42
Speaker
people money. And I said, yeah, why not? And, you know, I kind of tossed around a few ideas. And at the time, like I was running auctions on eBay, so style, bidder, and, you know, just kind of threw it together. Of course, now I kind of look back and I don't do any auctions anymore. So it's kind of funny that, you know, something related to auctions is my name, but I just kind of stuck with it. So you've got to adapt. Yeah, exactly. Like you do this long enough. There's there's changes that you have to make because
00:22:12
Speaker
Oh, this works better for me. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No big time. I mean, there's a lot that I've changed, you know, even from, yeah, when I first started, uh, you know, to now, of course, you know, I mean, it's been 10 years. So, you know, a lot of things are going to change, but yeah, definitely like the way I run my business, I've learned so much about it as I've gone on, of course. So.
00:22:37
Speaker
Was there a moment that you that you've realized that you could do it full time like I know that it was kind of a transition, right. Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, I, I
00:22:49
Speaker
had always wanted to do it full time. I mean, I'm just the type of person and, you know, I think, Matt, we've related on this is that I just don't like having a boss. Totally. I have, you know, I've worked, there's been a couple of good jobs that I've had with good bosses, but that is few and far between. So, you know, I, I really, you know, always kind of wanted to do it full time, but, you know, didn't really
00:23:13
Speaker
know how to do it or know that I could support myself, you know, make enough to do it because I mean, I was, you know, maybe at the time, before I started doing it full time, maybe spending, you know, five, six hours a week on it. So, you know, the amount of return that I got from that was nowhere near what I needed to pay my bills. Right. But like, what it took for me to actually
00:23:34
Speaker
do it and take the plunge of doing it full time was really moving somewhere rural where my cost of living went way down, my fiance having a really stable income and kind of her encouraging me to be like, let's try to do this. So yeah, I owe a lot of my success to her without a doubt, so. Fuck yeah.
00:23:56
Speaker
Yeah, there's like a moment when you're, you know, you've kind of been doing this for a while, part-time as a hobby or like a way to just, you know, enjoy something. Like I love thrifting personally. And you and I have talked about this before, you know, the things that we get out of it, like even if I don't find shit, it's still like an enjoyable time, but then- Absolutely.
00:24:25
Speaker
Everyone, I feel like reaches that moment where it's like, okay, I can do this with the little effort that I put in. Or I can do this with all of the effort that I have and make it actually something. It's like, it's rad that, uh, that your fiance supported that kind of like thought. Yeah. Yeah.
00:24:46
Speaker
No, I mean, and to be honest, too, like, you know, as crazy as as this is, like the pandemic really gave me this experience in a really backwards way. Right. Yeah, dude, save. So, you know, it was kind of like being out of work. And then, you know, on top of that, like we also like.
00:25:02
Speaker
go before the pandemic, me and my fiance had actually moved to Ottawa, Ontario as part of her, you know, she had a job offer that she really wanted and, you know, they relocated us there and then six months later the pandemic hit and we were basically kind of stranded in this foreign country and we had some friends but, you know, didn't really get to see people or go see our families and thankfully like her company ended up going remote only and they said, you know, you can live wherever you want and
00:25:30
Speaker
we'd always kind of, you see, when we lived in Boston, we'd spend our time in Vermont and like on weekends and that type of thing. And we said, well, you know, here's our chance. And, you know, we kind of found a place online or rental and said, let's give this a shot. And didn't really know much about the town we moved in to or anything like that. And kind of just pulled up and ended up working. And when, yeah, when we moved back to the States, I said, well, you know, I had been out of work because of the pandemic for a little while then.
00:25:59
Speaker
you know, it was kind of like, okay, I'm back and I can kind of get hands on, on this again. And, uh, let me just see if I can, you know, make this work full time and just see what happens and, you know, give it a few months and see how it's doing. And, you know, you really get what you put into it. And, uh, I'm sure you can relate to that, Matt. And it was just, you know, wow, like I can sell so much more if I'm spending so much more time with it. And, uh, yeah, definitely like,
00:26:27
Speaker
saw the results, although it definitely takes its time for sure. But it helped that I had that base of doing it part-time for basically eight years. That definitely helped with the transition in the full-time. Yeah, it's one of those things where it prepares you in certain ways, but in other ways, I don't know. There are various elements to it that you end up just being like,
00:26:56
Speaker
You know, like, you know, we wanted to ask, like, has selling full time going from more of a hobby to like a way to make living as much as I hate that term?
Passion and Challenges of Full-Time Selling
00:27:10
Speaker
Has that affected your passion for clothing at all?
00:27:13
Speaker
You know, in some, I don't think it's affected my passion for clothing. I still love clothing and getting to be around more of it is great. There's definitely like, I can look back to when I did this part time and kind of point to it being more of a fun, like, woohoo, I made a sale. I get to go, you know, take my girlfriend out for dinner tonight. And now it's kind of more like, okay, I made a sale and I need to make
00:27:35
Speaker
to have more today to meet the type of sales that I want to see. Some of the fun of it being a hobby was taken out doing it full time, but in terms of being passionate about clothing, I think it's only strengthened it just being around it more, getting more into niche things has really helped up to my interest in it for sure. Yeah, that's a great answer, actually.
00:28:05
Speaker
It's nice to hear someone that isn't jaded or cynical about shit. Yeah, I have my moments. Don't get me. Oh, totally. As we all do. Yeah, I get it. The love and the passion really shine through and come down to something, even if you're annoyed sometimes.
00:28:24
Speaker
It was a little bit of a loaded question, right? I mean, like we knew you weren't going to say like, yeah, fuck them. I don't like clothes at all anymore. I mean, that's also the fashion industry in a lot of ways. Yeah, absolutely. Like anyone that works in clothing or like music or any other thing that I feel like can be a hobby, once you start doing that for your actual job to be able to eat,
00:28:54
Speaker
I've seen it kill people's passion for shit. Oh, absolutely. And I mean, I'm not like, it didn't completely kill my passion, but like I have a similar experience where like before the pandemic, I was working in the craft beer industry. And, you know, it was something that I had been really interested in for a while. And, you know, I enjoyed it. It met great people, but like my interest in it definitely
00:29:14
Speaker
waned from working in the industry and you know kind of seeing all sides of it you realize it's not as you know glamorous as it seems when you go to a tap room and you talk to the bartender you know so right like man i just want something to drink like i don't you know i don't i don't want to have to sell you on my beer all the time yeah yeah or just like you know have to work until you know 1am cleaning up after a party and then get up the next day and
00:29:42
Speaker
get up early to help on the packaging line and all of that type of thing. It's, you know, it's, it's hard work. And, you know, it goes the same with what I do now where it's like, it's hard work. And like, you have to be invested in the overall thing, you know, really invested if it's okay to make the hard work feel okay. You know, if that makes sense. So, you know, your heart really needs to be in it. And yeah, you know, I definitely selling clothing. I mean, anybody can do it. There's a, you know,
00:30:10
Speaker
plenty of YouTubers out there now who are trying to sell you the, you know, you can make X amount of money from home in your free time and, you know, you can, but you have to be really passionate about it to stick with it and really know how to adapt to the changing market, so. For sure. So I guess that maybe answers this question, but what do you think is the hardest part about selling clothes?
00:30:40
Speaker
Yeah, I definitely think like yeah having like the knowledge base built up, you know, knowing what sells what doesn't sell knowing where to sell certain things because I mean that's something just this past year I started selling kind of that in person at like vintage market pop up events and I definitely like
00:31:00
Speaker
I started buying different things and seeing what's stuck with different crowds and and even like I'll you know from market to market will kind of curate the selection of things that I bring so I think that's definitely one is kind of like knowing what to sell knowing how to like adapt and what's popular because I mean when I first started like you know I could buy any suit from an Italian tailor and put it up on eBay and have it sold in an hour for a decent amount of money and now it's like
00:31:26
Speaker
okay, like, yeah, I can't buy every piece from every Italian maker. It's, you know, maybe only these three and they have to be recently made and they have to be in pristine condition. So, you know, kind of knowing how to adapt is definitely something that I think is tough. And the other thing I think just kind of goes to just kind of like a personal motivation thing. It's like, you know, motivating yourself, you know, when your own boss, when you're, when you are your own boss is,
00:31:53
Speaker
something that I've had to learn how to deal with and I still don't necessarily have down. But one of the things I learned this year specifically is that if you're consistent, whether it be posting on Instagram or posting new listings, you see consistent returns on that investment of time. And so that means you have to either plan out things in advance so that you're able to stay consistent on a day-to-day basis
00:32:23
Speaker
and still afford yourself time off, or you have to kind of like, you know, okay, well, this isn't getting done today. And that means that maybe I'm not selling as much this month. So I think that's kind of something that, you know, and again, it's maybe more of like a personal motivation problem than it is something that, you know, everybody deals with in the industry. But I think working for yourself in general, you know, like having to learn how to do that is a skill that takes time to develop. Agreed entirely.
00:32:51
Speaker
Uh, I, I'd like to say that I am the only asshole I can work for, but sometimes sometimes it's also just like, man, my phone didn't charge overnight. And I am at 10% battery when I wake up like today's fucked. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Like I'm not going to sell anything today. No big deal. Yeah. No. As I said, like I've definitely kind of had to learn like, okay, like
00:33:17
Speaker
Even like now, you know, with the holidays coming up, then, you know, I don't know if this is going live afterwards, but like, you know, I, I've had a really busy week just trying to like get some ducks in a row so that I'm not, not posting anything on Instagram for a week. I'm not not posting anything on eBay for a week. Cause I know from experience that if I, if I do that, then, uh, I see a dip in my sales or I see a dip in engagement on, on my social media and that ends up hurting my bottom line. So.
00:33:43
Speaker
Yeah, it's definitely a juggling act. Yeah for sure. So definitely is and and hopefully It usually happens for me.
Joy in Affordable Style and Market Interactions
00:33:52
Speaker
So I hope it happens to all of us doing this dumb shit for a living We get a bump after the holidays. Yeah. Yeah people have money to spend and you know, yeah, that's at least like something to look forward to
00:34:06
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah, no. And honestly, I haven't even been blown away by this month. And I mean, I think part of that is I did kind of two markets this month. And, you know, people seem to have deep pockets right now, which I'm very thankful for. So yeah, if you've got the right stuff.
00:34:22
Speaker
they like people like it and want to enjoy it with you. Yeah and honestly like you know and I don't know if this is a question but just kind of on the flip side of like hardest part like funnest part for me is this like especially starting to do these markets and being able to interact with my customers more face to face is like being able to like help people like
00:34:41
Speaker
buy the clothes that they always wanted to buy at the price point that's, you know, affordable to them. That's like the most rewarding part of this job for me is just like, because I'm someone who, you know, always likes nice things and can't always afford them. So like, to be able to kind of help pass along that, like, yeah, you know, like you can be stylish, you can like what you like and still be able to afford it, whether it's secondhand or new. And that's the part that I really enjoy the most. So the best, most earnest fucking
00:35:11
Speaker
answer. Yeah, I'm sure you can relate to it. You know, where it's like, you know, you post something or, you know, you have something hanging up and someone walks over and goes, Whoa, you know, this thing, like, I've been looking for this thing for forever. I actually just had it recently where I was
00:35:27
Speaker
promoting the Alfargos marketplace that I just sold at and I posted as a little teaser I put a little fit together on a mannequin and one of the things I had on it was this Drake's tartan horsey coat and somebody DM'd me and said oh my god I've been looking for that coat for two years like what size you know of course it was a size and he's like I can't make it to the market but can you ship it out to me and I was like you know what like you seem very passionate about it
00:35:54
Speaker
You know, I, you know, I feel bad that I'm not bringing it when I was advertising that I was bringing it, but at the same time, like this guy was so excited to like find his grail and, and, you know, I had to, I had to help him out with that. You know, it's just, I, I can relate to that feeling. So 100%. So Ken, what is the best picking find you've had? And also the flip side of that, one of the, I know you do a little bit of intention, but like, what's the oldest thing that you found?
Notable Thrift Finds and Cherished Pieces
00:36:23
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, vintage is kind of something that like, you know, I dabble in recently, more so just doing these like markets and kind of having more affordable pieces to kind of appeal to different crowds. But I've always had an eye out for vintage. I do remember when I was living in Boston, I found a tailcoat that I believe was from the
00:36:47
Speaker
30s or 40s. And that's definitely the oldest piece I've ever found. Not the most exciting because it was just kind of a, you know, a piece of tailoring, but really cool that it had the date written out on it and to see like, oh my gosh, this is so old. Of course, I've sold so many pieces. I wish I remembered things more clearly.
00:37:05
Speaker
In terms of like exciting finds, the one I always go to to tell people about, cause you know, I have people, you know, family members will ask me like, oh, what's the craziest thing you've found? I decided to have been around, it was 2014, I think. So like, Pete kind of menswear being, being in the menswear on Tumblr, that kind of thing. And, you know, had seen this brand, our legacy, you know, posted about and, you know, looked at stuff online, there was this bomber coat,
00:37:33
Speaker
that came out in spring of 2014. It was called like the extended zip bomber because it was basically an MA1 bomber jacket but the zipper went a little bit further than the hemline. I remember thinking like this is so cool and you know one of these things I probably posted on my Tumblr like this is awesome but you know would never be able to afford it and
00:37:53
Speaker
fast forward. So it came out in the spring and I definitely saw it then. And then in the fall I was thrifting and I found it on a rack in a Goodwill. And it was literally from that same year, just like three or four months apart. And I was just mind blown that somebody would get rid of something that quickly. And that one stayed, it fit me and it stayed in my closet for a long while.
00:38:14
Speaker
eventually didn't end up fitting me and ended up being sold. But that's one I point to, you know, it's something that meant a lot to me because I was really hyped about like, this is like, you know, me manifesting something that I saw on Tumblr and then like appearing in real life almost.
00:38:29
Speaker
Right. But there are some, you know, there in terms of like stuff I've sold for a lot of money, like there are like, you know, I found a pair of Levi's Big E Salvage from the late 60s. That was one of my highest sales for the longest time. One that's not that exciting and kind of a bummer that it's one of my highest sales is I found a Supreme box logo sweatshirt and sold that for a lot of money. And it's not something I'm particularly passionate about, though. So it's kind of like not not the first thing. First thing I list, you know,
00:38:59
Speaker
Everyone's got that. Yeah, exactly. This made me the most money, for sure, but it's not maybe the most exciting thing. Right. But yeah, that's the Hall of Fame right there, for sure. Solid. I like our legacy story.
00:39:16
Speaker
Yeah, it was just one of those, you know, at the time I think a lot of the thrifting I did was for more kind of traditional menswear, like sport coats, suiting, dress shirts, pants, and to find something that was like, whoa, this is like, you know,
00:39:32
Speaker
contemporary designer, like streetwear piece that is sitting in a thrift store right now, mind blowing. And I mean, I kind of had a similar experience, like the first time I found an engineer garments piece, which is, you know, my favorite brand. And I mean, I found an engineer garments Bedford jacket at a thrift store in Boston. And that was like, absolutely mind blowing. Of course, it was like, you know, a size extra small and would never fit me if I dreamed of it. But it was still really cool. So, you know, it's always blown away by the things you can find in thrift stores.
00:40:02
Speaker
You have a favorite piece of yours in your wardrobe. Yeah, I have a lot of things that I accumulate as you do when you sew clothes. I honestly even hit the point where I am very specific and pass on a lot of things for myself because I just know that it's just going to be something else that sits. But one of the things that I think I really, really enjoy in my closet is I have a
00:40:31
Speaker
Engineer garments. They're my favorite brand and I have from I believe it was their fall winter 2014 collection. I have one of their shawl collar. I think they called it the shawl collar knit coat. It's basically an oversized cardigan that has a belt and like the wood kind of like the classic tweed coat buttons.
00:40:54
Speaker
And the fabric is it's it's a it's a knit fabric, but it's a knit herringbone pattern and it's in a gray. So it's like a light gray and a dark gray. To me, it's just like such a cool intersection of a lot of different menswear things just like doing this like herringbone pattern like it's a tweed but it's knit like a sweater, but then it
00:41:14
Speaker
it's a shawl collar cardigan but it's oversized like a jacket and then it's belted like a robe but it's also a jacket like it's just like kind of this confluence of all all these things and it's part of the reason why I love engineer garments so much is seeing all of his um you know inspirations uh in in the pieces themselves and that's one that you know I'm honestly with the life I live now like
00:41:36
Speaker
I really don't wear that one very often. It maybe comes out of a closet two or three times a year. But it's one of those things I will never get rid of because it was, you know, a sales season splurge of a piece that I just knew I had to have. And yeah, it'll always be with me. So. Yeah, I tried to work something into the intro with Taiki.
00:41:59
Speaker
Uh, because I knew how much you loved engineer garments. The best I could come up with was daiki doula, which doesn't really make any sense once a minute. We spent what, Connor, like 20 minutes yesterday trying to figure that out. We had a time. We had a time with it. It's a labor of love. It's a labor of love. So absolutely. No, I mean, the engineer, the engineer of garments is pretty good too. So, okay. Yeah. I'm happy with that.
00:42:30
Speaker
Yeah, but yeah, I definitely like.
00:42:32
Speaker
I think like, you know, if you're into or like, you know about kind of vintage clothing or like the histories of menswear, like, and then you look at like contemporary, you know, menswear designers, I think engineer garments is one of those ones that like, the influences are so
Integrating Statement Pieces and Community Involvement
00:42:47
Speaker
clear. And it's just really fascinating what he does and like how he takes, you know, work wear and Ivy style and kind of combines it into something that's new. And then he plays with the silhouette. So it feels like it's streetwear, even though it's,
00:43:00
Speaker
you know, a repro of a, you know, military trouser, you know, he's kind of updated the cut in the way that you feel it feels contemporary. And it's one of those things that like, like, if you if you have a few things, you can work them into pretty much whatever the fuck you wear. Absolutely. Yeah. And it goes well, because like, it's all, you know, all of the stuff and the ephemera and whatever that we're into, as far as like people into clothing,
00:43:30
Speaker
it all ties back to certain shit. And so, yeah, I think you said it great. Like he tends to meld all of the stuff that influenced him and it can kind of work for a wide swath of people.
00:43:45
Speaker
Oh yeah. No, I mean, there's, there's so many different ways that you can wear his stuff. And yeah, I think what you said too, about kind of like being able to own just like a few pieces and still be able to wear it because, you know, there's a lot of designers that, you know, are contemporary designers that I really appreciate, but I just can't like, you have to go in my mind, you know, and maybe, you know, somebody more skilled than I can, can figure out a way around this. But like, you know, I really like double RL. I think he makes some really good, really amazing pieces route, you know, Ralph.
00:44:13
Speaker
And, and or like I really enjoy capital. But my experience is like owning those pieces from pieces from those brands, you know, RL, you know, there are some staples, obviously, like flannel shirt is a flannel shirt, you'll always be able to work it into your wardrobe. But, you know, owning kind of more of some of the more statement pieces from like brands like RL or capital, or kind of some of these more obscure Japanese brands, like you end up kind of having to go
00:44:37
Speaker
like whole hog on it. Otherwise like you end up like feeling weird about it in my experience. It's just maybe what I'm comfortable with. But like, for instance, like I've for a long while always wanted a capital ring coat, which is kind of their crazy hooded peacoat military inspired, but funky fabrics, like really out there jacket. And you know, in my head it was always like, Oh, you know, you could throw this on with like a standard work wear fit and it would look all right.
00:45:04
Speaker
and I actually got one in just this past year from a consigner and I tried it on and it fit me and you know I gave it some thought like do I want to buy this from my consigner and as I started putting together some outfits with it I said I don't own weird enough clothes to make this worse almost you know which is saying something because I own some weird clothes so you know I and like you know I think people who wear that stuff wear it well but like you know
00:45:31
Speaker
A lot of people who wear that stuff have to go all the way in on it. VisVim, I think, is one of those brands that I feel the same way about where I really appreciate their aesthetic. And if I were able to spend all the money in the world to redo my budget, maybe I'd buy enough that I could put together some outfits with it. But only being able to own a couple of pieces is a challenge when it comes to certain brands and certain styles, for sure. For sure.
00:46:02
Speaker
I really think we could have had like a 45 minute conversation solely based on this last subject. Oh, yeah, for sure. But yeah, man, Ken, thank you for coming on. And we always give our guests a section to shout some stuff out. So have at it.
00:46:23
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you know, I'm at StyleBitter on Instagram. That's kind of my main social media feed. You know, through there you can find my links to my Grail page and my eBay page. I sell secondhand and new sometimes, menswear that kind of has a curated aesthetic and sometimes it's vintage, sometimes it's new. And I'm also off for consignment. So if you're ever, you know, looking to clean out your closet or, you know,
00:46:53
Speaker
trade some stuff, I'm always down. So yeah, you can just find me on StyleBitter on Instagram or StyleBitter.com. Awesome, awesome. And what's the market that you do pretty regular? Yeah, so Burlington Vintage Market, we do two or three times a year. And that's in Burlington, Vermont. And
00:47:14
Speaker
That's one that's awesome. And, you know, Alfargo's Marketplace, I know Shane has shouted them out on his episode, but highly recommend if you live in New York City, you go check out Alfargo's Marketplace and you'll probably see me there in the future, so. Awesome, awesome. Well, everyone, thanks for listening. I'm Matt Smith at Rebels Rogues. And I'm Connor Fowler at Connor Fowler.
00:47:39
Speaker
And, uh, yeah, if you have any feedback or questions, uh, at apocalypse studs on Instagram at, uh, sorry, apocalypse studs at gmail.com. And yeah, we don't know if we actually got an email yet, so feel free to shout, shoot one our way. But yeah, Ken, Ken, thank you again, man. Thank you guys. This was really fun. Hell yeah.