urbanoutfitters – The Wayback Closet

VLOG: Popup Hosted By Space 24 Twenty near University of Austin

To go with my blog post on Space 24 Twenty’s recent popup – I made a vlog as well! It’s pretty short, but I wanted to give you a little tour of the back yard space. I cannot express how grateful I am to be here where we are open, executing best practices, and still have a functioning economy full of creatives and small businesses. Enjoy xx

Space 24 Twenty Hosts Austin Locals at Popup Vintage Yard Sale

After months of hush hush quarantining, vintage hunters emerge from isolation to build their inventory and prepare for holiday shopping. With online platforms like Etsy, Depop, and Instagram’s Shop feature paving the way to digitally reach customers, it’s nothing like making that personal connection to shop owners and observing garments up close IRL. Thankfully Austin has still remained relatively open enough for retailers and small businesses to host a few seasonal pop-up markets.

Local vendor Low Vision Vintage set up outside Urban Outfitters Space 24 Twenty’s backyard.

Last weekend I went to my first popup since the lockdown was lifted in and around Austin. The UT campus neighborhood “The Drag” hosts various budget-friendly shops and restaurants, catering to its mostly collegiate crowd all along Guadalupe Street. Though are you really in a university neighborhood if there isn’t an Urban Outfitters? Urban’s Spaces concept highlights flagship stores in Brooklyn, Los Angeles, and Austin as hosts to local businesses in retail, dining, and artists in a collaborative architecture made for popup events or workshops. Austin’s 24 Twenty space is mostly outdoors allowing for fresh air shopping, which is recommended as we walk among an invisible virus.

Sandwiched between the UO’s men’s store and the multi-level woman’s/homewares store is Korean fried chicken purveyor, Left Wing at the entrance to the space. Keep walking through the awning where colorful, spinning building blocks make up an interactive art piece leading you out to the spacious backyard. Bananarchy, a local food truck serving up various sweet frozen banana delights is situated among socially distanced vintage tents. “There’s always money in the banana stand.” Arrested Development, anyone? You can also get your caffeine fix next door at Lucky Lab Coffee Co. with their seasonal menu and Austin pride merchandise.

I talked to several of the vendors and got a general consensus that the pandemic made them work extra hard to keep business afloat and the creative instinct burning bright. For the few, slinging vintage is a side hustle, but for many its a full time business. We’re fortunate to be in a place where the local community and small businesses invited (safely) mobile vendors in vintage, home goods, and the handmade sort to set up shop in small collective flea markets. UO’s Yard Sale also hosted a food and clothing drive that benefitted Caritas of Austin, a prominent homeless resource center.

A smattering of vintage t-shirts, acid wash denim, band tees, handmade masks, patches and pins are a collectors heaven. Some sellers even showcased hand painted clothing items as a wearable one-of-a-kind art piece. One of my favorite pieces I saw is this Campbell’s Tomato Soup tee from Lamp Light Vintage a local expert on that sweet feeling of single-stitch band tees. And who doesn’t love a bin of deals to hunt through?

“Rehoming vintage clothes and goods”
LGBTQ+ Austin based seller, Jello Mom Vintage

Many other small businesses around Austin have become comfortable with hosting popup markets, especially approaching this holiday season. Check out Facebook and Do512 for more information on Austin event dates and schedules and keep an eye out for more markets and exhibitions from Space 24 Twenty by checking out their Instagram.

Support more local sellers online by surfing their own photo feeds and Instagram shops. Many curators are offering their items on Depop and other online thrift apps. Some even offer shopping experiences by appointment for a more socially distanced and personalized styling engagement. See you next time!

~The Wayback Closet

Thrifting for Style Staples in Chicago

Logan Square | Wicker Park | Lincoln Park

During our trip to Chicago for the ALL IN Wrestling event, I actually stayed in the city with friends and left Adam to his wrestling weekend. To kill some time before my friend Kristina (Stina) got off from work, I wandered around with her hubby Tom in their neighborhood of Logan Square. After grabbing a coffee I inquired about thrifting or vintage outlets in the area. This guy is probably a seasoned professional when it comes to shopping. His wifey Stina used to be a manager for Urban Outfitters for YEARS and I happened to be staying in their spare bedroom aka Stina’s closet space. Seriously, this girl needs to host a garage sale or something! I mentioned that I’m constantly on the hunt for the perfect vintage Levi’s/Wrangler denim jacket or denim jeans that I can turn into cutoffs. Tom lead the way to the train and we headed to the Wicker Park neighborhood to a place where I could die and go to heaven…

Ragstock

This chain retailer based in the midwest sells a plethora of basics, vintage resale, Hawaiian shirts, 90s/80s prints, cheap sunglasses of all shapes and sizes, FANNY PACKS and so much more.

Photo: @ragstock

I walked in my jaw dropped. Inside Ragstock were graphic tees, menswear, denim cutoffs and skirts. A giant wall of jewel toned sunglasses drew me in like a moth to light. There’s this giant wall of sunglasses for like $7.00 a piece and they had every shape and size, color, lens filter and frame. Around the corner was a wall of FANNY PACKS… and then I bumped into this round rack stuffed with VINTAGE DENIM jackets. Fucking score. Poor Tom, my shopping buddy was stuck carrying all my shit, like the gentleman he is. Ragstock had two floors. I reminded me of Red Light Vintage in Seattle. The upstairs is dedicated to new stock and vintage items for men and women from leather jackets to 80s motif prints. Downstairs is dedicated to a lot of sale items, tights, accessories, Hawaiian shirts and Halloween stuff.

Crossroads Trading Co.

Photo: Timeout Chicago

This buy/sell/trade staple is scattered all over the United States in most major cities and nearby college towns. The collegiate market is perfect for this thrift chain. They buy seasonally and on-trend items from all different brands from fast fashion to designer labels. I used to frequent the one in my own college town near the University of Washington in Seattle. My closet would fluctuate so much from walking around campus in all four seasons to working at H&M all throughout college, I would take and sell stuff at Crossroads just to make an extra buck, or I would trade it in for some new life for my style.

Urban Outfitters Clark Street aka The Surplus Store

So, I have a love/hate relationship with Urban Outfitters. My Internet husband and I have both worked for the company and have both left the company and the retail industry in general. My friend Kristina, who hosted me in Chicago worked for them for nearly 5+ years and even she can’t stay away. Sometimes they can make some damn good prints and I simply love them for graphic T-shirts, business casual blouses, and their shoe selection. Pick and choose your battles, people.

Photo: https://redsockwhitelaundry.com/tag/urban-outfitters-surplus/

They USED to make great denim, but lately their BDG skinny jeans are not the greatest quality. If you shopped there in 2008 up to present day, you know what I’m talking about. On the other hand, their “Mom jeans” and “destroyed” jeans are really great quality denim if you want that loose, boyfriend fit.

Photo: Back when I worked for Urban Outfitters I was dubbed the “denim specialist” and put together make shift look books with selfie mirror pictures. Cringing!

Anyway, I digress… so, we ended up at the Clark Street Urban Outfitters, the surplus store of Chicago. Which means, it’s not merchandised like the boutique atmosphere that all stores have, but instead it is just racks on racks of tops, pants, denim, outerwear, menswear, lingerie, swimwear and “dime out” pieces, which are like super sale items that are discontinued. So, what that all means is that it’s basically all sale items. On top of that, it being Labor Day weekend, there was an extra 40% off sale… on top of sale markdowns. Need I say more?

There are many many neighborhoods that I didn’t venture out to, since our trip was so short, but Logan Square and a few train stops away in Wicker Park and Lincoln Park there are a lot more treasures that need a home in your style rotation. If you find yourself in Chicago: check out a few of these neighborhoods and their thrift & resale shops.