Starting a business is something many people are choosing to do, but deciding what niche or topic to cover can be tough. Ultimately, it boils down to the things that interest and excite you, so you can build up that momentum! How about vintage clothing? There’s a huge market for vintage clothing these days, as fashion trends come back around and people realise that it’s ‘cool’ to help the environment and wear clothes that have already had a life. How can you make your fortune in vintage clothes? Read on to find out…
Source Your Vintage Clothes
The first thing you need to do is source your vintage clothes. Where will you get them from? Buying them from another big time seller will often mean paying their mark-ups, so you won’t end up making much, if any of a profit on an item this way. This means you need to scour small time sellers, charity shops, and other places to get a good selection of vintage items that you can mark-up to make a profit on.
Know How To Spot And Price High Quality Items
When you’re sourcing your items, buying items that won’t get much of a return can be pointless. Your reputation is on the line, and you want to make sure you end up with lots of vintage clothes that people think are awesome – not old junk. Know what to look for in quality vintage finds, as well as how to price them accordingly. Make sure items are actually vintage too – some are just old, and some just look vintage.
Figure Out How To Set Up
Now you have to decide how you’ll set up. You can start out multiple ways for the best results, but you need to make sure you can handle it. For instance; ebay, etsy, depop, your own website, your own physical store – whatever calls to you. Some prefer solely online, others offline, others do both. It can depend on your knowledge, experience, and where you are in the world.
Go To Vintage Clothing Fairs
Vintage clothing fairs can be a great place for you to both source and sell clothes, depending on what you have on offer. You use scales to weigh out clothes, and then you can buy them for a cheap price and mark them up for your own store. Alternatively, you can let your customers do this with items you have on offer; perhaps items that aren’t selling or aren’t very high quality. Do remember, though, sometimes even high quality vintage items take time to sell. If you know the item is great and worth the price, don’t sell for cheap.
Marketing Is Everything
Marketing is everything when you decide to set up a store like this. How will you go about it? There’s Facebook ads, PPC, blogging, vlogging, and so many more things you can do to raise awareness. Don’t forget to use Instagram to show off your finds. Make sure you create a vintage brand that stands out too – take a look at the most popular, such as Gone Retro, and see what you can learn from them.
Sophia Amoruso did it – so can you.