August 20, 2024 • 34 mins
This week Amanda delves into the ever-evolving world of vintage clothing trends and the dynamic market of buyers and sellers. From “style eras” to the latest shifts in consumer preferences, we explore how the landscape of vintage fashion is constantly changing. How can we as vintage sellers keep up and stay relevant?
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Follow Amanda @Irreverentfinery on Instagram IrreverentFinery on Etsy
Edited by Ben Walker-Storey
Music by Kevin McLeod
*********
Perhaps you've noticed, The Thrifters podcast is 100% commercial-free! Instead we are supported by listeners like you! (so PBS of us...) If this podcast has brought value to your life and business, how about sending a little something Amanda's way? Buy me a Coffee is like a tip, whatever amount whenever you want. No subscription necessary. Thanks, we love you!
buymeacoffee.com/thethrifters
Thank you for your support!
Follow Amanda @Irreverentfinery on Instagram IrreverentFinery on Etsy
Edited by Ben Walker-Storey
Music by Kevin McLeod
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, friends, Welcome to the Thrifters Podcast. It's Amanda Walker Story.
Thanks for being here, and if you're enjoying my content,
please feel free to hop on over to wherever you
listen to the podcast and leave a review. And you
can also buy me a coffee at buy Me a
Coffee dot com slash the Thrifters. Welcome to the Thrifters Podcast,
a show all about the weird, wonderful, and sometimes challenging
(00:24):
world of selling vintage. I'm your host, Amanda Walker Story.
Whether you're a buyer, a seller, collector, or just learning
about vintage, this is the show for you. I'm so
glad you're here. Welcome to a new week, everyone. So
(00:44):
I have been doing a lot of just sort of
soul searching, I guess, and just kind of re evaluating
my business, my attitude, lots of aspects of vintage reselling
and what that means for me as a person and
as a business owner. And I think we can all
(01:05):
collectively agree that a lot of people struggled over this summer,
specifically maybe this year, and it has left a lot
of folks feeling disillusioned. A lot of folks have been
feeling just generally down. I've seen a lot of shops closed,
people have thrown in the towel, or people have just
been sort of wandering through the social media sphere aimlessly,
(01:29):
not knowing what the heck is going on and what
do we do. And I'm just not the kind of
person to just like throw up my hands and be
like I don't know, I don't know. I mean, well,
let's be honest. I've allowed myself a few days of
grace through this year where I have been like, I
don't know, and I just need to check out and
(01:50):
not think about this right now. I've absolutely done that
and just had days where I felt sorry for myself.
But long term, that's just not something that is in
my personality. I want to learn, I want to know more,
I want to take action, and frankly, this year has
not been great for my business. I think March was
my best month and then it just sort of went
(02:12):
downhill from there. And rather than just giving up, I
have really decided to step back and start trying to
take in as much information as I can, whether it's
like I talked about last week, exploring new trends, looking
at buying habits, looking at my personal shop, looking at
other people's shops, and just taking action to do better
(02:35):
in the ways that I can. Look I can't pry
money out of people's wallets, obviously, but anything that I
can do on a personal level, I want to make
sure that I'm doing it because my business and also
just vintage, the vintage community. Selling vintage, this is like
my life's purpose. It is what I love. So I've
(02:55):
been doing a lot of reading, I've been watching a
lot of videos, and in that sort of research phase,
I've compiled some information that I want to share with
all of you, and hopefully you find some value in
this and that you can apply it to your business
or you know, even if it's a hobby or as
a buyer, whatever the case may be. Basically, I have
(03:17):
been wanting to understand the changing behaviors of vintage buyers,
like at this particular time, because things have changed and
I've noticed it. I'm the kind of person who notices stuff.
I'm like, huh, that's not quite right, or that's different,
or people didn't do that before I noticed it. About shops,
I notice it, you know, out street style, what people
(03:39):
are wearing. And then of course when it translates to
my business, and I notice people's buying behaviors are changing.
I just want to understand it. And so I learned
about something that I found very fascinating that is kind
of a newer type of behavior that we're seeing across
the board with people who buy things, whether it's in
(04:00):
person or online. And what this is called is transient loyalty.
Transient loyalty refers to sort of like a short lived
commitment to a brand, a style, a cultural reference, a service.
It's just like when people like something for a short
amount of time and then they move on. And this
(04:21):
is becoming very prevalent in our culture. And of course,
you know, some people might hate it and blame you know,
short attention span, blame social media and scrolling. Sure that's
probably relevant, but you know, it is what it is,
and here we are, and people have much more transient
loyalty than they did in previous eras, previous decades, and
(04:43):
I think that you know, we're seeing that a lot
with fashion in particular. So right now, customers buyers, they
just want something convenient, immediate benefits, or you know, something
that is relevant to their current circumstances, and they're not
as much about sort of deep seated loyalty as they
(05:07):
were in previous years. So that could be something like, oh,
I only wear Nike sneakers as an example, that person
has a deep seated loyalty to Nike. That's all they
they'll wear. And there are a lot of legacy slash
loyalty brands out there that rely on those customers who
are just like, no, this is absolutely the only thing
(05:28):
I'm gonna wear. I'm gonna buy it, I'm gonna wear
them out, I'm buy it again. So why do customers
have less loyalty than they used to? I think this
is really interesting to dive into. So let's just I've
made a list. I'm going to read the list out
loud to you. I'm using my notes app because I've
found this to be easier than just sometimes talking on
(05:50):
the fly. So first reason that people have less brand
loyalty than previous years is discounts. Buyers will switch to
a brand or a seller because of a temporary sale, discount,
or special offer, and once that offer ends, they move
on and look for another deal. So let's say you
get an influx of new buyers because you run a
(06:12):
sale on Etsy. Those people don't necessarily become your long
term buyers. They might if they like your stuff, but
they're not necessarily going to stick around forever. They're looking
for the deal. They're there because they're going to get
a deal on something, and when your sale ends, they're
going to be like, Okay, what other store has the
next deal and the thing that I want? And you know,
I get it, I totally get it. I do think
(06:34):
having sales brings people to your shop, and of course
having eyes on your shop is always a good thing,
and hopefully they will follow you, and then you know,
every time you list something, they'll be like, oh, that's cool,
and maybe i'll buy that, even if that isn't on sale,
that's great. But when you do have a sale, you
are going to attract the bargain shoppers. And I've actually
seen this very specifically on live sales. If you do
(06:58):
a big, blowout live sale everything twenty dollars an under
or you know, something like that, you'll get a lot
of new people in buying that stuff. But then when
they see that your next live sale is not a
bargain basement twenty dollars an under, they're like, I'm out.
I only wanted the cheap stuff. That's fine. I'm glad
(07:19):
to have the customer there, regardless of whether they're long
term or not. But that customer is looking for the
discounts and they're not going to be they have transient loyalty.
Number two. Convenience buyers choose a brand based on convenience, availability,
et cetera. So you know you're in the same town
(07:40):
they can drop off or pick up, or you know,
they just happen to see you show up in their
feed all the time, whatever the case may be. They
make the decision to buy from you because it's just easier,
and they see you and they're like, h Okay, I
need that thing. I'm just going to get it. It's
sort of you know, it's the Amazon thing. It'll be
here tomorrow. You could probably buy that thing from someone
(08:00):
else's small business, but you're like, oh, but Amazon ships
it so fast. I don't love that. I am not
a big Amazon shopper. I've really tried to cut down,
but I live in a small town and sometimes there
are literally things I cannot get unless I drive for hours.
So I do rely on the convenience of Amazon, and
I think a lot of people do, and that has what.
(08:23):
That's what made Amazon such a behemoth in the online
sales marketplace. People can get something quick fat it's here,
and then they're done with it, and they're like, okay,
moving on. They're don't necessarily love that brand or love Amazon,
they just love the convenience of getting it quickly. Next,
we have a variety seeking behavior, and I think this
(08:44):
is really important. Some consumers enjoy trying new products and brands,
and it just leads them to switch around frequently. It's
driven by curiosity and the desire for variety and not
loyalty to a brand. And I think this really really
translates in to the vintage business. People are going to
(09:04):
just be wanting to try new styles, new looks, and
they're going to go to shop with you, and they're
going to shop with another person and another person. They
are just seeking variety. I used to have a lot
more buyers that really shopped with me, a lot like
very very loyal buyers. But then as the reselling landscape
(09:25):
opened up and so many new vintage buyers came into
the marketplaces and onto social media, these people who maybe
only used to think of me as their reseller see
so many other people and they want to see what
so and so over here has and what do they have,
and what do they have, and so they are seeking
all of that variety, and in turn, that sort of
(09:46):
thins everything out and you aren't seeing those people as much.
And you know, that's something that I think just naturally
happens with you know, various new businesses opening. There are
certainly still people who I feel are very loyal to
me and shop with me all the time, and they
trust my store and they trust my judgment and know
they're going to get something good. And I really really
(10:08):
appreciate those people and those finding those core customers who
keep coming back to you. It's so important, and it's
so important to treat them well, to give them excellent service,
because it's becoming more and more unique to have that
kind of loyalty to a particular seller. Next, we have
(10:34):
trial periods. People just want to, you know, see what
other options are out there. They don't necessarily want to
only you know, go to your Instagram or go to
your at Sea store. They want to see what other
people have out there and what the prices are like.
There's a lot of price comparing, price comping, as we
(10:54):
call it, especially with apps like gem. So you might
have something on line in your description you say, you know,
nineteen eighties sequined mermaid prom dress by Hearts. That customer
can copy and paste that exact listing title, go over
to the gem app, pop it in there and see,
(11:15):
you know, hundreds of other listings of people selling the
same thing that you are, and they can then make choices, Oh,
I like this one better, that's a better fit, that's
a better price. So you know, they might want to
explore and look around. And again with the opening up
of technology and different apps, these are things new things
that we're dealing with that I feel like have kind
of flown under the radar. You know, we don't necessary
(11:39):
We didn't have those things ten years ago. We didn't
have a gem app or a Google lens. People have
more tools to find more vintage that is similar to
yours and maybe at a better price, and they are
absolutely taking advantage of that. Another reason customers are less
seller loyal than previous years is social media social influence.
(12:03):
You have friends, and all of your friends are buying
from a particular person or buying a particular style, and
you want to partake in that. You want to be
a part of that, and so you might be more
loyal to your friend group and what they're wearing than
a certain seller something like that. In general, what we're
(12:24):
finding with our customers now is they just have less
connection to you as an individual. They are more willing
to branch out and try new people, try new sellers.
So what do we do about this? How do we
correct it? And we're going to talk about that a
little further down in this episode. I do want to
(12:46):
highlight that the importance for brands to work on building
more connection is what is going to make the difference.
People have so many more options now, what's going to
make you stand out? So I want to talk about
that and just kind of dive a little bit deeper
as we go along. And this is a little bit
of I don't know if the right word is heady,
(13:07):
but it's a conceptual sort of episode. So hang in
there with me. We will get to how this is
relevant to you. I also want to talk about the
end of a fixed identity. So a fixed identity is
a sort of consistent sense of self that you have
your personal style. This is who I am, and it
suggests that your style, your identity is static, this is
(13:31):
who I am. So you see this with people who
are like a lifelong goth, and I love that. I
love when I see a person who has a super
strong fixed identity and they're like, Nope, I decided when
I was a teenager that this is who I am,
and this is who I'm gonna be for the rest
of my life. I have mad respect for people who
decide on a certain kind of uniform. They're like, Nope,
this is what I'm gonna wear. I'm gonna wear this
red lipstick every day. This is my uniform. I wear
(13:53):
a white button down shirt and these particular genes and
that's who I am. And I think that I respect it.
But it's also not me in any way. And we
are seeing now that there is really less and less
of that. Culturally speaking, we're seeing people much more open
to leaving behind what they thought was their identity to
(14:15):
try something new. So the concept of a fixed identity
contrasts with the idea of a more fluid and sort
of a dynamic view of identity, and that's really what
we're seeing with young people right now. People are having
more of an individual sense of self and they're saying,
like I can change, I can evolve, I can do
different things. And this is usually triggered by different life experiences,
(14:38):
social media, culture, personal growth, changing circumstances. So people don't
feel like, Okay, this is who I was as a teenager,
this is who I have to be. I like this
kind of music, I have to dress this certain way.
Culturally speaking, we are much more open to being like, Okay, yeah,
I want to wear that for a while. I want
to wear this for a while. I want to try
(14:58):
out this look. I want to try that look. We're
just seeing what is new. It's a new viewpoint and
it's called eras of life. And I think we've all heard.
You know, I'm in my blank era. I'm in my
demure era. I'm in my free spirited bohemian era. I'm
in my seventies rock star era. I'm in my Princess
(15:19):
Diana's in the eighties and nineties biker shorts and like
cruse sweater era. People are using these sort of this
this idea of an era to allow themselves to be
more playful with their fashion. I you know, want to
explore wearing you know, ath leisure, so they might be
in there like athleisure era. I like to see it
(15:42):
because I like that people are now more willing to
try different things. You don't only have to like wear
nineteen fifties vintage and that's who you are for the
rest of your life. You can venture out into other eras.
You can try different outfits, you can try different you know, styles,
and you can then purchased from other cellars and you
(16:02):
can just be more expansive in general sartorially, and it's accepted.
You're not looked down upon as like a poser if
you used to only wear nineteen fifties and now you
want to wear nineteen twenties. I've seen very specifically. I
have in my mind a seller that I am friendly with.
When I first met her, her name is Laurie Jade.
(16:24):
She's fabulous, wonderful, beautiful person. When I first sort of
became aware of her, she was just the most beautiful
nineteen forties pinup, bombshell nineteen forty suits and turbans, and
she always were like these victory rolls, stunning example of
a person who pretty much always wore nineteen forty style.
(16:45):
And then a couple of years went by and I
noticed that she was selling off her nineteen forties wardrobe,
and I was like, huh, I hadn't really seen this before.
She had a huge collection. She's like, I'm changing it.
I'm not going to wear nineteen forties anymore. I don't
want to wear nineteen forties anymore. I want to wear
nineteen twenties. And then she changed her complete look, her
(17:09):
complete wardrobe style to nineteen twenties, which she felt like
just aligned with her values better than her previous era
that she used to embody. And I was like, Wow,
she's wearing like all nineteen twenties now she looks fabulous,
And I just thought that was so interesting to watch.
And now you can actually follow her on Instagram. She's
midlife vintage. Mid life vintage is what I was trying
(17:31):
to say there. She is now not only wearing nineteen twenties,
she's also wearing like more modern clothes and different like
pin up styles, and she's just again much more expansive
with her expression with fashion. And I think in years before,
people would kind of look down upon that and be like, oh,
she's you know, not dedicated, she's not you know, hardcore
(17:53):
nineteen forties. She's changing it up like people have all
sorts of weird thoughts and ideas when it comes to fashion.
I don't get it. I don't know why anyone is
personally invested in how another person dresses. But people can
be snarky and judgmental personally. I have loved to see it.
I'm like, Oh, she's wearing this now, and she's wearing
that now, and I think it's so fun to see.
(18:14):
So she's exploring different eras of her life. And I
think that a lot of buyers are doing this. So again,
they're not just static in what their style is. They're
more open to their style being one way one week
and another way another week. And I have to say
I personally identify with this in a big way because
(18:36):
I love vintage fashion of all eras. Like I will
absolutely wear something Edwardian, I will one hundred percent wear
something nineteen thirties, forties, fifties, I will wear something from
every era, and yeah, I will mix eras too, because
you know what, why not? I think I feel like
some of these vintage purists who are like, oh my gosh,
(18:58):
she's wearing a nineteen fifty's belt with the nineteen seventies dress.
Stop being a snob. Stop being a snob. Okay, we're
allowed to do that kind of stuff. So why are
people now less likely to be lifelong dedicated to whatever
fashion or subculture or style or music or whatever the
(19:22):
case may be, some sort of you know, thing they
identify with. Why are they less likely to have a
lifelong dedication to it? Basically, I think that it's TikTok
social media in general, and the introduction of micro trends
and various cores and niche upon niche upon niche of esthetics.
(19:44):
I feel like there's so much more information available to us.
There's so much out there that we can take in
and filter through our bodies that now we're like, oh,
I don't have to only be rockabilly, pin up girl.
I can you like swamp thing, monster, rockabilly, pin up girl,
(20:04):
goth forest fairy? Like? There are so many more layers
to it, and it's so personalized that people don't feel
like they have to be one thing. And so what
does this mean for us as vintage sellers? So between
all of these things that I've talked about, the transient loyalty,
the end of a fixed identity, the eras of life,
(20:27):
the death of dedication to subcultures for your entire life.
What does that all mean? Well, first off, it means
you absolutely have to be an adaptable seller to remain
to basically remain relevant in this in this industry, you
cannot be a I only sell nineteen thirties vintage person.
(20:47):
You can't. I mean, I guess if you have like
a hardcore audience of people that only buy that stuff
and they go to you for that, and you are
the expert, there are always going to be exceptions to
what I'm saying, of course, but I think in general,
those shops that I have seen that are like, no,
(21:08):
we are hard and fast nineteen forties, we are hard
and fast nineteen fifties, those shops have struggled, and I
think that I'm seeing more and more of those shops
slowly start to adapt and allow other eras into their collections,
allow other eras and other styles, because they have to
remain viable. They have to remain interesting in this really
(21:31):
changing landscape of selling and customer tastes. It's really important.
You just will severely limit your reach if you stick
to only one thing. And I'm always telling listeners and
always telling people in general that you have to be
more expansive with what you're offering in order to basically
(21:51):
reach all the customers that you want to reach. We
want to reach as many customers as possible, and if
you only do one thing, that's where you're going to reach.
If you do a lot of things, and you do
a lot of things, well you're going to reach a
lot of people. You have to be willing to try
new eras. You have to be willing to try new styles.
You have to explore trends. You have to read articles,
(22:12):
you have to watch TikTok, you have to watch YouTube videos.
You have to stay aware of what is going on
culturally because it moves so fast. And if you want
a little sliver of that pie while it's available and
it's hot and fresh, you want a little sliver of that,
you know, demure pie. Since Demurre is having a moment,
you have to know what people are talking about. And
(22:33):
oh my gosh, I just have to take a moment
to speak briefly on the cur mudgeons of the vintage world.
I see it so much all and I don't want
to say it's only older folks, but I think it's
primarily older folks who want to roll their eyes and
be mad about trends and cores and all these things
(22:54):
that they're hearing about and they don't know what it means.
And then they go online and they're like, what does
this even mean? First of all, google it if you
don't know what it means. Don't ask someone for free
labor on the internet. That's something they could do a
little better on too. But being mad about trends, you're
just not and you're just deciding not to participate. Like, Okay,
(23:16):
I guess it's your loss. I guess you don't want
to make money. Would you rather make money or would
you rather be bitter about it and just be like
mad that you don't know what whimsy goth is. I
don't know. Personally, I'd rather make money. So don't be
a curmudgeon, folks, especially publicly. You can really alienate a
(23:36):
group of people if you make fun of the thing
that they love to wear or the style that they
are or they're esthetic or whatever core they are. If
you're like, oh my gosh, barbiecore blah, that's like you're
going to maybe lose some customers who are die hard
barbicore folks and they're like, wow, they're talking bad about
(23:57):
my style, So just don't be that way. Just be
like a cool, nice person who's like open to seeing
new trends and be like, oh, that's cool. Oh I
want to participate in that one. Let me add a
few things to my shop, or you know what, I'm
going to opt out of that one. That doesn't really
feel good to me. I'm not going to participate in that. Like,
but being aware of them and being open to the
(24:19):
ever changing fashions that we have experienced already and we'll
continue experience for the rest of our lives pretty good idea.
It's also just like better for your mental health to
not be a curmudgeon. Right. Another thing this means for
vintage sellers is that in a fast moving, scroll by
everything world, you've got find You've got to find ways
(24:42):
to connect with people. You've got to find a way
to make someone stop on your thing or look at
your video and be like, what are they saying? What
are they showing? And so again, being relevant and knowing
what's going on out there is a good way to
do that. If you just keep showing the same stuff
over and over and over and over again, yes, you
(25:03):
might still sell stuff. But you're not going to be
reaching anybody new. We want new people, and look, I
love having customers of all age groups. Obviously, I would
never discriminate between having one hundred year old customer a
twelve year old customer, whatever the case may be. Yes,
come to my shop. But if you are only focusing
on one particular era, and that customer is getting older
(25:26):
and older and older and older, and maybe they're not
really buying so much anymore, but a younger customer is
buying in a category that you're not stalking, and they're
buying a lot. They're just getting into vintage and they
want to spend all of their money on it, and
you're just like turning your nose up about whatever esthetic
or thing that they're into. You're just not going to
make that money. And I guess you can take some
(25:47):
sort of you know, moral soapbox about how you don't
want to engage in y two k or whatever, but
I will and I'll take those customers and I will
happily accept their money and have them for many years
to come as they grow into other eras, so embracing
them and they're changing styles and just also sort of
(26:12):
cultivating their love of vintage and being that kind of
store where people feel loved and embraced and not like
pooh pood. It's a good idea for you. At the
end of the day, I'm not telling anybody to go
out there and, you know, buy things that you hate,
not saying that. What I'm saying is find ways to
(26:34):
make these things that come up. You know, last week
I talked about all the different new trends and you
may have been like, ew, pirate core, medieval core y two,
que bohemian. That stuff all sounds ugly and I hate it,
and I respect that. I totally do. But you can
also take that as a challenge and say, Okay, so
(26:56):
I know that this particular look is trending, how do
I feel that through my personal style, my shop esthetic
and create something that aligns and put something out there
so that I do get that customer. I would like
to challenge all of you to do that. Maybe pick
something that you would have never thought of putting in
your shop and presenting it in a way that feels
authentic to you, your style, your store, and see what happens.
(27:21):
It's really easy to just buy the same thing every time,
be like, oh, that's a bread and butter. I know
that one I'll sell, and that's great, And I'm not
telling you to give those things up in any capacity.
What I'm telling you, or challenging you is to try
something new and see if you can make it work
for you. I've done that a few times, and I
(27:41):
find it kind of invigorating to add a new thing
to my shop and be like, how can I make
this more like me? How can I present this in
a way that feels like a reverent finery but is
like going to attract a new customer, a younger customer, hopefully.
(28:02):
I want to get real science y for this last
portion here, because I think that those of us who
have sort of gotten tunnel vision on what we buy
can have a really difficult time going out into the
world and being like, ugh, I'm overwhelmed. How do I
participate in this? How do I participate in demure, cute,
(28:23):
cy coquette, whimsy, goth y two k like all these
sort of new terms and these microtrends that come up,
like how do I participate? What do I do? Because
my brain, my eyes don't even see this stuff. I
don't even know what I'm looking for, and I want
to encourage you to use your reticular activation system. Yes,
(28:44):
it is science and it is real. I've talked about
it in other podcasts before because it is a superpower. So,
your reticular activating system or r AS, it's a bundle
of nerves that sits in your brain stem and its
main job is to basically regulate your behave your arousal,
consciousness and motivation. It's like a filter in your brain stem.
(29:06):
So you walk through life and you've got a lot
of things coming at you all the time. Right. You
hear like a you know, a distant ambulance. You have
a crack on the sidewalk that you have to make
sure you walk over. There's like a smell in the air.
There's like a lot of sensory stuff coming at us
all the time, right, So YOURRIS is this filter that's
like okay, so yeah, the ambulance is pretty far away,
(29:29):
so you don't have to worry about your health and
well being at this moment. You're safe. I'm aware that
there's you know, a barbecue smell in the air. Oh,
that smells really good, but like, yeah, we just have
to keep moving forward. Oh that's your favorite color over there,
Like it allows you to take in the important information
for your survival. It allows you to take in the
(29:49):
important information for you to be happy and to be motivated.
So it's a really important part of your brain. And
the cool thing about it is that you can actually
change it and bend it and train it in essence. So,
for example, I love the color slime green. It's like
(30:11):
one of my favorite colors. And when I go out thrifting,
sourcing whatever, myris is like, she loves lime green. She
loves that color. And so like when I walk into
a thrift store, anything that is that color, it just
like pops out at me and I'm like, oh, I
immediately go to it, and then of course I probably
get a little like a dopamine hit. My brain's like,
she like that one, she likes that one. And so
(30:32):
I'll see every single thing in the store that is
that color. And that's pretty cool, right, except if you're
not taking anything new in and you're not like, oh,
but I want to like find this thing now, and
I want to find that thing now. If you're not
opening up that filter to other things, it can create
a really narrow scope of what you find. It's really nuts.
(30:53):
So my Aris knows that I don't really respond to
or get excited about certain things, and so I don't
see those things. I don't really seek them out on
a rack or in a pile. I don't really notice it.
For me. That might be like solid black dresses just
because they don't sell well, they're hard to photograph. They
(31:15):
can just be you know, get lny and difficult, or
black velvet stuff. So like, unless I absolutely have to
look at it and it's the only thing there, my
brain just kind of scans past it. Aine interested in that.
They're like, oh, she doesn't like that, she doesn't respond
well to that, she gets frustrated. She hates photographing black,
so my brain skims over it. You can change your
(31:35):
RIS response, and it's really simple to do. All you
have to do is take in new information, read articles,
look at pictures of certain trends, notice them on people,
take time to look at books or old magazines or
pinterest boards. Make a Pinterest board, make a you know,
a vision board of things that you want to find
(31:56):
at a thrist store or when you're sourcing. Create these
sort of new pathways in your in your RIS, so
that when you go into a throw store you do
notice and you find those things and you're like, oh, hey,
that's a boho y two K thing, because I remember
looking at that picture of Britney Spears and she had
that like low slung leather belt with a fringe, and
(32:17):
I looked at that and maybe I even like bookmarked
it or made like a Pinterest board about it. And
so you go out in the world and then you
notice it. It's a superpower. It's super cool and anybody
can do this. All you have to do is take
in the information. So if you're feeling overwhelmed and you're like,
oh my gosh, we have like these transient customers who
(32:39):
are all over the map and they don't know what
they want. They don't have any like lifelong loyalties anymore,
and they don't, you know, particularly stick with one brand
or one identity. It can feel really overwhelming. One hundred percent.
All you have to do is take a little bit
of time to learn some new stuff, to look at
some new pictures, to open up your mind a little bit,
(33:00):
to be like, you know what, I don't really love
whimsy goth, but what is it? Why do people like it?
And how do I make it work for me? I
really hope that this is helpful to you. I hope
that I have personally motivated you to start looking for
different things and to understand what customers are doing and
their behaviors right now out in this vast landscape of vintage.
(33:22):
It's huge right now. It is a worldwide marketplace, and
we're just these tiny little specks trying to run our
small businesses or big businesses, whatever the case may be.
We're just out here trying to succeed and do the
best we can. And so, you know, taking in new
information and understanding more about our customers and buyers behaviors, culture, fashion, trends,
(33:44):
all this stuff. It's pretty important. So I hope this
is helpful to you, and I will hopefully have something
new for you guys to chat about next week. I'll
see soon. Bye. It is ord
Hi, friends, Welcome to the Thrifters Podcast. It's Amanda Walker Story.
Thanks for being here, and if you're enjoying my content,
please feel free to hop on over to wherever you
listen to the podcast and leave a review. And you
can also buy me a coffee at buy Me a
Coffee dot com slash the Thrifters. Welcome to the Thrifters Podcast,
a show all about the weird, wonderful, and sometimes challenging
(00:24):
world of selling vintage. I'm your host, Amanda Walker Story.
Whether you're a buyer, a seller, collector, or just learning
about vintage, this is the show for you. I'm so
glad you're here. Welcome to a new week, everyone. So
(00:44):
I have been doing a lot of just sort of
soul searching, I guess, and just kind of re evaluating
my business, my attitude, lots of aspects of vintage reselling
and what that means for me as a person and
as a business owner. And I think we can all
(01:05):
collectively agree that a lot of people struggled over this summer,
specifically maybe this year, and it has left a lot
of folks feeling disillusioned. A lot of folks have been
feeling just generally down. I've seen a lot of shops closed,
people have thrown in the towel, or people have just
been sort of wandering through the social media sphere aimlessly,
(01:29):
not knowing what the heck is going on and what
do we do. And I'm just not the kind of
person to just like throw up my hands and be
like I don't know, I don't know. I mean, well,
let's be honest. I've allowed myself a few days of
grace through this year where I have been like, I
don't know, and I just need to check out and
(01:50):
not think about this right now. I've absolutely done that
and just had days where I felt sorry for myself.
But long term, that's just not something that is in
my personality. I want to learn, I want to know more,
I want to take action, and frankly, this year has
not been great for my business. I think March was
my best month and then it just sort of went
(02:12):
downhill from there. And rather than just giving up, I
have really decided to step back and start trying to
take in as much information as I can, whether it's
like I talked about last week, exploring new trends, looking
at buying habits, looking at my personal shop, looking at
other people's shops, and just taking action to do better
(02:35):
in the ways that I can. Look I can't pry
money out of people's wallets, obviously, but anything that I
can do on a personal level, I want to make
sure that I'm doing it because my business and also
just vintage, the vintage community. Selling vintage, this is like
my life's purpose. It is what I love. So I've
(02:55):
been doing a lot of reading, I've been watching a
lot of videos, and in that sort of research phase,
I've compiled some information that I want to share with
all of you, and hopefully you find some value in
this and that you can apply it to your business
or you know, even if it's a hobby or as
a buyer, whatever the case may be. Basically, I have
(03:17):
been wanting to understand the changing behaviors of vintage buyers,
like at this particular time, because things have changed and
I've noticed it. I'm the kind of person who notices stuff.
I'm like, huh, that's not quite right, or that's different,
or people didn't do that before I noticed it. About shops,
I notice it, you know, out street style, what people
(03:39):
are wearing. And then of course when it translates to
my business, and I notice people's buying behaviors are changing.
I just want to understand it. And so I learned
about something that I found very fascinating that is kind
of a newer type of behavior that we're seeing across
the board with people who buy things, whether it's in
(04:00):
person or online. And what this is called is transient loyalty.
Transient loyalty refers to sort of like a short lived
commitment to a brand, a style, a cultural reference, a service.
It's just like when people like something for a short
amount of time and then they move on. And this
(04:21):
is becoming very prevalent in our culture. And of course,
you know, some people might hate it and blame you know,
short attention span, blame social media and scrolling. Sure that's
probably relevant, but you know, it is what it is,
and here we are, and people have much more transient
loyalty than they did in previous eras, previous decades, and
(04:43):
I think that you know, we're seeing that a lot
with fashion in particular. So right now, customers buyers, they
just want something convenient, immediate benefits, or you know, something
that is relevant to their current circumstances, and they're not
as much about sort of deep seated loyalty as they
(05:07):
were in previous years. So that could be something like, oh,
I only wear Nike sneakers as an example, that person
has a deep seated loyalty to Nike. That's all they
they'll wear. And there are a lot of legacy slash
loyalty brands out there that rely on those customers who
are just like, no, this is absolutely the only thing
(05:28):
I'm gonna wear. I'm gonna buy it, I'm gonna wear
them out, I'm buy it again. So why do customers
have less loyalty than they used to? I think this
is really interesting to dive into. So let's just I've
made a list. I'm going to read the list out
loud to you. I'm using my notes app because I've
found this to be easier than just sometimes talking on
(05:50):
the fly. So first reason that people have less brand
loyalty than previous years is discounts. Buyers will switch to
a brand or a seller because of a temporary sale, discount,
or special offer, and once that offer ends, they move
on and look for another deal. So let's say you
get an influx of new buyers because you run a
(06:12):
sale on Etsy. Those people don't necessarily become your long
term buyers. They might if they like your stuff, but
they're not necessarily going to stick around forever. They're looking
for the deal. They're there because they're going to get
a deal on something, and when your sale ends, they're
going to be like, Okay, what other store has the
next deal and the thing that I want? And you know,
I get it, I totally get it. I do think
(06:34):
having sales brings people to your shop, and of course
having eyes on your shop is always a good thing,
and hopefully they will follow you, and then you know,
every time you list something, they'll be like, oh, that's cool,
and maybe i'll buy that, even if that isn't on sale,
that's great. But when you do have a sale, you
are going to attract the bargain shoppers. And I've actually
seen this very specifically on live sales. If you do
(06:58):
a big, blowout live sale everything twenty dollars an under
or you know, something like that, you'll get a lot
of new people in buying that stuff. But then when
they see that your next live sale is not a
bargain basement twenty dollars an under, they're like, I'm out.
I only wanted the cheap stuff. That's fine. I'm glad
(07:19):
to have the customer there, regardless of whether they're long
term or not. But that customer is looking for the
discounts and they're not going to be they have transient loyalty.
Number two. Convenience buyers choose a brand based on convenience, availability,
et cetera. So you know you're in the same town
(07:40):
they can drop off or pick up, or you know,
they just happen to see you show up in their
feed all the time, whatever the case may be. They
make the decision to buy from you because it's just easier,
and they see you and they're like, h Okay, I
need that thing. I'm just going to get it. It's
sort of you know, it's the Amazon thing. It'll be
here tomorrow. You could probably buy that thing from someone
(08:00):
else's small business, but you're like, oh, but Amazon ships
it so fast. I don't love that. I am not
a big Amazon shopper. I've really tried to cut down,
but I live in a small town and sometimes there
are literally things I cannot get unless I drive for hours.
So I do rely on the convenience of Amazon, and
I think a lot of people do, and that has what.
(08:23):
That's what made Amazon such a behemoth in the online
sales marketplace. People can get something quick fat it's here,
and then they're done with it, and they're like, okay,
moving on. They're don't necessarily love that brand or love Amazon,
they just love the convenience of getting it quickly. Next,
we have a variety seeking behavior, and I think this
(08:44):
is really important. Some consumers enjoy trying new products and brands,
and it just leads them to switch around frequently. It's
driven by curiosity and the desire for variety and not
loyalty to a brand. And I think this really really
translates in to the vintage business. People are going to
(09:04):
just be wanting to try new styles, new looks, and
they're going to go to shop with you, and they're
going to shop with another person and another person. They
are just seeking variety. I used to have a lot
more buyers that really shopped with me, a lot like
very very loyal buyers. But then as the reselling landscape
(09:25):
opened up and so many new vintage buyers came into
the marketplaces and onto social media, these people who maybe
only used to think of me as their reseller see
so many other people and they want to see what
so and so over here has and what do they have,
and what do they have, and so they are seeking
all of that variety, and in turn, that sort of
(09:46):
thins everything out and you aren't seeing those people as much.
And you know, that's something that I think just naturally
happens with you know, various new businesses opening. There are
certainly still people who I feel are very loyal to
me and shop with me all the time, and they
trust my store and they trust my judgment and know
they're going to get something good. And I really really
(10:08):
appreciate those people and those finding those core customers who
keep coming back to you. It's so important, and it's
so important to treat them well, to give them excellent service,
because it's becoming more and more unique to have that
kind of loyalty to a particular seller. Next, we have
(10:34):
trial periods. People just want to, you know, see what
other options are out there. They don't necessarily want to
only you know, go to your Instagram or go to
your at Sea store. They want to see what other
people have out there and what the prices are like.
There's a lot of price comparing, price comping, as we
(10:54):
call it, especially with apps like gem. So you might
have something on line in your description you say, you know,
nineteen eighties sequined mermaid prom dress by Hearts. That customer
can copy and paste that exact listing title, go over
to the gem app, pop it in there and see,
(11:15):
you know, hundreds of other listings of people selling the
same thing that you are, and they can then make choices, Oh,
I like this one better, that's a better fit, that's
a better price. So you know, they might want to
explore and look around. And again with the opening up
of technology and different apps, these are things new things
that we're dealing with that I feel like have kind
of flown under the radar. You know, we don't necessary
(11:39):
We didn't have those things ten years ago. We didn't
have a gem app or a Google lens. People have
more tools to find more vintage that is similar to
yours and maybe at a better price, and they are
absolutely taking advantage of that. Another reason customers are less
seller loyal than previous years is social media social influence.
(12:03):
You have friends, and all of your friends are buying
from a particular person or buying a particular style, and
you want to partake in that. You want to be
a part of that, and so you might be more
loyal to your friend group and what they're wearing than
a certain seller something like that. In general, what we're
(12:24):
finding with our customers now is they just have less
connection to you as an individual. They are more willing
to branch out and try new people, try new sellers.
So what do we do about this? How do we
correct it? And we're going to talk about that a
little further down in this episode. I do want to
(12:46):
highlight that the importance for brands to work on building
more connection is what is going to make the difference.
People have so many more options now, what's going to
make you stand out? So I want to talk about
that and just kind of dive a little bit deeper
as we go along. And this is a little bit
of I don't know if the right word is heady,
(13:07):
but it's a conceptual sort of episode. So hang in
there with me. We will get to how this is
relevant to you. I also want to talk about the
end of a fixed identity. So a fixed identity is
a sort of consistent sense of self that you have
your personal style. This is who I am, and it
suggests that your style, your identity is static, this is
(13:31):
who I am. So you see this with people who
are like a lifelong goth, and I love that. I
love when I see a person who has a super
strong fixed identity and they're like, Nope, I decided when
I was a teenager that this is who I am,
and this is who I'm gonna be for the rest
of my life. I have mad respect for people who
decide on a certain kind of uniform. They're like, Nope,
this is what I'm gonna wear. I'm gonna wear this
red lipstick every day. This is my uniform. I wear
(13:53):
a white button down shirt and these particular genes and
that's who I am. And I think that I respect it.
But it's also not me in any way. And we
are seeing now that there is really less and less
of that. Culturally speaking, we're seeing people much more open
to leaving behind what they thought was their identity to
(14:15):
try something new. So the concept of a fixed identity
contrasts with the idea of a more fluid and sort
of a dynamic view of identity, and that's really what
we're seeing with young people right now. People are having
more of an individual sense of self and they're saying,
like I can change, I can evolve, I can do
different things. And this is usually triggered by different life experiences,
(14:38):
social media, culture, personal growth, changing circumstances. So people don't
feel like, Okay, this is who I was as a teenager,
this is who I have to be. I like this
kind of music, I have to dress this certain way.
Culturally speaking, we are much more open to being like, Okay, yeah,
I want to wear that for a while. I want
to wear this for a while. I want to try
(14:58):
out this look. I want to try that look. We're
just seeing what is new. It's a new viewpoint and
it's called eras of life. And I think we've all heard.
You know, I'm in my blank era. I'm in my
demure era. I'm in my free spirited bohemian era. I'm
in my seventies rock star era. I'm in my Princess
(15:19):
Diana's in the eighties and nineties biker shorts and like
cruse sweater era. People are using these sort of this
this idea of an era to allow themselves to be
more playful with their fashion. I you know, want to
explore wearing you know, ath leisure, so they might be
in there like athleisure era. I like to see it
(15:42):
because I like that people are now more willing to
try different things. You don't only have to like wear
nineteen fifties vintage and that's who you are for the
rest of your life. You can venture out into other eras.
You can try different outfits, you can try different you know, styles,
and you can then purchased from other cellars and you
(16:02):
can just be more expansive in general sartorially, and it's accepted.
You're not looked down upon as like a poser if
you used to only wear nineteen fifties and now you
want to wear nineteen twenties. I've seen very specifically. I
have in my mind a seller that I am friendly with.
When I first met her, her name is Laurie Jade.
(16:24):
She's fabulous, wonderful, beautiful person. When I first sort of
became aware of her, she was just the most beautiful
nineteen forties pinup, bombshell nineteen forty suits and turbans, and
she always were like these victory rolls, stunning example of
a person who pretty much always wore nineteen forty style.
(16:45):
And then a couple of years went by and I
noticed that she was selling off her nineteen forties wardrobe,
and I was like, huh, I hadn't really seen this before.
She had a huge collection. She's like, I'm changing it.
I'm not going to wear nineteen forties anymore. I don't
want to wear nineteen forties anymore. I want to wear
nineteen twenties. And then she changed her complete look, her
(17:09):
complete wardrobe style to nineteen twenties, which she felt like
just aligned with her values better than her previous era
that she used to embody. And I was like, Wow,
she's wearing like all nineteen twenties now she looks fabulous,
And I just thought that was so interesting to watch.
And now you can actually follow her on Instagram. She's
midlife vintage. Mid life vintage is what I was trying
(17:31):
to say there. She is now not only wearing nineteen twenties,
she's also wearing like more modern clothes and different like
pin up styles, and she's just again much more expansive
with her expression with fashion. And I think in years before,
people would kind of look down upon that and be like, oh,
she's you know, not dedicated, she's not you know, hardcore
(17:53):
nineteen forties. She's changing it up like people have all
sorts of weird thoughts and ideas when it comes to fashion.
I don't get it. I don't know why anyone is
personally invested in how another person dresses. But people can
be snarky and judgmental personally. I have loved to see it.
I'm like, Oh, she's wearing this now, and she's wearing
that now, and I think it's so fun to see.
(18:14):
So she's exploring different eras of her life. And I
think that a lot of buyers are doing this. So again,
they're not just static in what their style is. They're
more open to their style being one way one week
and another way another week. And I have to say
I personally identify with this in a big way because
(18:36):
I love vintage fashion of all eras. Like I will
absolutely wear something Edwardian, I will one hundred percent wear
something nineteen thirties, forties, fifties, I will wear something from
every era, and yeah, I will mix eras too, because
you know what, why not? I think I feel like
some of these vintage purists who are like, oh my gosh,
(18:58):
she's wearing a nineteen fifty's belt with the nineteen seventies dress.
Stop being a snob. Stop being a snob. Okay, we're
allowed to do that kind of stuff. So why are
people now less likely to be lifelong dedicated to whatever
fashion or subculture or style or music or whatever the
(19:22):
case may be, some sort of you know, thing they
identify with. Why are they less likely to have a
lifelong dedication to it? Basically, I think that it's TikTok
social media in general, and the introduction of micro trends
and various cores and niche upon niche upon niche of esthetics.
(19:44):
I feel like there's so much more information available to us.
There's so much out there that we can take in
and filter through our bodies that now we're like, oh,
I don't have to only be rockabilly, pin up girl.
I can you like swamp thing, monster, rockabilly, pin up girl,
(20:04):
goth forest fairy? Like? There are so many more layers
to it, and it's so personalized that people don't feel
like they have to be one thing. And so what
does this mean for us as vintage sellers? So between
all of these things that I've talked about, the transient loyalty,
the end of a fixed identity, the eras of life,
(20:27):
the death of dedication to subcultures for your entire life.
What does that all mean? Well, first off, it means
you absolutely have to be an adaptable seller to remain
to basically remain relevant in this in this industry, you
cannot be a I only sell nineteen thirties vintage person.
(20:47):
You can't. I mean, I guess if you have like
a hardcore audience of people that only buy that stuff
and they go to you for that, and you are
the expert, there are always going to be exceptions to
what I'm saying, of course, but I think in general,
those shops that I have seen that are like, no,
(21:08):
we are hard and fast nineteen forties, we are hard
and fast nineteen fifties, those shops have struggled, and I
think that I'm seeing more and more of those shops
slowly start to adapt and allow other eras into their collections,
allow other eras and other styles, because they have to
remain viable. They have to remain interesting in this really
(21:31):
changing landscape of selling and customer tastes. It's really important.
You just will severely limit your reach if you stick
to only one thing. And I'm always telling listeners and
always telling people in general that you have to be
more expansive with what you're offering in order to basically
(21:51):
reach all the customers that you want to reach. We
want to reach as many customers as possible, and if
you only do one thing, that's where you're going to reach.
If you do a lot of things, and you do
a lot of things, well you're going to reach a
lot of people. You have to be willing to try
new eras. You have to be willing to try new styles.
You have to explore trends. You have to read articles,
(22:12):
you have to watch TikTok, you have to watch YouTube videos.
You have to stay aware of what is going on
culturally because it moves so fast. And if you want
a little sliver of that pie while it's available and
it's hot and fresh, you want a little sliver of that,
you know, demure pie. Since Demurre is having a moment,
you have to know what people are talking about. And
(22:33):
oh my gosh, I just have to take a moment
to speak briefly on the cur mudgeons of the vintage world.
I see it so much all and I don't want
to say it's only older folks, but I think it's
primarily older folks who want to roll their eyes and
be mad about trends and cores and all these things
(22:54):
that they're hearing about and they don't know what it means.
And then they go online and they're like, what does
this even mean? First of all, google it if you
don't know what it means. Don't ask someone for free
labor on the internet. That's something they could do a
little better on too. But being mad about trends, you're
just not and you're just deciding not to participate. Like, Okay,
(23:16):
I guess it's your loss. I guess you don't want
to make money. Would you rather make money or would
you rather be bitter about it and just be like
mad that you don't know what whimsy goth is. I
don't know. Personally, I'd rather make money. So don't be
a curmudgeon, folks, especially publicly. You can really alienate a
(23:36):
group of people if you make fun of the thing
that they love to wear or the style that they
are or they're esthetic or whatever core they are. If
you're like, oh my gosh, barbiecore blah, that's like you're
going to maybe lose some customers who are die hard
barbicore folks and they're like, wow, they're talking bad about
(23:57):
my style, So just don't be that way. Just be
like a cool, nice person who's like open to seeing
new trends and be like, oh, that's cool. Oh I
want to participate in that one. Let me add a
few things to my shop, or you know what, I'm
going to opt out of that one. That doesn't really
feel good to me. I'm not going to participate in that. Like,
but being aware of them and being open to the
(24:19):
ever changing fashions that we have experienced already and we'll
continue experience for the rest of our lives pretty good idea.
It's also just like better for your mental health to
not be a curmudgeon. Right. Another thing this means for
vintage sellers is that in a fast moving, scroll by
everything world, you've got find You've got to find ways
(24:42):
to connect with people. You've got to find a way
to make someone stop on your thing or look at
your video and be like, what are they saying? What
are they showing? And so again, being relevant and knowing
what's going on out there is a good way to
do that. If you just keep showing the same stuff
over and over and over and over again, yes, you
(25:03):
might still sell stuff. But you're not going to be
reaching anybody new. We want new people, and look, I
love having customers of all age groups. Obviously, I would
never discriminate between having one hundred year old customer a
twelve year old customer, whatever the case may be. Yes,
come to my shop. But if you are only focusing
on one particular era, and that customer is getting older
(25:26):
and older and older and older, and maybe they're not
really buying so much anymore, but a younger customer is
buying in a category that you're not stalking, and they're
buying a lot. They're just getting into vintage and they
want to spend all of their money on it, and
you're just like turning your nose up about whatever esthetic
or thing that they're into. You're just not going to
make that money. And I guess you can take some
(25:47):
sort of you know, moral soapbox about how you don't
want to engage in y two k or whatever, but
I will and I'll take those customers and I will
happily accept their money and have them for many years
to come as they grow into other eras, so embracing
them and they're changing styles and just also sort of
(26:12):
cultivating their love of vintage and being that kind of
store where people feel loved and embraced and not like
pooh pood. It's a good idea for you. At the
end of the day, I'm not telling anybody to go
out there and, you know, buy things that you hate,
not saying that. What I'm saying is find ways to
(26:34):
make these things that come up. You know, last week
I talked about all the different new trends and you
may have been like, ew, pirate core, medieval core y two,
que bohemian. That stuff all sounds ugly and I hate it,
and I respect that. I totally do. But you can
also take that as a challenge and say, Okay, so
(26:56):
I know that this particular look is trending, how do
I feel that through my personal style, my shop esthetic
and create something that aligns and put something out there
so that I do get that customer. I would like
to challenge all of you to do that. Maybe pick
something that you would have never thought of putting in
your shop and presenting it in a way that feels
authentic to you, your style, your store, and see what happens.
(27:21):
It's really easy to just buy the same thing every time,
be like, oh, that's a bread and butter. I know
that one I'll sell, and that's great, And I'm not
telling you to give those things up in any capacity.
What I'm telling you, or challenging you is to try
something new and see if you can make it work
for you. I've done that a few times, and I
(27:41):
find it kind of invigorating to add a new thing
to my shop and be like, how can I make
this more like me? How can I present this in
a way that feels like a reverent finery but is
like going to attract a new customer, a younger customer, hopefully.
(28:02):
I want to get real science y for this last
portion here, because I think that those of us who
have sort of gotten tunnel vision on what we buy
can have a really difficult time going out into the
world and being like, ugh, I'm overwhelmed. How do I
participate in this? How do I participate in demure, cute,
(28:23):
cy coquette, whimsy, goth y two k like all these
sort of new terms and these microtrends that come up,
like how do I participate? What do I do? Because
my brain, my eyes don't even see this stuff. I
don't even know what I'm looking for, and I want
to encourage you to use your reticular activation system. Yes,
(28:44):
it is science and it is real. I've talked about
it in other podcasts before because it is a superpower. So,
your reticular activating system or r AS, it's a bundle
of nerves that sits in your brain stem and its
main job is to basically regulate your behave your arousal,
consciousness and motivation. It's like a filter in your brain stem.
(29:06):
So you walk through life and you've got a lot
of things coming at you all the time. Right. You
hear like a you know, a distant ambulance. You have
a crack on the sidewalk that you have to make
sure you walk over. There's like a smell in the air.
There's like a lot of sensory stuff coming at us
all the time, right, So YOURRIS is this filter that's
like okay, so yeah, the ambulance is pretty far away,
(29:29):
so you don't have to worry about your health and
well being at this moment. You're safe. I'm aware that
there's you know, a barbecue smell in the air. Oh,
that smells really good, but like, yeah, we just have
to keep moving forward. Oh that's your favorite color over there,
Like it allows you to take in the important information
for your survival. It allows you to take in the
(29:49):
important information for you to be happy and to be motivated.
So it's a really important part of your brain. And
the cool thing about it is that you can actually
change it and bend it and train it in essence. So,
for example, I love the color slime green. It's like
(30:11):
one of my favorite colors. And when I go out thrifting,
sourcing whatever, myris is like, she loves lime green. She
loves that color. And so like when I walk into
a thrift store, anything that is that color, it just
like pops out at me and I'm like, oh, I
immediately go to it, and then of course I probably
get a little like a dopamine hit. My brain's like,
she like that one, she likes that one. And so
(30:32):
I'll see every single thing in the store that is
that color. And that's pretty cool, right, except if you're
not taking anything new in and you're not like, oh,
but I want to like find this thing now, and
I want to find that thing now. If you're not
opening up that filter to other things, it can create
a really narrow scope of what you find. It's really nuts.
(30:53):
So my Aris knows that I don't really respond to
or get excited about certain things, and so I don't
see those things. I don't really seek them out on
a rack or in a pile. I don't really notice it.
For me. That might be like solid black dresses just
because they don't sell well, they're hard to photograph. They
(31:15):
can just be you know, get lny and difficult, or
black velvet stuff. So like, unless I absolutely have to
look at it and it's the only thing there, my
brain just kind of scans past it. Aine interested in that.
They're like, oh, she doesn't like that, she doesn't respond
well to that, she gets frustrated. She hates photographing black,
so my brain skims over it. You can change your
(31:35):
RIS response, and it's really simple to do. All you
have to do is take in new information, read articles,
look at pictures of certain trends, notice them on people,
take time to look at books or old magazines or
pinterest boards. Make a Pinterest board, make a you know,
a vision board of things that you want to find
(31:56):
at a thrist store or when you're sourcing. Create these
sort of new pathways in your in your RIS, so
that when you go into a throw store you do
notice and you find those things and you're like, oh, hey,
that's a boho y two K thing, because I remember
looking at that picture of Britney Spears and she had
that like low slung leather belt with a fringe, and
(32:17):
I looked at that and maybe I even like bookmarked
it or made like a Pinterest board about it. And
so you go out in the world and then you
notice it. It's a superpower. It's super cool and anybody
can do this. All you have to do is take
in the information. So if you're feeling overwhelmed and you're like,
oh my gosh, we have like these transient customers who
(32:39):
are all over the map and they don't know what
they want. They don't have any like lifelong loyalties anymore,
and they don't, you know, particularly stick with one brand
or one identity. It can feel really overwhelming. One hundred percent.
All you have to do is take a little bit
of time to learn some new stuff, to look at
some new pictures, to open up your mind a little bit,
(33:00):
to be like, you know what, I don't really love
whimsy goth, but what is it? Why do people like it?
And how do I make it work for me? I
really hope that this is helpful to you. I hope
that I have personally motivated you to start looking for
different things and to understand what customers are doing and
their behaviors right now out in this vast landscape of vintage.
(33:22):
It's huge right now. It is a worldwide marketplace, and
we're just these tiny little specks trying to run our
small businesses or big businesses, whatever the case may be.
We're just out here trying to succeed and do the
best we can. And so, you know, taking in new
information and understanding more about our customers and buyers behaviors, culture, fashion, trends,
(33:44):
all this stuff. It's pretty important. So I hope this
is helpful to you, and I will hopefully have something
new for you guys to chat about next week. I'll
see soon. Bye. It is ord
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