He wakes up early, excited, and watches people file into his driveway, rummaging through the racks of vintage garments—hundreds of shirts and pants he collected exactly for this purpose. Sophomore Oliver Leit has been managing his own vintage pop-up store since he was in seventh grade.
He spends his free time scouring Whatnot, a platform for vintage clothing auctions, and attending house sales to thrift distinct clothing that piques his interest. Leit then researches the pricing, sets up and organizes his inventory and advertises using his Instagram, Tik Tok and Snapchat to prepare for sale day.
“Most of the time, I find out about [his sales] through social media, or [word of mouth],” sophomore and regular customer Dominic Camarena said. “Every time Oliver has a pop-up, I’ll take a screenshot and repost it, telling people to go hit him up.”
To best suit his buyers’ interests, Leit stresses the importance of experienced“sourcing,” the process of collecting and finding the clothes.
“There are multiple ways to source,” Leit said. “A lot of the time, people are willing to get rid of stuff. The other day, I bought $1,500 worth of stuff
just from one guy and got really good deals on everything.”
Leit has found many rare pieces of clothing this way, by using his knowledge of certain valuable or uncommon clothes that to anyone else–even people selling it–seem ordinary. Leit has had multiple instances where he stumbles upon rare clothing like a “Nike 90s center swoosh hoodie” or an “Illinois crew” at yard and house sales. He usually looks for Y2K and surf wear vintage pieces because that’s what he’s noticed his middle and high school customers are “usually interested in.”
Camarena usually opts for vintage surf wear style, which is a “huge part” of his personal style. Camarena believes vintage surf wear is making a comeback, especially in Southern California, because of how it reflects the environment and culture.
“At our school, I would say that surfwear is more popular because we’re [close to] a beach . If three people [dress like that], eventually 10 people will, but I [still] wouldn’t say it’s mainstream. I mean, you go anywhere else, any other school that isn’t in the South Bay, there’s not going to be a lot of vintage surf wear. So I think it definitely adds a little bit of individuality to everyone and kinda reflects the environment we’re in.”
In addition to his house sales, Leit also extends his business to flea markets. He looks forward to participating in the Rose Bowl Flea Market, one of the largest in the country, in January.
“I’m really into true vintage, stuff from the 60s, 70s, 80s, super old pieces of clothing. I’ve been trying to get more of that for my pop-ups,” Leit said. “But the thing is, [true vintage] doesn’t really sell at pop-ups because not many kids are into it. [True vintage] is more of a flea market kind of thing because it’s more [angled] towards the older audience.”
Leit prefers the timelessness and uniqueness of wearing vintage over certain modern clothing trends worn today, especially when it comes to fast fashion.
“I strongly dislike fast fashion for many reasons,” Leit said, “One, I think people wear fast fashion because they see other people wearing it, and they want to fit in. Secondly, the quality of items is super cheap. But with that being said, I want to emphasize: wear what you want. If something makes you feel good then you should wear it.”
Leit is fascinated by the history embedded in vintage clothing because that is something he “can’t really get from buying from the department store.” He enjoys the individuality that comes with his clothing, even if it’s different from everyone else.
“I just like to be different and wear what I like, and don’t think about what other people think about me,” Leit said. “People are always gonna judge you, so wear what you think is cool.”