We recently connected with Joannah Hillebrandt and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Joannah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

I have a very niche direction with my vintage brand. I’m all about elevating Gen X brands and have a whimsical enough history with them and eye for quality styles to resurrect some really special pieces. What I love about what I do, is that I am able to elevate some second-hand items, attracting a customer base to a sustainable marketplace who may not have otherwise arrived there. By investing the time and effort in the search for my items, then lifting them up by repairing and/or altering them, they become new again. But with all that yummy history and LUV, making second-hand pieces some of their favorites.

My small business may not have the widest reach or deepest affect on sustainability in the fashion industry, but by attracting a discerning clientele to my brand and opening up the conversations about more ethical shopping practices, my hope is that it will have more people thinking about how and where they shop. For every time we make the choice to *even try to* shop with more purpose, aimed at a better and more level playing field in the fashion industry and beyond, we are asking the universe to rise up with us.

Joannah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Although I have a wide range of clients, the commonality is their desire to stand out from the crowd and to do so looking and feeling their best in items that are one-of-a-kind, just like them. Whether they live in a creative or corporate setting, are nineteen or seventy-nine, they want to express their individuality and feel special every day. I help people wear their personalities with style and polish, whether it’s paired with a suit or ripped jeans, in a way that gets them noticed for all the right reasons.

My eye for style and quality are why my clients hire me, the wonderful relationship we build together is what keeps them coming back for more products and services. My philosophy in business as well as my personal life is to lead with grace and compassion. That, combined with my experiences working with clients is about so much more than the pieces I find for them. I wish I could bottle the feeling when a client puts on a garment or places a piece in their home that brings them complete joy. Understanding the human need for connection, confidence, playfulness and the benefits the ‘things’ we surround ourselves with, is what drives me every day.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I am still in the very early stages with Loved Up Vintage. Some of the best advice I’ve gotten from my contacts in marketing has been, “start yesterday” and by that they meant, get your brand name and images that relate to it out on the interwebs as soon as possible. I was told to go start a page on every social media platform that I even think I might want to have a presence on, so I did.

Right now it’s just me doing everything, and around a life that is in extreme transition. And shares may not be as consistent as I would like, but with every small post, reel, interview, blog post and story that I am able to manage, my message is getting clearer. So, by the time I am ready to do a hard launch it should be easier for us to connect with our client base. One of the best things about who we will be, is the realization that only real people, not models, will represent our brand and the diversity will be beautiful beyond belief.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

When I had my first Kiki Nass boutique in Austin and the recession of 2008 hit, I was carrying all my past due bills in a plastic bag between my home and the shop, every day. I was single and my only employee at that point, playing a traumatizing game of chicken with myself… when I had a good day at the store I would pay a bill there. Then if it was a slow week I would only pay one of my personal bills. This imbalance eventually got me behind on everything, everywhere including maxed out credit cards, that’s when I closed up shop and moved back home with my parents to lick my wounds, begin to heal from the trauma of it all and give myself permission to dream again. That was by far the hardest part of my professional and personal life at that point, and I was one of the lucky ones with a safe home and loving parents to go home to when I was almost forty years old. What a gift.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lovedupvintage.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovedupstyle/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=807348782782726
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannah-hillebrandt-a5a1119/