We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Christian Euzarraga. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Christian below.

Christian , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

I had been collecting vintage since my freshman year of high school in 2011. During my later college years I found myself missing classes and hanging out in thrift stores, even setting up my own stand in the middle of the college campus to try and make money. I had seen a setup before during my freshman year of college while attending The University of Houston right outside of the Cougar Village dorms. The income I made reselling vintage outweighed what I was making at our local Haagen Dazs ice cream store. In 2018 I found myself as the first employee of El Paso’s first true-vintage retailer. El Paso is a small town without much and when I first found out about this store I was ecstatic to go see what they had. After a few visits I found myself trading and even scalping a few personal items to this store. I wanted to do anything I could to get my foot in the door, regardless of what it cost me. After a few months I balanced my job at an ice cream shop and school along with thrifting and my latest endeavor. I finished my degree in finance from the University of Texas at El Paso during the summer of 2020. My apartment lease in El Paso ended a few months before I was set to graduate and my best friend asked me to move out to Houston with him and another friend of ours. The world was shut down, all businesses were closed and I was unemployed, it was either move back home with my mom or get my own place. I moved out my Junior year of high school and knew I wouldn’t be happy in this covid-era going back home. May 24th, 2020 I embarked on a 10 hour drive trailing my best friends car to move out to Houston, by the time we hit San Antonio we were deep in a rain storm trying to get to the north side of Houston. Needless to say, we made it, and I finished school online as I was couch surfing until we were able to move into our new apartment. While I was away a new business was bubbling back home, a vintage wholesale company ran by my former employers and their business partners. Deep down I knew I either had to find a “real” job in the field of finance or make my way back home. I wanted to help this business anyway I could so I began messaging well-known vintage retailers around the country and notifying them of this wholesale company back home. I went as far as selling off my personal collection to some store in Houston and driving out to Austin to present my personal product as inventory from this wholesaler. During the holidays I was able to return home and see friends and family and my first time getting a chance to “volunteer” myself as a picker was presented to me. To have access to vintage bales is a thrifters dream and once again, regardless if it was just considered volunteer work I knew I had to get my foot in the door. By April of 2021 there was a falling out between business partners and as a favor I offered to work months on and off to spend time in both Houston and El Paso. I finished 2021 spending more time in El Paso than I did in Houston and by the time I knew it I was in too deep to walk away now. Finding a “real” job was still difficult and honestly my pay just wasn’t worth the time and energy anymore. By April of 2022 I was presented with the opportunity to get my license as a insurance broker and the thought of being able to apply my degree and help people all while making my own schedule seemed like the perfect solution to my problems. However, it wasn’t as easy as it seemed. I always knew it took money to make money and being a broker was no different. I was also left with a sour taste in my mouth for just walking out on this wholesale job. I felt like I was taking my ball and going home, everything I had ever worked for seemed like a waste and it ate at me. I found myself once again working along side the company we were sourcing from, as an independent buyer at their showroom, an opportunity no one in El Paso had. I found myself extending any product I could get my hands on to my closest friends and former coworkers so they could get a piece of the pie we all felt entitled to. I had been doing this since July of this year and as we approached the fall my former coworkers were more than interested to work alongside with me and build a real name for ourselves locally. We began meeting daily to plan figure out how we could come together to build something great, to carve out our name and our own business. The day before thanksgiving of this year two of my former coworkers were dismissed from the wholesale company and were relieved of their duties. On my 26th Birthday (December 2nd) I learned we had a store front, and so it began. As of December 17th, 2022 One Size Fits All Vintage has been established in Downtown El Paso as the place to shop in Southwest Texas if you’re looking for any and all true vintage,

Christian , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was first introduced to ‘vintage’ in 2011. I was at track practice and one day a keyboarding teacher offered me and a few teammates the opportunity to help move his storage unit locations. We were offered some food and a few items to keep for ourselves. As soon as we got to the unit we were told this teacher used to own a sporting goods store and I saw everything from vintage snapbacks, to puffer jackets, tees, and and satins, along with other collectibles. It wasn’t until I was in college that I was told about the family thrift, which conveniently was a few minutes away from my moms house. I never really had a lot of money and I couldn’t believe the same vintage goods being sold through this thrift store similar to what I had seen in 2011. I began thrifting daily, to the point where it made more sense to miss college classes to thrift and make my money that way. At one point I had so much product I didn’t really know what I should do to get rid of it, so I decided to “pop-u[p” and show my fellow UTEP miners what I had to offer. I truly believe the success of my own pop-ups inspired my employers at that time to move forward with hosting a vintage market of their own, across the street from UTEP at Goodtimes Bar, in the Cincinnati bar district. These markets were the first opportunities for the local vintage community to meet up and Buy, Sell, & Trade. I’m not proud to claim myself as the “first” to do anything, I’m more proud of being apart of laying the foundation of something great for El Paso. From Pop-Ups, to working at a vintage retailer, building new local businesses and transforming a shoe-cleaning service shop into a curated retailer with both vintage and streetwear, to picking for a wholesale company and lobbing them their early clientele. I’m finally at a place in my life where I’m my own employer and anytime I ever thought to myself “If I Were You or in your position I would…”, as just a worker, I can let my work step up to the plate. Our Instagram, Google, and Yelp all claim “Vintage retailer with the best supply in the southwest. If we don’t have it in stock, we can find it for you.” We stand on that because we are able to contact a supplier on a daily basis and pick out exactly what our clients are looking for. We deliver, USPS isn’t the only option, we meet up with clients before and after hours, we send out invoices to clients, we carry all sizes, because One Size Fits All. Especially in vintage, most stores carry size Large and XL, we can go out there and get an XS, or 4/5X. All you need to do is send us a DM.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Although it may seem silly to some, Rap Music has played a big part in me deciding to always bet on myself. Whether it was KRS-1 and listening to his speeches on youtube or breaking down his rap lyrics and what picture he is trying to paint, Young Dolph, Bankroll Fresh, and Nipsey Hussle talking about being independent and going against the grain and not signing to a major label or brand. Makaveli, 50 Cent, Drakeo The Ruler, and DMX telling stories of overcoming the odds and finding the light at the end of the tunnel, fighting personal demons or beating the “system” and coming out on top. And of course some of the greats like Pimp C, Nas, & J Cole spitting knowledge on how men should carry themselves. Rappers aren’t the only artists I study, I love listening to any and all interviews these artists have done, there are many lessons to be learned from these people and their individual life experiences. Everyone loves the story of an underdog, they’re always inspiring.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I met my first business partner Derek Kettel at a pop up event at The Big THRFT Flea Market. We traded a few items and when I decided to move to Houston I referred him to replace me at THRFT Store (El Paso’s vintage retailer store), he quickly climbed the ranks and ended up working in person at our wholesale company. I met my other business partner Mario Favela in the family thrift. We were somewhat pitted against each other and made to believe we were both untrustworthy, in reality we were just both extremely competitive in what we were passionate about. Its a grind to get product and we both were hungry wolves. We never really interacted or talked until I returned to El Paso and before the falling out between business partners at the wholesale company he was a major buyer and eventually became the fourth picker on our wholesale team.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.instagram.com/osfa_vintage/
• Instagram: @osfa_vintage
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-euzarraga-2a9167246/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/one-size-fits-all-vintage-el-paso