Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kayla & Maddie Hughes. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kayla & Maddie , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

We both have always been in search of a good deal and loved keeping up with the latest fashions. We both began thrifting our clothes a couple years ago and found that there were many amazing items that we were leaving behind because they weren’t our size or our style. From this Black Cat Thrift was born! We began doing some market research and seeing what items were selling quickly on sites and what marketing stood out to customers and opened our “virtual” doors at the beginning of 2023. The pandemic also spurred us to create an online thrift store because of the growth of online shopping and selling! The name of our business comes from our two fur babies, Pickle and Diesel, who are both black cats. Their playful and carefree attitude is something we bring into our business.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

We began our business in the beginning of 2023 and are an online Thrift Store for Women’s & Men’s clothing, shoes, and accessories. We got into our business after many years of thrifting for ourselves and wanting to bring some of our finds to the market. We strive to have quick shipping and provide our customers with customized packaging and friendly customer service. We have shipped all over the United States and even across the Atlantic to the UK. We bring mid- level brand name items to our customers at an affordable price, while still having great quality. What sets us apart from others is our wide variety of sizes and styles, opening us up to a larger market of customers. We also branch out into in person events as well, bringing our brand and personality of the brand to craft fairs in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

We use several platforms to list our items for sale. Our favorite apps to use are DePop, Curtsy, Mercari, and Poshmark because they are specifically curated for selling clothing and accessories. Sharing our listings on these apps makes it easy to track our sales and profit, while also taking note of what sells well and what does not. The only downside is that most apps lean more toward women’s clothing, making it a little more challenging to successfully sell men’s apparel.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

While our social media presence is still growing we have gained some traction in our year and a half in business. We have found that curating hashtags that have a relevant present on the social media platform you are using and relevant to your post help to bring new followers to your account. It is also important to follow new trends and new social media platforms such as TikTok.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://black-cat-thrift.square.site
• Instagram: black_catthrift
• Other: https://linktr.ee/blackcatthrift