We were lucky to catch up with Kaylan Mitchell recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Kaylan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry
We’re seeing a great uptick in Gen Z whom are interested in vintage and thrift thanks to apps like TikTok and Instagram reels! On the whole, we have more engaged shoppers now, all of whom are more concerned with the impacts that new clothing has on the environment – so they’re looking to shop secondhand.
When we started working in vintage more than a decade ago, we’d often have older ladies come into the store who would turn their nose at the whole notion of buying secondhand. “Is this all USED clothing?” they would snort. “Yes! It is!” I would reply, “Try finding a dress from the 1950s that’s not *used* – but it’s all been hand selected, cleaned and repaired.” Still, they’d thumb their nose and walk out the door.
What a difference a few years make! Now, the younger generation is interested in not only secondhand, but how to wash clothes properly, how to do their own repairs. Plus, they want unique pieces, high quality pieces that are one-of-a-kind – and they’re not afraid to mix and match pieces from multiple decades! Which is exactly what we’ve been after! We’re LOVING Gen Z’s enthusiasm for vintage, thrift, and sustainability.
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.
Hi! I’m Kaylan Mitchell, and I’m co-owner of The Getup Vintage in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We have been a vintage store for 18 years, with myself and my partner Lindsey at the helm for the past 8 (we were the employees of the old owner, so we’ve been there for longer!).
I personally got into the industry because I used to play in rock and roll bands and I wanted a new, unique ensemble for every show I played! Vintage and thrifting was a great way to acquire stage costumes for cheap and – because this was the early 2000’s – not support fast fashion, which was just starting to be on the rise at that time. I started costuming my bandmates and other bands too for stage, photo, and video shoots and soon my wardrobe exploded, so I had to start selling to vintage stores, too. Because of that, I became more aware of brands, designers, and how to look for quality pieces. I started working at The Getup Vintage as a side job, but ended up spending my entire paycheck back at the shop – the job was to support the clothes habit! When the old owner wanted to retire, it was a no-brainer that we would buy the shop and continue the tradition of small business & vintage on State Street in Ann Arbor.
A major problem I’ve noticed among vintage shopping is that smaller sizes tend to survive longer than larger ones do. It is a common misconception that ALL people were smaller back then – people have been all sizes for all eternity. But, it’s easier to repurpose a larger house dress into clothing for your kids, simply because there is more fabric yardage! So, the larger sizes are hard to come by, and although we try to be very purposeful in our sourcing of vintage, the modern consumer needs more sizes and I don’t blame them – I don’t fit into a XS waist, either.
So, I have a solution for that! It’s called COSMIC by The Getup Vintage and we’ll be launching this Fall 2023. I’ve sourced yardage of vintage fabrics and had a local professional seamstress grade vintage patterns from XS-3XL to make newly produced garments completely out of secondhand materials. That way, when you walk into our store, you have choices and you know that SOMETHING will fit you. And, the garments are still made on a small scale so there’s only a few of them (at most a dozen of the same fabric), and they’re very unique (as opposed to thousands at a fast fashion company), and they’re all assembled locally out of secondhand material – completely sustainable!
How’d you meet your business partner?
I met Lindsey when I was hired at the shop and then she asked me to help run a fashion show for See eyewear company x The Getup Vintage! Besides styling the models in vintage looks to go with their glasses, it was my job to dress / undress models for their runway looks quickly (in 20 seconds or less) so they could get back out on the runway – it’s harder than it sounds! But, we worked really well together for that show and became fast friends.
Lindsey has a degree in theater costuming, I am pursing a Master’s in accounting. Although we’re both very creative, we both have different strengths and that’s the reason why our partnership has benefited The Getup so much.
Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?
We do! We sell on our own site through Shopify (shopthegetup.com), Etsy, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Ebay, and more. For ecommerce, I embrace the approach of “why not all of them”? Since every platform has its own strengths and weaknesses, we utilize a few apps that sync our listings across multiple platforms and delete them across platforms when sold. That way, no matter where YOU want to shop, we’re there, too. A few of the sites – like Ebay – we reserve for different offerings, such as wholesale jewelry lots, a group of 1950s dresses – more so for fellow vintage dealers. As a seller, I’ve found it’s best to embrace every avenue you can and try out different platforms for your items!
Since we have a brick and mortar vintage store, I really try to cherry-pick pieces that I want to feature online since it does take a considerable amount of effort, no matter how streamlined I make the listing process. Clean, repair, photograph, measure, weigh, research – it’s a lot of work, so we have to make sure the pieces we feature are worth the effort!
Across all platforms, I am very rigorous about measuring my garments carefully in inches with a cloth measuring tape, and stating “modern” size on a standardized sizing system that I’ve created for the store (because vintage clothing tags mean just about nothing, with different brands, different decades, inflated or deflated size numbers, et cetera!). It’s very difficult to sell vintage online due to every item being unique and different, but I try to make my listings accessible to the modern consumer.
Contact Info:
- Website: shopthegetup.com
- Instagram: @thegetupvintage
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/thegetupvintagea2
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/getupvintage