We recently connected with London Spinelli and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, London thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I originally started Camp Buzzkill with my best friend Marz Exe in 2020 as a way to get rid of old clothes we didn’t want and make some extra money, but quickly realized our skills would be much more useful by making our own clothes. I noticed that there weren’t many black owned alt fashion shops and thought we could DEFINITELY make some room for us in that space. Honestly I just wanted to make clothes that I wished other brands would sell. For a while we were selling 1/1 unique items on depop but we really wanna expand our brand and start mass producing items on a more accessible platform so we decided to open our official store (coming this fall) through Big Cartel as a way to take us to a new level. Honestly, I’m so stoked. We’re gonna aim to offer a wide range of unique fashion items for many types of aesthetics and subcultures with original artwork and characters your spooky heart is sure to love <3

London , 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?

Well, um…. Hi, I’m London. I really suck at talking about myself but here goes nothing.

I’ve been a content creator for about 15 years and have been interested in fashion for even longer. As a teenager in the mid-00’s I started by dressing up with my twin sister, Roxy Vail, taking photos of our outfits to post online. All we cared about was fashion and our aesthetic. (Not much has changed in adulthood tbh lol) We didn’t have many friends growing up and the ones we did have never truly understood us and our dedication to fashion and punk/alt subculture. I’d sit all day in class drawing made up characters in clothes I wished I could wear or afford hoping one day I could be the one wearing and designing the clothes instead of being the one only wishing I could.
As I got older I kept posting online and soon other people started to appreciate my style and personality. I sort of gained a small following from it and the main thing they’d always say was “I wish you could style me. I love the way you dress and DIY things” and I was like “… you know what? Why not? Why can’t I dress and style people when it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do?” So in 2020, I used my stimulus check to take my love of fashion and start a business.

We started with 1/1 items but now I think we’re ready to handle a challenge. We offer made to order alt fashion items that range from small – 5XL as well as hats and cosplay accessories to cater to a wide variety of body types. Everyone can find something for them made by people that love and accept them for the weirdo fashionistas they are. We hope to one day be sold on your favorite alt fashion websites so keep an eye out for us!!!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Probably not to undersell my work and to not take on more than I can handle haha. Early on when we started, we were trying to do the most extra and intricate designs that were hell on our hands to recreate and we were selling for as cheap as we could. It bit us really hard because in trying to be affordable to everyone else, we never had money for supplies, packaging, or to pay out rent. It virtually became impossible to want to create when we were being bled dry financially. Now, we’re making designs that are not only affordable but our bones and joints aren’t crying for help at the end of most days. I definitely want to prioritize my mental health and run my business in a way that works with my body and financial situation rather than against it

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Being honest and original helped me a lot. I’m not trying to be like anyone else. I’m just making things that tickle my brain in a good way. People like the fun packaging because it’s very eye catching and personable. They also like our fast customer service and unlike a lot of other brands, we also offer custom commissions that people love and keep them coming back and shopping with us. People like when they get to collab on a really cool item that’s unlike anything in their closet. I love giving that feeling to people. I guess I have a reputation of being “for the subculture” and being “for the people”

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/campbuzzkill?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShopCampBuzzkill?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Other: Official BIGCARTEL website coming this fall