We recently connected with Nick Battaglia and have shared our conversation below.

Nick, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later

As a vintage seller and theatrical designer, I 100% wish I could go back in time and start WAY sooner. I started my vintage selling business in October of 2018 which also coincided with my new work as a Prop Designer/Set Decorator for professional theatre. I had just gotten sober, and was reaching my sixth year at a terrible restaurant when a few upcoming opportunities fell into in my lap. The notion of failure constantly haunted me, but that fear was keeping me chained to the restaurant for safety. It seemed that when I put my ideas out there, everyone hyped me up for it. Everyone believed in my *but* myself. I consulted with some regular customers of mine who were full time artists, sellers, or creatives, and their advice was “You’ll know when it’s time to make the jump”. At that moment I decided to take the leap and invest in my career happiness instead of making money for someone else…and the rest is history. Looking back, I for sure wish I could have started all this earlier. I am constantly surrounded by things that make me happy and spark creativity and joy. Who wouldn’t want that earlier in life? But I have to step and look at my life and say that spiritually, I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready to enter these fields as a drunken mess. It wouldn’t have worked. The failure I was so scared of was behind me, in an avenue of life that I never took because of my decision to get sober. In hindsight, I firmly believe that it was all supposed to happen *literally* inch by inch, and step by step in the way that it did.

Nick, 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?

I am probably one of the biggest vintage nerds you will ever meet. I got into the vintage selling business because honestly I just kept buying stuff and I ran out of room. The stereotypes are so true – you’re a collector, then a hoarder, then a seller and 90% of the time it’s because you just run out of space and sanity. I got into theatre because I was desperate to get back into theatre after sorting my life out when my friend suggest I prop a show about Patsy Cline. It was early 60s, not many props, and a two person musical. I fell in love with that job and after that, the gigs lined themselves up.

As a vintage seller, I provide seven decades of kitsch to classy clothing in a wide variety of styles and sizes. I primarily focus on women’s clothing as that’s honestly my strong spot. I don’t feel as though I necessarily “solve problems” for my clients, but I like to think that I connect them with clothing they may otherwise not come across. I’ve shipped pieces all over the world, I’ve sold to films, theatres, shorts, major collectors, and the list goes on. I think what sets me apart from other sellers is the way that I have created some really lovely and lasting relationships with my clients and customers. Every customer gets a hand written letter of appreciation and a small gift themed personally to them and the item purchased. I have clients that send me Holiday cards, and I keep in contact with many customers regularly, keeping up with their lives. I’m honestly most proud of the fact that people associate me with vintage. It’s something I live every day, it’s a major part of who I am and I have worked very hard not only on my business but on my personal collection of furniture, decor, art, and housewares. I want potential clients to know that vintage clothing is truly meant for everyone, no exceptions – and that’s something that I firmly believe deep down in my heart. No matter your gender, your size, your ethnicity – vintage is for everyone to wear and enjoy, no exceptions.

As a Prop Designer/Set Decorator, I am in charge of designing, sourcing, fabricating, and supplying everything the actors onstage touch, interact with, and then decorate the space accordingly. This can range from buying chairs, to building furniture, reupholstering, sewing curtains, cooking food, making stage blood, and literally doing everything else but the pieces of scenery themselves. One time I had to fully dec out a fantastical version of James Beard’s kitchen in the 1980s with around 1,000 pieces of set dressing. Another time I had to build a table, a couch, two beds, and a cabinet. The problems I solve are usually centered around making everything easier, faster, safer, ahead of schedule, and under budget. I am most proud of the fact that I am a resident designer on staff at a theatre with regular pay, which is unheard of in Atlanta theatre. I hit the ground running when I was a new designer, and just didn’t stop. My dedication is fierce, and my work ethic is unmatchable. If people can take away one thing from this, I want people to know that Prop design and Set dec is not easy. I’m way more than a personal shopper, as most of the time I custom make furniture to fit the design, the space, and the budget. We start projects months in advance, and we work up until after the show closes. Prop designers work so hard to make a cohesive world between sets, lights, and costumes, and it is a mammoth amount of work.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

So for vintage clothing, I decided to go with my own website. I’ve done Etsy, I’ve done Ebay, and I just didn’t want to deal with it all. I could design the website myself, put up as many pictures as I’d like, I could have a submit/ask questions page, a sale page, a breakdown of clothing by decade, a personalized email…all under one umbrella website. The biggest deciding factor was both Etsy and Ebay show related items below the piece you’re selling. I didn’t want any outside vintage being compared to the pieces I was offering. I wanted my items to be the focal point. Overall, the website felt more professional, streamlined, and more personal to who I am as a seller.

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

Unlearning is SUCH a difficult process – and it’s truly a process that’s never done. I really had to unlearn that I wasn’t qualified and I wasn’t enough, and it’s a monthly/weekly/daily battle. I don’t have degrees in anything I do. I took one Production Design class in college, and never studied fashion or fashion history. Companies hired me not knowing that I had literally no experience. People bought vintage clothing from me not understanding that I had just started selling. Here I am, five years into both fields, and I still catch myself starting to explain my lack of experience prior to working in these fields…but then I have to mentally catch myself and see that I am in these rooms, doing the things I had dreamed about since I was a child – the things I always thought only other people could do…but not me. And I think “Why are you doing this to yourself?” – it’s in those moments that look back on what I have done, the personal and professional goals I have achieved, and I have to unlearn the delegitimization of my skills, to relearn that I am qualified, I am enough, and I am that person I thought I couldn’t be.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thatvintageguy.com
• Instagram: @that_vintage_guy_atlanta for vintage and @black_framed_glasses for props/behind the scenes of a vintage seller