We recently connected with Sarah Azzouzi and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Sarah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

When we first started Lost Girls we were in our 20s and didn’t want to remain stationary. We thought, why not travel with fairs and markets around the country and sell out of a moving store. We spent the next few months looking for a vintage RV or Bus to sell out of. We eventually found a vintage RV on craigslist that we were able to get for $1000. After putting all our savings into the rehab of the RV we started selling at local and national vintage markets! Thus Lost Girls was born.

Markets in Chicago eventually slow down during the winter months, so we wanted to travel to places that were warmer to sell at. We also wanted to make setting up and breaking downs at markets easier on ourselves so with the RV all we had to do was open the door and folks could shop.

For a while, the RV was the only car we had, so we took her everywhere.

Sarah, 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’m one of the co-owners of Lost Girls. I started selling vintage after college. I went to SAIC for fashion and fashion history, I have an intense love for clothing and it’s history. I was able to spot vintage easily when going to thrift stores, so I started buying some pieces, eventually I had a small collection of items I sold on Etsy and at markets.

Kyla and I met selling at vintage markets and realized we had a very similar style and worked well together. We both are passionate about making vintage fashion fit into our everyday wardrobe, which wasn’t common place in 2013. Almost every outfit we wear today has at least one vintage element in it. With vintage you buy quality items at a lower price point and keep items from ending up in landfills. If you extend the life of each garment you’re doing a big part in trying to make fashion more of a sustainable industry.

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

A big part of the success of Lost Girls came from starting our Instagram at the launch of Instagram itself. We were able to grow and understand that social media was going to be make or break for some businesses. We grew by telling our story, connecting with customers in person, and just being honest about how we run our business. We kept growing from adapting to all the changes Instagram has made over the years. We played with what we shared, from photos of our travels cross country, to food and drink we enjoyed in Chicago. We analyzed what worked the best and kept doing that. If you look through our Instagram you can see how it changed over the years.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

When we started Lost Girls, Kyla worked full time at Starbucks and I worked as a Nanny. We didn’t make much money but every spare dollar we had went back into the business. We didn’t have any money from any outside sources. We used money that we made from Lost Girls to help supplement our lives. When we opened our first brick and mortar shop we took a loan from an investor (who was also a friend) and had to pay it back with interest. Since then we’ve taken out shopify loans to get through growth periods or to invest in more inventory in advance. We’re thankful to have so many options now, because when we first started everything came from our individual savings.

Contact Info:

• Website: lostgirlschicago.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/lostgirlsvintage
• Facebook: facebook.com/lostgirlsvintage

Image Credits
Photo #1 by Alina Tsvor