Sunday, May 9, 2010

The life of a Vintage seller...

Back in the 80's I wrote in my High School yearbook that my future goal was to be an entrepreneur and sell vintage clothing. I dreamt of glamorous shopping trips to New York in a hot little convertible, wearing a stylish 1950's Dior suit, buying cocktail dresses and 1930's Hollywood Glam gowns!

Today's load still in the van

So today here I am, 20-something years later wearing ratty jeans and a filthy shirt armed with gloves and a double dose of Claritin, and my hot little convertible is a Ford 350 passenger van (or the "Church of Vintage Revival Bus" as my friends call it), and instead of buying 1950's cocktail dresses, I am buying 1000 pounds of vintage that have been hiding from the world since 1972 - which is code for "stored in an attic, eaten by bugs, (God help me if I find a mouse in here!) dirty, dusty, vintage."

Day 1: Half Empty!

But even after all that - I can't complain! How can I turn down buying a vanload of vintage packed away for the last 40 years! Who knows what we'll find!

A couple of today's hidden gems!

Now back to today - it will take me 2 days to finish emptying the van and sorting the items into piles: handwash, machine wash/outdoor dry, machine wash /machine dry, tumble dry only, good for crafting scraps, and unsalvageable (sniff sniff). It will take 5 days to clean all the items, 2-3 days to sort (again) by category and repair items, 2 days to inventory, price, measure, and tag items. So after almost 2 weeks the items will come to Kitsch-y-Cool Vintage in Charlotte or online!
Found a bunch of cutey 50's girl dresses - must figure out where to put these beauties!


It is definitely a labor of love!

4 comments:

AngelicaMartinez said...

It's like a treasure chest!!

Maggi said...

Wowowowowow, what a mess! But it looks like you've definitely found some treasures! I wonder if Toot would fit those kids dresses?! lol Good luck!

Olde Tyme Marketplace said...

Don't ya just love doing what ya love!
Beth

Anonymous said...

People like me are ever so grateful for people like you who do all the dirty work. It may not be a glamorous day in NY but it sure is FUN! Keep up the hunt.
Dina
smushiandbee.blogspot.com
I'm new to this whole blog thing.