Q&A with Matt Karlin of Old Manse Vintage: From Thrift Store Finds to Full-Time Dealing

We caught up with Matt Karlin, the owner of Old Manse Vintage, to discuss his journey into the world of vintage clothing, how the scene has changed, and what keeps him passionate.

Q: How did you first get into vintage clothing? Was there a specific piece or moment that started it all for you?

A: I kind of grew up thrifting just for fun. When I was in high school, a friend used to take me and other friends to the thrift store sometimes just to goof around. I remember buying a pair of 1970s wool plaid golf pants when I was about 18 that I wore when I got to college. I always liked secondhand stuff. I got more into thinking about it as "vintage" when I lived in San Diego in my mid to late twenties. I used to go to the thrift store every day after work as a way to decompress. I remember I found a 1988 Tour de France T-shirt. It was too small for me, but it was the first time I saw a piece of clothing and thought, "Whoa. Like this is pretty cool. I like kind of want to buy it, even though it doesn't fit me". That was also the first time I ever thought, "I wonder if someone would buy this from me?". That's kind of how I got started.

Q: Did you always start in vintage right after college, or did you kind of take some time? And what year did you start full-time?

A: No, way, way after college. When I first got the idea to sell, I think I was already about 26 or 27. I was working for a nonprofit at the time. I ended up quitting that job because I wasn't enjoying it much. When I moved back to New Jersey, where I'm from, I got a job at an antique store, and I started buying clothes with the goal of trying to sell them. I was doing it as a hobby, a side hustle, an experiment thing, for a long time. I was buying and selling just very casually around 2015. Then in 2016, when I was living in Massachusetts, I did my first pop-up. That event, where I made about $300, was kind of when my gears started turning because I realized I could make maybe as much money in a day from random thrifted stuff as I did working my job all week. It was still a side hustle at that point. My contract with a ballot campaign ended in November 2018. I had been getting more into selling clothes between 2016 and 2018. I thought, "I think I'm gonna try this". So the end of 2018, beginning of 2019 is when I started full time.

Q: What was the vintage scene like when you started compared to now?

A: It's so much different. In 2016, at my first pop-up, I think I was one of only maybe two vintage clothing dealers at the whole event. I didn't know anybody else doing vintage in Boston. I met a lot of other dealers later at a pop-up hosted at a consignment store. At that time, there were maybe about 20 people selling vintage in Boston, and it felt like that was everybody. We were buying and selling off each other. Now, there are maybe 10 markets every weekend, and hundreds of different vintage dealers in Boston. Everybody uses Depop or other online sales platforms. Everyone sells used clothes at this point. At the time I started, it felt like a smaller community, more of a subculture. Trends were different too; it was all about Polo Sport, Tommy Hilfiger, that 90s retro style, and Nautica. Now, it's super diversified with Y2K stuff, "true vintage" (older clothes) which is very trendy, and vintage T-shirts still being super hot. It's a way bigger deal now than when I was getting started.

Q: Do you remember your first big score? Or maybe that one piece that made you realize that this could be more than just a hobby or a side hustle.

A: My first big score that got my blood pumping was a 1991 Polo sweater with the bear on it, the polo knit bear sweater, called the Sit Down bear. I found it at a Savers for about $10 and realized it was worth like $200. That was back in like 2016, 2017. The first time it felt like it could be more than a hobby was at that Thrive pop-up in Davis Square. At the end of that day, I made over a thousand dollars. To me at the time, that felt like a significant amount of money. I remember having all the cash and showing my housemates, thinking, "you're doing something that like may have some legs".

Q: Do you have one item from your personal collection that you'll never sell, no matter what? And why?

A: I have a small collection of stuff I think is interesting. Clothes I wear usually aren't for sale; I wear them until they fall apart. One item that's kind of special to me is a souvenir jacket I bought from a friend around 2018. Souvenir jackets are embroidered silk jackets, reversible, that were a thing in World War 2 for soldiers in Japan to get custom-made. They have common motifs like eagles, dragons, or tigers. I bought two from him; I sold the one in good condition immediately, but the other one was "thrashed". At the time, thrashed condition wasn't desirable at all. No one wanted to pay me for it. I've had it for about 6 years, and in recent years, they've become much more trendy and valuable, and people started asking me to buy it. At that point, I was like, "nah dude," this thing has been with me for 6 years and is just a display piece. It's on a stand in my studio as decor. It's like, "You could have had it, but you didn't want it when it was available. Now it's not available now, it's mine". I'll probably keep it forever unless someone throws an ignorant amount of money at it, but I'm not really trying to sell it.

Q: How do you stay passionate after so many years in the business? What keeps it exciting for you?

A: I feel like I'm always just trying to do better with what I'm doing. There's a purely financial element of wanting to increase sales and money. The more creative or artistic element is getting curious about different types of items and trying to find things I perceive as special. Finding a type of denim jacket I've never had before or a really cool souvenir jacket keeps the search exciting. Preparing for big antique shows like Brimfield is a motivating factor, where I get to curate the best clothing I can possibly put together. I want to put together clothing I think is really cool and can feel proud of. I want a customer to walk into my booth and be like, "Whoa! Like? What is this!". I see it as putting on a show.

Q: What changes have you seen in buyer behavior over the last 10-15 years?

A: Fads have changed, which they always do. In 2016, it was all about 90s style, Polo Ralph Lauren, early 90s surfwear, neon colors, and mom jeans. Now, baggy jeans, early 2000s looks, and things like Ed Hardy are popular. With social media like TikTok, trends rotate way quicker and are more blended. Prices have gone up. Designer clothing is becoming popular again, and people are willing to pay up for brands they consider cool. I also sell a lot wholesale to Japanese buyers, and what they're into is very different from a casual American buyer. They have their own fads and trends that I have to try to keep up with, which causes prices to fluctuate on certain items. For example, those souvenir jackets I was selling for $200-$300 five years ago are a thousand dollars now. Keeping track of consumer behavior is an aspect of it.

Q: What do you think most new resellers get it wrong about vintage?

A: I don't think people really get it wrong. It's a pretty hard business to make into a livelihood. There's more competition for items now, but there are also more consumers buying used or vintage clothing, which is cool. I don't see anything wrong with new people getting into it. It's a completely open canvas for you to figure out. Every dealer has a slightly different approach. It's about figuring out what you're interested in and what you can make money selling, and finding the intersection of those two things. There's like no right or wrong way to approach it.

Q: Are there any current trends you think are overhyped or hidden gems people are sleeping on?

A: Overhyped... I think Carhartt has become this huge fad. The price of certain Carhartt jackets, even basic ones, are almost over a hundred dollars now, things I would have sold for $30 five years ago. I like Carhartt, but I think the price point has gotten to a point where it's not connected to the reality of how much of this stuff is out there. It's common workwear. The fact that people pay hundreds of dollars for particular cuts feels overhyped because it's not that crazy of an item, not that rare or unique. People pay for what's on trend at the moment. I cannot tell you what's being slept on. That would be my IP, confidential information. I have to make my money on it until everybody figures it out.

Q: What role do you think social media and online marketplaces play in the current vintage boom? Good or bad?

A: The role is huge. People who know how to use social media effectively can make more money than anybody else. I have a friend who is awesome at TikTok, and a video for an open house at her studio blew up, went viral with 100,000 views, and she had so many people show up. People with good mastery of social media are able to promote their businesses and attract consumers. Going viral can make demand for what you're selling get crazy. Social media also massively disseminates information about vintage. You can learn so much now that people were never able to before. Popular vintage accounts share information about things that some people will pay obscene amounts for, even if previously only a small group knew about it. This has completely changed the game. As for online marketplaces, anyone can sell vintage clothing now. You don't have to be a dealer; you can download an app, take photos, and post it. It's definitely democratized it. I personally hate taking photos, measuring, and dealing with online marketplaces; I find it tedious.

Q: Do you exclusively sell in person?

A: Pretty much, yeah. I have some stuff in a consignment store, Sound in Central Square, where I drop it off and they sell it. I do pop-ups where I sell directly to the consumer. I do appointment shopping in my studio. I guess I do sell online to a single person: I send boxes of clothes maybe twice a month to a guy who has a store in Japan. But I don't sell online generally.

Q: Where do you think the vintage market is headed in the next 5 years? Is there anything that you're specifically preparing for?

A: That's a really good question, but it's hard to say because things change rapidly in vintage. Even just locally in Boston, stores, markets, and promoters come and go. Part of my job is just keeping my eyes open. For my own business, I'm trying to get deeper and deeper into "true vintage" and selling to Japanese buyers. Their market is really strong and older than the US market. I've basically amassed maybe 15 to 20 of these Japanese buyers. I'm focusing on developing relationships with them and having inventory for them. I'm also trying to keep learning more about expensive and valuable items. Selling one item for $500 gets me further than selling many $20 T-shirts. I think true vintage is becoming more and more popular, and it's driving the price of items up. I'm curious to see how high it can go. I think there's always going to be young people who want to sell clothing or are interested in fashion, and I see that group of dealers continually cropping up and staking out new territory and trends. Those young dealers are the ones most tapped into whatever's trendy. I'm trying to be aware, but I'm not as interested in chasing fads necessarily.

Q: What's your sourcing process like? Do you rely mostly on online leads, in-person buying, or networking with other collectors?

A: It's like a blend. I still go to thrift stores a couple of days a week. I can find cool stuff there, but I'm usually not finding super special or valuable stuff because it's very competitive and random. I go to flea markets, which is somewhat newer for me. I try to get there when they're setting up because special stuff pops up at flea markets. I do a lot of networking with other vintage dealers. I go to other dealers with the goal of buying things that are good for my clients. I also source a lot online, which is "never ending". I look on Facebook Marketplace, Depop, Poshmark, and people's Instagram stories where they post random things for sale. I also do online auctions on certain websites. I am "by any means necessary" trying to find these clothes. It's a never ending constant hunt to keep this stuff coming into my hand so I can keep selling it.

 

You can show Matt some support by following him on instagram, @old.manse.vintage

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