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Welcome to Founded On Purpose, the podcast where business meets impact. Hosted by Kt McBratney of Renew VC, each episode features founders, investors, and ecosystem builders answering the same set of questions. While the questions stay the same, the insights and conversations are always unique and thought-provoking. Join us to explore how these innovators are aligning profit with purpose.
Kt McBratney: [00:00:00] Hi, and welcome to Founded on Purpose, the show where we get to know the people working at the intersection of business and impact, profit, and purpose. I'm your host, Kt McBratney. Each episode, we welcome a founder, investor, or other change maker to the show to answer the same set of questions. And while those questions may be the same, the perspectives and the insights and conversation they open up are always valuable.
Wildly different. Our guests today fell in love with vintage fashion at the ripe old age of four years old, when she received her first piece of vintage. Since then, she's turned this passion into a profession using her years of experience as a vintage seller, customer, and collector to launch fashion conservatory, the destination for all things, vintage fashion, authenticity, community, and knocking down the gatekeepers are her jam.
So please welcome Fashion [00:01:00] Conservatory co founder and CEO Melinda Villarreal to the show.
Melinda Villareal: Hi everybody. Thank you, Kt. Thank you so much. I really appreciate this.
Kt McBratney: Oh, I'm so glad to dive in and like, you know, we have the same set of eight questions and I, I'm ready. Are you?
Melinda Villareal: I'm so ready. Let's do this.
Kt McBratney: So let's start here.
Always at the beginning is a great, a great place. It is. In one word, Melinda.
Melinda Villareal: What's my purpose in one word? Helping. I like to help people. I like to help animals. I like to help objects. Um, helping in general.
Kt McBratney: Tell me more about helping objects because helping people, helping animals, I'm sure we have lots of people nodding and they're like, yes.
Me too. How do you help an object? What does that look like?
Melinda Villareal: So, interesting thing in my industry, a lot of people that quote unquote [00:02:00] rescue vintage also rescue animals and other things. So, helping an object, when you find something out in the world, It was just a little bit of help to make it 10 more years, 20 more years and be serviceable.
I think if you can do that, you should. So when it comes to a vintage, you might find something that needs a new hem or needs cleaned or maybe needs a slight alteration to still be serviceable for the next several years. And we'll go ahead and fix it and send it back out to a new owner and a new life.
Kt McBratney: That's so interesting. And also because I know, I know you and I know your business, I've learned that there's a lot to learn about vintage fashion and not just designers and styles, but also the actual artifacts, like the garments themselves, how they're constructed, the different materials used, the different techniques, the craft of it all.
Plus also like the preservation, like how you store them, all of that. How do you weave that helping, right? Helping these objects, these garments. Not [00:03:00] just to make them wearable, but it sounds like there's also a reverence for them in how you talk about it. So, tell us a bit about like what that help in terms of preservation or celebration looks like.
Melinda Villareal: Yeah, so, When you see something in a museum, it's being helped, quote unquote, right? When you see something out in the world, you know, maybe an estate sale, a thrift store, in the trash, you know, wherever you might find the thing, which can pretty much be anywhere, um, helping to preserve that piece, in, in my opinion, is helping to preserve a little piece of human history.
So fashion is very intertwined with human history, um, We've been wearing clothes for tens of thousands of years. And I think it's not as revered as some of the other sayings that are considered human history. It's just like, oh, we wear, we wear clothes like this t shirt [00:04:00] I'm wearing, whatever, you know, I'll give it away when I'm done.
And a lot of people don't think like, well, 50 years from now, someone's going to want this t shirt. And That's what happens. I mean, right now, um, a lot of people are collecting like rock t shirts, vintage rock t shirts. And the person that bought that vintage rock t shirt at the concert wasn't thinking when they bought it, like, Oh, someone else is going to wear this when I'm done.
You know, 50 years from now, some kids can pay a fortune for it online. It is the coolest thing ever, even though I've been using it for the last five years to polish my car. And I think if people start thinking that way, like, oh, this, this thing I have is going to get passed on, um, I think that's pretty important.
It happens with furniture. It happens to things like quilts and heirlooms. But a lot of people don't think of it in the context of fashion or the clothes you wear every day. So people don't consider the clothes they wear every day is quote unquote fashion. Um, but it really is, you know, how you [00:05:00] choose to present yourself.
How do you choose to be comfortable in this world? The clothes you might wear that make working your job easier. All of those things are in some way, you know, that apparel and fashion world, and it's, you know, your history right now, the shirt you're wearing right now. It's getting recorded. It's getting put online.
Um, someday someone else might have that shirt and find your recording and be like, Oh my god, I found the shirt I was wearing. How cool is this? Next, that's what I do nowadays, with dresses, and I find an advertisement or a picture of the original owner wearing it to garbage. It's exciting. It's cool. So, right now, they're wearing a piece of history.
Kt McBratney: My banana shirt, it's both, Part of history. It's personal, but it's universal, right? I mean clothing is something we all share whether or not we share the same style their same reverence or have the same regard for it Which is beautiful and there is definitely a sustainability arc that we can dive into and we might come up later because sure
Melinda Villareal: Yeah,
Kt McBratney: fast fashion is a [00:06:00] thing and we can get into that rabbit hole later It might come up, but I want to name that right this idea of labeling What is fashion?
What is clothing? What is function? What is style? What is expression? It's all kind of bundled up with the history and the celebration of, of vintage fashion, which you, you live at the center of. Every day, every day. I love it. Well, speaking of that, and since you're in a place that you love, right? What's your most recent win?
Melinda Villareal: Well, we just got some really incredible consignment in from a museum. And unpacking those boxes was pretty spectacular. Um, I would say that's a, that's a pretty big one for me getting to, to see all these beautiful museum pieces.
Kt McBratney: What was the coolest? What was your favorite? The one that you thought about keeping for yourself?
Melinda Villareal: Honestly, Kt, there are so many, there's so many really incredible pieces in there. There's a Courage Jumper, [00:07:00] like a little strapless dress, very mod, like something you see pictured in the magazine, but it looks kind of like a gingerbread man, cause it's. No cream and it's brown and it's really structured.
It's very cool. Um, there was an haute couture Givenchy in there from the sixties. It's just blowing my mind. There was also really incredible black snake skin trench coat with fur trim and huge metal buckles that we've all been just. We have it on the end of the rack so we can just walk by it every day and look at it because it's pretty beautiful.
And there are so many incredible things in our warehouse, and it's just a privilege to kind of be a part of their life cycle as they move on to new places. I don't know if I could label. One win necessarily, you know, they mean
Kt McBratney: you're just, you've got to feel like a, like a, get it Christmas or something, or like, it's always your birthday opening up these boxes, um, though, you know, you're, [00:08:00] yeah, you're, you sell things online, but these are physical products and a lot of them come through your warehouse, right?
So you get these boxes. And sometimes it's a mystery and you, you get these gems, I'm sure sometimes it's not as exciting of an end, but, and how does that feel to just know that that's, that's part of the work?
Melinda Villareal: It's wild because sometimes you'll open a box and there will just be like, what amazing thing after another, and it's just too much to handle.
And sometimes you'll open a box and it'll be like old rags, but you know that there's like a reason those rags were packed up. Once you start digging through old rags. You just think, like, oh, maybe there isn't anything in here, and then you'll find a beautiful slipper set in 1940s leg dress. And it's just, you never know.
So it is absolutely always Christmas. And even when you're digging through the things that at first might not seem important, You find out that they are important to someone. So even though [00:09:00] it might not be cool to you, someone else out there is going to think it's really cool. And that is an exploration that I really love to take.
For example, one of my absolute favorite pieces in the whole wide world, it's People see what I sell online, and I think my favorite thing is going to be, I'll sell super fancy designer business, and it's a 1960s Men's Work Jacket in Baby Blue gabardine, which if you know what gabardine is, you know what I'm talking about.
And it is worn to heck and back, totally beat up. But it's so broken in that it feels like it's been mine forever. Even though I've only had it about 10 years, I feel like this coat was mine in another life. Like, this thing has lived a life, it has been worked to death. And now I'm a part of its next life cycle, and it's made in a way where even though it's really, really thrashed right [00:10:00] now, it's going to be here for another, you know, 30, 40 years easily.
And if I take care of it, because I'm probably not going to let it go for the next 30 years, let's face it, if I take care of it, it'll be here long after I'm gone. So sometimes unhappiness thing is that most people aren't gonna be that excited about. Uh, is, is more interesting than the stuff that's obviously cool, if that makes sense.
Kt McBratney: It does. It does.. It makes me think of Of these sliding doors moments and that adage that one person's trash isn't another person's treasure. Right? And absolutely comes with discernment and education. And of course, a static and time and all of that. But it seems like from an outsider's perspective as someone who's not educated in vintage, it seems like there is a lot of garments.
Right. There's garments out there, but there's a lot of combination of luck in timing and skill and [00:11:00] opportunity in finding something, be it for yourself as like a customer, um, museum as a curator or a collector, but also for you as. Really, like an e tailer, there's a combination of different factors and, you know, if, if, if somebody decides not to clean out their garage one weekend, it never ends up with you.
Or if somebody decides that they'd rather buy something from a big box store or fast fashion, they miss out on a big opportunity, which leads me to a bigger question. What would you say is the biggest missed opportunity in the field? Right? Like, you're sitting at this intersection as someone who's experienced different sides of it and is now building a platform to solve a lot of problems and meet a lot of needs.
But what is that biggest missed opportunity that folks just haven't grabbed yet?
Melinda Villareal: Yeah. So are you talking from a business, business perspective or personal [00:12:00] or personal perspective? So I can, I can go into either, either or.
Kt McBratney: Dealers choice. It could be yes and.
Melinda Villareal: So from a business perspective, I don't think anyone has taken the vintage fashion industry seriously, which is a huge mistake.
It's absolutely massive. People love it. It's sustainable and. What typically happens is a platform starts, they realize there's a lot of money to be made with the Vintage community. So they bring them all on board and talks them up like, Oh, we're going to treat you so great. We're building community. This is fantastic.
And then as soon as they build up their platform to be serviceable to a bigger like Walmart or Amazon style market. They step on the Vintage people, throw them out the door and start going with instead of one of a kind with things that are mass produced. And I think that's really horrible. Um, from a personal perspective, [00:13:00] missed opportunity.
It comes, it's a lack of education. So a lot of things get thrown out or trashed because the people that own them and have the control to sell or trash them don't understand that they have value. And I think that's a really big missed opportunity. And a lot of people that are in the vintage world, sellers, Buyers, professionals, whatever it might be, they have a tendency to want to keep their secrets.
Um, they want to be the only one that has the information about the certain rivets on the jeans that make them special, or the labels that are gonna bring more money. And they don't want to tell anyone else that because they want to be kind of like that, the main source for that information. And by not sharing that information, by not educating other people as to what's important and what's not.
A lot of people do see these old clothes as something to be disposed of, so a lot gets lost. We refer to it as, [00:14:00] like, it's lost to time, like, don't know where it went, it got trashed, it got used up, it got destroyed, whatever happened to it, it's been lost to time. So, um, I think that's a big problem in the industry nowadays, which is, it's becoming more obvious where people are selling online and TikToks about it and social media and all that kind of stuff.
But there's still a large portion of the population that is very new clothing focused, that will come across a bunch of old stuff and just get rid of it, sometimes throwing it in the trash can. And it, it can be highly desirable, but it can also be like, even if it's not highly desirable, it's something that can be used instead of going into the trash, you know?
So I think those are two pretty big, uh, opportunities in my industry.
Kt McBratney: It's always interesting to hear about it from an insider's point of view, right? Because I'm sure everyone listening has an opinion about fashion and is like, Oh, I could never do this. Or yeah, I like to donate or I use everything until it's in threads.
But [00:15:00] you have decades of experience from different angles and really being able to tilt that prism of perspective to say, like, here's this. This need, this opportunity that is missed from multiple different angles is really always such an insightful, insightful question and building on something you feel very confident in.
We're going to move on to the next question, which is when was the last time you were wrong, Mel?
Melinda Villareal: The last time I was wrong, you know, like every day, so there's a running joke in the office that whenever I specifically make a plan and get organized, we know that's the one thing that will never happen. And sure enough, last week, I made the mistake of getting really organized and having a plan for the next two weeks.
And one of my main employees, her car broke down and she wasn't here for three days, so we had to postpone everything. So it's just like, sometimes I feel like pre planning [00:16:00] things. Nope, I should know better by now. It's always, something's gonna hit the sand, and it's always gonna get rescheduled. And if you're talking about like, wrong, a different kind of wrong.
All the time, it was vintage, like, There's no definitive answer with a lot of vintage. So sometimes you'll be looking at something, and you'll think, Oh, that looks 70s, that's gotta be 70s. And you'll open it up and start looking at the labels, and start looking at the seams, and start looking at how it's put together, and you'll realize, Oh, wait, no, that's just A primitive sewing technique in his excellent nineties.
So that kind of stuff happens all the time. Like always looking deeper. Um,
Kt McBratney: what are the implications of being wrong or getting that right when you're, when you're dating or, um, identifying like a garment, like what happens if you're, if you hit the, hit the nail on the head exactly. And what, like, what, what's the implication?
It's like, you're like, Oh, [00:17:00] oops. I thought that was 1940s.
Melinda Villareal: So for me, if I'm not sure, because I'm listing things online, like in my, in my personal life, it's different, but because I'm listing things online as someone who is a quote unquote, you know, vintage fashion expert, because I have so much, so many years of experience, et cetera, um, take away those air quotes, you've earned it.
We're throwing those air quotes away. But I think that, like, when it comes to something like vintage fashion, there's no way to be an expert because it's constant learning. There's too much. So I can be an expert at one aspect of vintage fashion and not the other. Does that make sense? It's kind of like someone saying they're an expert in Photoshop.
You know Photoshop's too big to be an expert in every little thing. They may have like certain sets of things down great, but an expert in the whole thing, you know, like. I kind of, I kind of shake my head at that, right? So for me, venture's just kind of the same way. There's just too much to claim to be an expert in [00:18:00] all of it.
Um, so back to clothing and listing it and trying to tell a customer as much as I can about the thing. If I'm not sure, I will just flat out say, I'm not sure, and I will give reasons as to why. The other day I was working with a dress that it was an Edwardian dress that had been shortened for the 1920s.
And at first glance, you think like, oh, that's a dress like on the cusp. Like, okay, well, it's on the cusp of this era or that era. But in reality, when you start looking deeper, when you start looking under the surface, it's actually truly an Edwardian dress that was just altered to be shorter for the twenties.
So those kinds of things you're running into all the time. In the thirties, for example, they have these beautiful long dresses that came back again in the seventies and you'll see a lot of dresses that look a little seventies that are actually late thirties, early forties. And you'll also see a lot of 1930s dresses that have been [00:19:00] altered to fit the 70s aesthetic.
So, you know, they had the trains cut off and they were worn more as day dresses, evening dresses, those types of things. There's so much going on all the time, um, yeah.
Kt McBratney: It sounds like being able to pinpoint, and to, and when you're accurate on that, it sounds like you're able to find the home for that garment, or at least like put it out there as like, the more accurate you can be, the more it can find its new rightful owner.
And if folks are out there. Listing things that they know nothing about. Not only are they not rehoming these garments and preserving history and craft and all of that, they're also leaving money on the table.
Melinda Villareal: They can, but I think too, at least a lot of the vintage sellers that I know. They're more concerned with, you know, making a profit on what they need, which is great, and getting it into new hands in, in a safe and sound way.[00:20:00]
So, even if you, even if, then there have been plenty of pieces where I've been like, I really don't know, like, I think it's one thing, but this indicates another, and I'm not sure, and it could be just a really good reproduction, and. It happens, it happens with vintage, um, especially in some of, like, the weird cust eras where it's like, it could have been 50s, could have been 60s, I don't know, um, But I think when it comes to that, I think a lot of sellers do fear being wrong, but I think when it comes to that, if the seller is just very clear about, Hey, I don't know, I think that's okay.
Kt McBratney: I think, I think I don't know yet. it's, it's a power sentence for an entrepreneur.
Melinda Villareal: I think so too. I think a lot of people are very concerned with being right. And there's that fear of being wrong. And for me, it's just like, I'd rather say, I don't know if I'm right, but I'm just trying to find out. As best I can, I'm going to try to learn.
I'm going to try to figure it out versus like not putting it out there because I'm afraid of being wrong. That [00:21:00] makes sense.
Kt McBratney: It does. It does. Now that we're taking some, some, uh, stances, we're going to hit the halfway mark with question four, which is always a fun one. What's a hill you would die on? It can be as serious as you want or as silly as you want your choice, but this is the first time I get to ask a vintage fashion expert and CEO what hill they'd die on, and I'm not.
Passing that opportunity up.
Melinda Villareal: There are two major camps when it comes to vintage. One of them is you own it. You can do whatever you want with it. And the other one is preserve it as best you can for future generations. I'd have preserved it as best you can.
Kt McBratney: Ooh, took a side.
Melinda Villareal: That would make some people upset.
Like for me, it's like eventually that piece is going to get worn down enough that it's going to have to be altered to survive anyway. It's a piece of history. There aren't, they aren't making, they aren't making 1950s dresses anymore, right? [00:22:00] Like, that 1950s dress should stay, you know, as it is. And by alterations, I'm not talking like, a little bit of tailoring to make it fit your body more correctly, which I'm totally here for tailoring.
But I'm talking like, um, taking a 50s dress that's knee length and chopping it off to make it a mini dress to make it cute. You That kind of stuff. I just, I can't.
Kt McBratney: You're like squirming in your seat just even talking about it. Um, which I think is interesting. And I've learned that, you know, yes, we're talking about the 50s.
We're talking about the 60s, Edwardian, things like that. You have things in your warehouse. From the 1700s, like two pieces that have been preserved for a real long time,
Melinda Villareal: really long time. And just things like had that guy in the 1700s, like chopped off his jacket to make it suit more modern times. We wouldn't have it anymore.
And I think people forget that, like future [00:23:00] generations are going to want to see what existed before them. Right. And there's a really interesting aspect of working with vintage. You get to touch and handle these things. In a way that most people don't get to. There are so many things I've handled that you would only get to look at in the museum.
You'd never get to look, you know, look at the inside and see how it's made or feel it and feel the weight of it, the textile quality and the likeness stuff. So, you know, we're really privileged to still have pieces out there that you can hold and touch and examine. Um, and I think it's important that we keep those around as much as we can for future generations.
And that becomes difficult with certain textiles, you know, things disintegrate over time. And with those, I think it's important to visually preserve them. A lot of what gets preserved in museums is the highest end of the highest end, um, you know, with the promenades and the label and all that kind of stuff.
The things that don't get preserved are like [00:24:00] 1930s flower stack dresses, you know? Those are really amazing. They should be getting preserved. You don't get the love that the beautiful Hollywood 1930s evening gowns get. So I think for me, preserving, especially the work wear or the everyday wear of the people is just as important as these higher end things.
And I think through selling vintage, we really get a chance to do that.
Kt McBratney: I want to add to that. Dig in a little deeper here because with our next question, because it sounds like a very at times intense role, right? And I know you have a team, you're the CEO. Yes, of course, as an entrepreneur, as a startup founder, you do all the jobs, whatever needs to get done.
Um, but as you've grown, being able to bring on a team and it's not only you digging through boxes, only you fulfilling orders like those days are, are, uh, um, Moving past. So like the seriousness of running a business, right? [00:25:00] It's not an easy thing to do. It's not an easy thing to do in this market. It's not as easy thing to do when you don't pattern match to who typically gets funding.
Given all of this and the seriousness of constantly learning, constantly being in touch with customers and the vintage community, how do you play? What does play look like in your life?
Melinda Villareal: Oh, wow. So. I haven't gotten to properly play in a very long time. Um, and honestly, I can't do them to say this, but if I did have the opportunity to just go play and have fun, I would be going out and sourcing vintage.
So it's like, even though, even though like I'm working and this is my job and I do it every day, when I get a chance to go out of town or go to a new place, I'm [00:26:00] still, you know, making those phone calls and checking those estate sales and seeing what's out there, you know, seeing what vintage is like in this town.
And as much as I've tried not to do that, I'm like, no, I need to take a complete break from work. No vintage, turn the phones off, turn the computers off. It really doesn't happen. Um, it's something I enjoy doing. And even though I do it every single
Kt McBratney: day, it sounds like it's like you even speak about it with joy and the same kind of joy that comes every day.
Doing something you love.
Melinda Villareal: So play for me is unpacking boxes. Play for me is washing something that's absolutely filthy and seeing it get clean again. You know, um, handing something off to the lady that does our restorations and saying, okay, like. There's a football sized hole in this skirt, how do we [00:27:00] either relieve it or, you know, keep it as original as possible while still preserving its wearable integrity, and then seeing that piece, like, go out into the world as a wearable garment, you know, when it wasn't before.
I think those things, for me, are what get me excited. Um, So, you know, if it's, if it's not going to be rescuing clothes, then maybe I'd be rescuing dogs or something because
I can't
Kt McBratney: help helping. You can't help yourself from helping your purpose is so ingrained in who you chose a great, you chose a great career in business for yourself then.
Melinda Villareal: Basically, cause I do, I mean, don't get me wrong, there are days I didn't know where I'm just fried and I just want to like go do nothing, but I will still catch myself like looking at what other people might have and Ooh, look at that cool thing. Um, It's like sometimes I'm like, no, put the phone down.
It's okay. It's not, you know, vintage today, but it happens every day, no matter what.
Kt McBratney: So what would you say is the hardest part of your job and [00:28:00] what's the best part of it?
Melinda Villareal: The hardest part of my job is that a lot of people don't take vintage seriously as an industry. Um, and I'm sure any vintage sellers out there are going to relate to this.
When your parents are like, well, you're going to get a real job. It is a real job. The industry needs to be taken more seriously. It's, it's a 42 billion market stagnant. It's huge. And there are a lot of people out there that love this stuff, just like I do. And it needs to be taken seriously as an industry.
Um, and then what was the other question?
Kt McBratney: It's what's your favorite part of the job, but I want to ask a follow up question on the hard part. So wait, before you answer that, I want, I want to ask a follow up question, um, to the hardest part. Because you're in, and I'm asking because out of genuine curiosity, because it sounds like you're living in the vintage world, right?
You're talking to sellers, you're talking to [00:29:00] customers. So who is it hard to convince that vintage is serious and that it's a big industry? Because it doesn't sound like it's sellers and customers. So who do you need to convince? And that's the hard part of the job.
Melinda Villareal: Yeah. So first it was parents, of course, when I very first started, it was parents.
I know. So most of the people that work with me have the exact same problem. Their parents want them to get out of the vintage industry and find a real job.
Kt McBratney: Y'all are grownups. It's not like y'all are 17 still living at home.
Melinda Villareal: Oh, and then, you know, being in the startup world and talking to people in the startup industry.
You know, that whole, it's a completely different universe than the vintage world, they're focused on the future, vintage is focused on looking at the past and bringing it, you know, into the contemporary world. And Star Trek is constantly focused on like, what are your numbers and what's the future? And when you mention that you work with old clothes, the [00:30:00] reaction is just like, who wants old clothes?
Because it's just not a part of their world and it can get really exhausting. It's like saying, who's into antiques? You know, no one asked that. Everyone knows there are a lot of people into antiques, right? Um, who's into history? It's a degree. A lot of people are interested in it. But for some reason, clothes like that aspect of fashion really takes a back seat.
And I know, um, some of the argument out there, some of the discussion around why this might not be taken seriously. It's traditionally women's work, um, fashion is, you know, some of the major fashion designers are men, but because the work behind the scenes, the sewing, and the construction, and who's doing what.
Who is being marketed to, a lot of that has to do with women. And unfortunately, in our society, a lot of things that women love aren't taken seriously. They're seen as frivolous. And I think vintage fashion between the [00:31:00] history and the majority of sellers and buyers being women, it can really, um, take a backseat.
Kt McBratney: Thank you for pointing that out. As you were talking, it was like, this sounds like some gendered BS and I'm glad you mentioned it.
Melinda Villareal: When I, when I say that the majority of buyers are women, an interesting aspect of that is that the majority of the clothing that remains is from women. So men tend to buy vintage fashion on kind of the same scale as women, except there's just not as much of it out there because traditionally men only needed a few suits and like a couple of leisure pieces and they just wear things to death.
Whereas women had to be seen in a different dress at every event. And so there's a lot of vintage women's wear left over, but the men's wear, a lot of it has just been worn to death.
Kt McBratney: Fascinating. I [00:32:00] want to, okay, there's a, there's typically a different eighth question, but it's my show, so I can change the rules on the fly if I want, and that's what we're going to do.
Um, Because you live at this intersection of vintage fashion, where it's looking at the past and bringing it into the contemporary, to use your words, and startup tech world where it's using technology to build something that doesn't exist yet, to solve a problem in a new way that's never been done before, where do you think the opportunity for vintage fashion to shift as an industry is?
Like, why blend those two worlds? If there's, you know, happy little sellers somewhere, customers are finding what they want. And the quote unquote tech world doesn't get the opportunity. Why are you pushing the boulder up the hill? Cause it must be hard. And obviously you love vintage, but there's lots of ways to love vintage that isn't this.
So what's this big opportunity you see to take this into the [00:33:00] future?
Melinda Villareal: Sure. So. As someone who sells one of a kind items, right? If I'm doing it by myself, it's really hard to get seen. But if I joined together with tens of thousands of other people selling one of a kind items that are similar to mine, they're talking to the same customer that I am, now all of a sudden it gets a lot easier.
So our industry has been very fragmented, lots of different marketplaces. None of them work for our community. Customers don't know where to go to find what they're looking for. There are a lot of sellers out there that are not educated in vintage. And so they're falsely misrepresenting goods and not necessarily on purpose, just because they don't know any better.
Um, and there's, it's really difficult to learn. So, for me, the opportunity is bringing everyone together. Um, so, someone we both know said it best, the problem is the opportunity [00:34:00] and the problem of everything being fragmented, you know, and that opportunity to bring it together into one hub, um, I think is really.
The opportunity in our industry, because when we're together, we're a lot stronger, the customer has one place to go. The seller has one place to go. Um, and it really brings both sides, you know, to a single point, um, which increases the entire industry success.
Kt McBratney: I'm sure people have lots of different opinions about how you go about and do that, right?
Their own experiences and their own perspectives. How do you know what advice to take? And what to graciously say, thank you. And we'll leave it at the table.
Melinda Villareal: I'm a very decisive person. I can make decisions very quickly. Um, and when I get new information, it's kind of like an automatic. Yay or nay inside my brain, and when I get a piece of [00:35:00] advice that isn't either one, that's something I know to explore deeper.
So getting a lot of advice from people in the start up world that don't understand vintage, um, a lot of it will come through and will be an immediate yay or nay. And then some things will come through that really make you think like, Oh, I hadn't looked at it from that direction before. That's a completely new perspective.
And those are the things that I really. Enjoy exploring. So kind of sifting out that false information. You can immediately feel if it applies to what you're building or not. And if it doesn't immediately apply. It's easy to just kind of like, okay, that was great advice. Thank you. I move on. And if it does apply, it's, it's your notice.
You've probably already thought of it or thought of something close. And that's what makes you go, Oh, I've never, I've never thought about that before. That's really interesting. That's when I know to, you know, really dig in. [00:36:00]
Kt McBratney: I love that. That has my wheels turning on some things that I, some opinions and advice I've received recently.
So I'll be putting that to practice now for those people who have yet to explore or have Thank you. Are now thinking, Hmm, I never thought about that in regards to vintage fashion. Where can they find you? How can they dive in? Where's the best way to get started with fashion conservatory?
Melinda Villareal: Fashion conservatory. com. Um, the best place to get started is browsing. Honestly, look at the things, see what appeals to you, see what might work with your sense of style, know your measurements, that's very important, and instead of exploring with something, maybe a piece of jewelry, maybe a handbag, something that you don't necessarily have to, you know, dress your whole body in, just get a feel for it, see if it's something that you like.
Is that like a drop t shirt? Yeah, exactly. Something that's low key and will just kind of blend in with your contemporary wardrobe. [00:37:00] And then some people think like, if you're going to start wearing vintage, you have to wear everything vintage. That's really not the case. Personally, myself, I like to mix vintage with contemporary.
I think that suits my personal style best, and um, I think it's okay. Some, some people want you to go all vintage, you know, people are gonna have opinions, let them have their opinions, that's cool, and do what you're comfortable with, do what makes you feel good. And that can be something as small as a pair of earrings or a brooch.
That can be socks. Uh, it can be a vintage rock t shirt, you know, whatever, whatever you, you find sticks your personal sense of style.
Kt McBratney: Awesome. And, and for those who are the history buffs, tell folks how they can dig into vintage history on fashionconservatory. com because you have a historic treasure trove.
Tell us about that.
Melinda Villareal: To you. So we have the largest archive of fashion labels online. So if you're interested in learning about specific labels or designers, [00:38:00] brands are out there. Um, you can definitely dig into that. There's, there's so much. It's just like a treasure trove of labels and images. I think we're at 4, 000?
We keep adding more every day. So I haven't necessarily thought of an exact date, but I think we're about 4, 000 labels online and over 80, 000 garment images. And then if you're just interested in reading stories about fashion, we have a great blog. Um, our archivist really likes to explore little known dressmakers from the 1800s that were just kind of working in their own small towns.
There's some really great stories about those. There's some great like weirdly vintage fashion that is true prime. Long posts written that Patti has done that are just absolutely fantastic.
Kt McBratney: I will say I did, I did the other day, end up in a rabbit hole around the Titanic and some dressmakers and how it's linked to that tragedy.
That was a fascinating story that I never knew I needed to know. So if you like [00:39:00] pulling down quick and easy to process rabbit holes of history and ephemera and style and fashion. You will be happy. I can, I can attest personally.
Melinda Villareal: Next time you're here, you should absolutely talk to Patti about that because there's, there's so much more that isn't even included in the blog that she is just, I think she's going to do another post about it that has to do with like the first wedding ever filmed and what did she have with the Titanic instead of the sinking and somebody owning it so then it's moving away and it's, it's wild.
There's some good stuff in there and Patti's a great writer.
She has so much fun with it.
Yeah.
Kt McBratney: Well, in thinking about, you know, that preservation angle of it and, and the hill you will die on each of those garments, even what we're wearing today carries a story. And so if we're talking about something from decades and or centuries ago, think about all the stories, that shirt, that dress, that skirt, that [00:40:00] jacket.
Could tell even what we're wearing today, if it's brand new and you're the first person to wear it, you're not the first person that's touched that garments history, both from the idea, the design, the manufacturing, the shipping, like, It's all, it's all part of one much.
Melinda Villareal: And then if you take care of it, you won't be the last person to touch it either.
Kt McBratney: Yeah. It's a much bigger fabric than one of us. Thank you so much, Mel, for joining us. Fashion conservatory. com for everybody who is interested in learning more. Uh, there's also a contact and social media links on there so that you can follow along, see and learn about some beautiful things and get involved yourself.
Mel, thank you again. This has been a delight.