Today we’d like to introduce you to Hayden Hendricks.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Hayden. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I got into thrifting when I was a freshman in college, I loved fashion and buying clothes, but I was a broke college student working part time to pay for my expenses. I noticed while I first started thrifting, there were so many cool vintage sports shirts, jackets and hats I would try to find for my wardrobe. Over time my friends and classmates would always ask where I got my clothes and how to see them. I am starting sourcing for my friends, looking for their sizes and their particular style and it made me happy finding something that someone would wear that I picked out for them!
As time went on, and some of my friends always went to these Dallas Vintage Popup Shops to check out what other vendors were selling, and it was really fun getting to know people in the vintage community. My friends would always be like “You should start vending and start a vintage brand!”, I always shrugged it off and thought it was too much work and I didn’t have enough money to start a business.
After graduating from college, I started working full time 8-5 and found myself bored after work and needed to find a hobby. I decided one day to start Nothing New Vintage, due to all the clothes I source were ‘”nothing new”. I had no clue where to start or what to do. I decided to follow some steps by starting an online store on an app called Depop. I will never forget how excited I was when I made my first sale for $6.00 on a Sublime band tee.
A couple of months went by and I started growing more and more inventory and made over 100 sales on Depop and the business started growing quickly! Then one day, I decided to make an Instagram page for my vintage account @nothingnewvntg. At first, I had no clue what I was doing but over time, I started to curate the page the way I liked it and only about having the page for about five months, I have over 1.1K Followers on that account. I love to have people send me pictures of the clothes they buy off me all over the United States and posting them on the account.
Nothing New Vintage has not even reached a year old yet and I am so proud how far it has already gone. I wish I could go back to myself in college and tell myself to start as early as I could. I was so nervous that it wouldn’t go well or other people thought it was not a good idea. Just taking that first step out of my comfort zone was such an amazing experience so far and I have so many plans to grow the Nothing New Vintage brand.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
There were definitely some challenges along the way, for sure! I remember my first Pop Up Shop. I decided to do it in Houston for a one day event. I had to get up at 3 in the morning with some of my friends, drove to Houston and get set up before the show started. Over the 6 hour event, I made like maybe five sales the whole day. I was so frustrated and upset about how it went. I thought maybe my items weren’t good enough or if my set up wasn’t appealing to customers.
About a couple of months later, I did another Pop Up Shop in Dallas. The difference was crazy. I almost sold out of all my inventory, and it was such a good feeling to see other people happy with the clothes they bought off me. I remember all the friends coming by to support me and just seeing how far Nothing New Vintage has come. From selling and keeping all my inventory in my closet, to having to rent a storage unit to hold all the inventory!
There have been so many ups in downs with running this brand. There have been times where I’ve asked myself, “Why am I even doing this?” and just remembering why I loved thrifting in the first place. It’s not about the money for me, but honestly, just that good feeling when someone appreciates the work you put in every day to find awesome vintage clothing and having that personal connection with them every time they wear that item from me. The best feeling in the world is just walking by someone and seeing they bought that item off you and sharing the bond of loving vintage culture.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Nothing New Vintage specializes in mostly vintage gear, collectibles, modern clothing and more. I am just proud of how far it comes from in a couple of months and just so excited to see the plans with the company. I think what sets Nothing New from others is just the customer interactions I get to have. I really enjoy not just selling you a shirt but seeing why you liked that item or the bond you have to it. I will never forget selling a vintage 1987 Sourheastern Louisiana Univeristy Champs sweatshirt to a guy who told me his dad was on that football team that won that year. He said he was looking for one everywhere on the internet and couldn’t find one. Just having that conversation and making a connection like that is what keeps me doing what I love!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://depop.com/haydenhendricks
- Phone: 682-438-3735
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nothingnewvntg/
Image Credit:
Matt Shelton Photography
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