Defunkd

[hermosavtg]

Seems to be vintage clothes is the only thing we, the USA, export to Asia!

Supposedly the Japanese vintage craze has already passed its peak a few years ago, at least thats what a lot of the guys at the flea markets tell me. But still they come to LA on a monthly basis, buy in bulk, and pay inflated prices to export. A lot of the Mexican "ropa usada" warehouse/mill pickers cater specifically to Japanese clientele, and I imagine they still make a killing on them. It's all cash. I guess they have their own vintage economy out there, since as far as I can tell the Japanese are not big buyers on eBay. Anyway it will be a tall order to keep Japanese out because they pay top-cash-dollar and buy in bulk.

I'm down for exploring the possibilities! There is only so much one small seller can do to expand.

[chasemac]

Man, you guys are really getting crazy with this shit. I have been straight up cold calling suppliers the last couple days, just gettin after it. It might be a slow market right now, but it's also a slow economy. The t-shirt will never die. I repeat the t-shirt will never die.

It appears a lot of mills and such are super low on vintage stock and several have shutdown their vintage lines, which means they are mixing everything together. This might be sad, but there could be something else here. We just gotta be smarter and better. The man to be talking to right now is Crazy Bubba. If you guys wanna pitch in on a container we can do this. Can you help us CB?

By the way Jimmy J, this forum is long overdue.

[CRAZYBUBBA]

The man to be talking to right now is Crazy Bubba. If you guys wanna pitch in on a container we can do this. Can you help us CB?

HECK YES. I have NO outside pickers and totally need local customers to help get the vintage thing going here. Right now we ship our vintage halfway across the world and get paid by the piece, which is not an ideal situation. The grade would shape itself to what you guys want, although I would hope that you could take everything (military, dresses, tees, jackets, denim etc)

I just picked up 2 burberry coats and one dior coat from a bale going to Karachi, and pair of vintage levi's from a central america bale :S We're seriously loosing out on alot becuase our emphasis has always been more on grading than vintage. I'm flexible on price.

[Frank]

Where are you in Central America and when can i come down?

Seriously, let's get this rolling. I'm totally small time and money is always tight, but i'll contribute in any way i can and buy in any size i can afford.

[hermosavtg]

Hey once they get that military coup thing sussed out I'm the next guy on a plane to Tegucigalpa. I f'cking love Honduran cigars, and will export some of those too.

But seriously It only makes sense to buy in bulk if you have a market and an infrastructure to move it on. Currently I have neither!

[CRAZYBUBBA]

Well I'm actually shipping to NYC each month, so I can ship smaller shipments to the USA.

We're in Puerto Cortez, Honduras.

Honestly, small time, big time, it doesn't matter to me. Right now we ship the vintage to our other factory in Asia (at our own cost) and then our customers pick by the piece. After accounting for our shipping cost, etc we're making $2.50 per/lb. I'd be willing to work with you guys around that price point, lower for our pre-prepared bales of mix vintage.

There's absolutely no secrecy about the way we run our operation. I could post pictures tomorrow, and you guys would never be restricted from entering the factory/seeing operations at any time. When can you come down? Anytime!

I would love to save the hassle of shipping to asia each time and start shipping closer to home.

I'm in Honduras now and the political situation has no bearing on day to day life. There was a curfew a few months back, when it first happened, but now it's just business as usual. We're also in an export free zone, so security is not an issue.

[VP's]

hey Bubba. I would be willing to receive in shipments. maybe me and Chase, and some other sellers can work together. I basically want to reinvent the vintage t shirt market. sell 1000's a day. How can we make this happen?

[hermosavtg]

How are you going to sell 1000's of t-shirts a day? Especially in wintertime? Most t-shirts I sell i make maybe $6-12 on. Those margins would be sweet at that volume.

I'm down for an NYC picking party. Whats the buy-in? Can it be in the springtime ?

[Frank]

NYC in the spring sound awesome!

[CRAZYBUBBA]

Seriously?

We try to stay away from throwing just any old poly-blend tee shirt into bundles, it's a slipery slope and never works well for us or the customer.

I get maybe 5 great t-shirts a day. I would never be able to handle that kind of quantity. We get by because we're making mixed bales with other vintage. 1000 lbs a day = 1x 200 foot container a month of JUST tees It's certainly possible with the right supplier or a more liberal grade.