Vintage shop caters to the NBA stars
Whitby store owner loves thrill of the hunt for second-hand goods
Last June, Toronto singer The Weeknd posted a throwback photo of himself to Instagram, wearing a Blue Jays T-shirt and acid-wash jeans.
The photo caught Gavin Clark’s attention right away. He had recently thrifted the same Blue Jays tee and wanted to get it in the hands of the popular singer. After exchanging messages with his manager, the shirt was delivered to the singer, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye. Clark had another satisfied customer, with a vintage piece that brought back fun memories from his childhood.
In his early 20s, Clark worked a sales job selling furnaces. It wasn’t exactly his dream as a kid growing up in Oshawa.
“I thought I would own a skateboard shop, or a CD store,” said Clark, 31. “I didn’t want a standard job. I wanted to work for myself.”
He started going to thrift stores around the city. Clark found old vinyl records and cassette tapes. He discovered old basketball jerseys of his favourite players, including Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady. He bought posters, hats and anything else he could find.
Clark had a collection of second-hand items he could sell. He made an Instagram page and posted T-shirts that didn’t fit him. The first sale was a Keith Haring T-shirt, which he bought for $6 and sold for $30.
“I realized I was making more money thrifting clothes than selling furnaces to people,” Clark said. He set up a booth at The Pickering Markets with his brother Ross. Four years ago, Clark opened a retail store location in Whitby with business partner Mike Cameron. The store was called Vintage 905.
“It was intimidating,” Clark said. “Especially out here. In the city, there are so many great vintage businesses who are established. Here, there’s not a lot. It was scary.”
Some customers didn’t understand the idea of buying second-hand clothes. “When we first opened up, people were like, ‘These are used clothes,’ ” Clark said. “Now people understand it more.”
Vintage clothing is trending. Old band tees that are sitting in your basement could be worth hundreds of dollars. Wrestling tees from the ’90s, the ones with loud graphics and tacky catchphrases, are worth 10 to 20 times more than when you bought them.
Television and movie T-shirts are a popular category right now. A 1990s “Aladdin” tee with a graphic of The Genie recently sold for $6,000.
The demographic at Clark’s store ranges from gradeschoolers to grandmothers. “It skews younger,” he said. “But there’s also a level of nostalgia with the older crowd. There are always people who went to that concert, saw that band, or remembered that movie. They want something that reminds them of that time.”
People are increasingly willing to pay a premium to wear a nostalgic moment on their Tshirt, but there are also younger consumers, who didn’t grow up listening to Nirvana, or watching Shawn Michaels on “Monday Night Raw,” who want vintage tees as well.
“I wonder about that myself sometimes,” Clark said. “Like why do kids want a 1998 Royal Rumble tee. But I get it. With the internet, people are just discovering things.”
Some of those people are NBA players. The first one to reach out to Clark was Nick Young, who purchased a 50 Cent vintage tee. Nickeil AlexanderWalker, the Toronto-born guard with the New Orleans Pelicans, made the trip to Whitby on the eve of the 2019-20 season, purchasing a batch of vintage sports hats and a Bret (The Hitman) Hart all-over print tee, which drew compliments from teammate Zion Williamson.
Alexander-Walker connected Clark with several of his teammates, including Jahlil Okafor and Jrue Holiday. Clark packed two suitcases worth of vintage tees and travelled downtown to meet the players at their hotel. Other NBA teams have since arranged similar private shopping sessions.
Former Raptors forward Oshae Brissett, now playing for the G League’s Fort Wayne Mad Ants, picked up some items before the Raptors went into the Orlando bubble last summer, including a Disney tee and a vintage Toronto Argonauts Tshirt (for brother Dejon, who was drafted by the Argos last year). Clark also takes specific requests. Last year, he helped track down some Buckeyes vintage pieces for Evan Turner, an Ohio State alum.
So why are these players suddenly interested in secondhand clothes? The pre-game tunnel photo has become part of players’ social brands. Many players have their own stylists but, across the league, they’re usually wearing the same designer brands. Raptors fans will remember Patrick Patterson and P.J. Tucker walking into a locker room with the same $800 Saint Laurent sweater during the playoffs several years ago. Finding a one-of-akind vintage T-shirt helps avoid this problem.
The pandemic forced Clark to shut down his store temporarily last March. It opened again after the initial lockdown, but now Vintage 905 is only accepting curbside pickups. The pandemic created a lot of anxiety and uncertainty for Clark, who thought it meant the end of his business. Instead, demand for vintage has only gotten stronger in recent months.
The increase in demand has made the vintage marketplace intensely competitive. Today, anyone can start thrifting, build a collection, and become a seller online. There are also a growing segment of designers who are creating their own original vintage-inspired merchandise. Clark is trying to stay ahead of the curve.
“That’s something we’re always trying to be ahead of,” Clark said. “I think it’s going to be sports tees. Just any sort of team with any cool graphics. Sports tees and snapbacks. I think those will come back. You can get it for a pretty low price right now. That’s the appeal, too. Not everyone is looking for a $1,000 rare band tee.”
Vintage 905 has a growing Rolodex of celebrity clients. From The Weeknd and to NBA players to Corinne Olympios, a cast member on the 21st season of “The Bachelor,” who recently purchased a Paul McCartney tee.
It’s cool to find vintage pieces for famous people, but Clark still loves chasing down vintage pieces for himself. Recently, he purchased a WrestleMania 18 tee. He had gone to the event at the SkyDome as an eighthgrader in 2002.
“It’s the hunt,” he said. “You never know what you’re going to get. I hated that about my last job. You would go in, and it was the same thing every day. When you’re thrifting, it could be your best day, it would be your worst day. And when you do find something, it’s the most rewarding feeling.”