By Margarita Neplokh
“There is nothing like the thrill of finding a great vintage shirt,” says John Foster-Keddie, the founder of Vintage Vantage, a clothing company which he runs over the Web, eBay and at Urban Outfitters.
Finding that unique something has plagued shoppers at least once in their lives. Searching for an original look is hard enough, but combing the racks for a one-of-a-kind piece is practically impossible. This was the problem for Foster-Keddie, who has surrounded himself with vintage T-shirts from the ’70s and ’80s.
“I find the artwork and the general styling of that era to be amazing,” Foster-Keddie said. “Some people do extreme sports, I hit the thrift shops.”
The Vintage Vantage business started from boredom, a Yale degree and the endless search for the perfect shirt, he said.
“I left my boring corporate job and started selling vintage T-shirts on eBay,” Foster Keddie said. The many T-shirts that are sold at vintagevantage.com all have a very retro ’80s feel.
“So many of my designs are graphically styled in that tradition,” Foster-Keddie said.
With the design business being bombarded by new ideas everyday, fueling a design company based on what has already succeeded (funky well-fitted vintage shirts) is a good way to ensure customer demand.
The content of the designs ranges from shirts selling at Urban Outfitters, which are originals and feature offbeat sayings such as “We Be Illin’,” and is a tribute to the late Jam Master Jay.
Other shirts have retro designs featuring Western cowboy pearl snap buttons, as well as baseball-inspired tees which feature a drawing of a figure canoeing and the phrase: Ringer Happy Camper.
These funky designs are developed directly by Foster-Keddie and his team.
“The majority are born during late nights at the office with Heather (the chief model) and I sitting around tossing ideas to each other. We have a lot of fun with it, our little ‘idea book’ is bursting at the seams,” Foster-Keddie said.
The decision on what stays and what goes from these ideas is a very simple process of quality control.
“Do you want to wear it? If we don’t want to wear a particular design, it’s back to the drawing board.”
With the loopy designs and concepts being sold on the Web site, finding a common idea that will sell can be hard to come by, but a similar humor ideal is not.
“The response to the designs has been incredible, we never knew so many people had the same twisted sense of humor as we do,” Foster-Keddie said.
The staff is growing along with the company. It supports two full time employees and a hungry dog. The black lab, Holden, is a part-time model.
Overall, the appeal of vintage, one-of-a-kind clothing which can be bought on the Internet for as low as $3.99, is huge and may propel Foster-Keddie to considerable notoriety. He, on the other hand, is content with pleasing the customer and doing what he loves.
“My customers have the same sick addiction to vintage clothes as I do,” Foster-Keddie said. “I’ve had customers confess to dancing in front of the mirror after receiving their shirts. I’d make fun of them if I didn’t do the exact same thing myself. It’s a good feeling to know that I’ve made so many freaky little hipsters happy.”
