REJECT ARCHIVE: Beau and Adam are vintage dealers specializing in the 1920s-40s - on restoring antique pieces, surviving the Brimfield circuit, and going live on Whatnot.

Pre-Loved Podcast with Emily Stochl

Beau and Adam of Reject Archive trace their journey from Oklahoma thrift stores to running a highly curated vintage business in New York City.

Key takeaways

• Beau learned sewing from his mother in Oklahoma and later studied fashion design in Chicago before dropping out after designing club looks that appeared on Drag Race
• Reject Archive launched in spring 2022 (originally as Jackalope Vintage) after Beau and Adam spent pandemic years collecting vintage and sourcing a massive hoarder house in St. Louis

Main topics

• Vintage sourcing and restoration techniques
• Brimfield antique market circuit logistics

Notable quotes

I think it's just kind of like been, you know, in my blood.

Conclusion

The episode provides actionable insights for vintage dealers navigating inflation, sourcing

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:05) Hey, vintage lovers. I'm Emily Stoeckel, and this is PreLove Podcast, the show about rad vintage style and guests you'll want to go thrifting with. This is the space where we talk about all things vintage secondhand and pre-loved across the fashion space. And for new listeners or longtime pals to follow along with all things thrift, vintage, rad, retro, and sustainable, you can find me, Emily Stoeckel, across the internet as at Emily Speaker 2 (0:26) M. Stoeckel. Come Speaker 3 (0:27) hang out. I'd love to chat with you. If you're a vintage dealer, collector, thrifter, resale pro, or circular fashion person, this is your reminder. to subscribe to PreLove's multimedia platforms. You can find bonus content on Instagram, TikTok, Substack, and Patreon for all the business intel, market trends, industry news, and one-of-a-kind stories about the business and culture of vintage and secondhand fashion. Now let's talk about today's show. Today we're chatting with Beau of Reject Archive, a vintage dealer who runs the shop with his fiance Adam, with a vintage collection that ranges from antique pieces through Y2K, but with a heavy focus on the 1920s through 40s. especially the 1930s, which is their favorite. Beau has been designing clothes since he was a kid. He grew up in Oklahoma, where he learned to thrift and sew from his mom, and later studied fashion design in Chicago, where he started making club looks out of found vintage finds, including designing pieces that ended up on Drag Race. When the pandemic hit and sent him back home to Oklahoma, he and Adam started collecting vintage with No Clear Plan at first, just a real love for it, and then in 2022, they launched Reject Archive. Beau Speaker 2 (1:32) and Adam both put themselves through sewing school so they could Speaker 3 (1:35) care for each found piece. themselves. And Bo has even learned lace applique techniques using true to era lace. Their goal is to bring to life these rare romantic pieces restored to good condition so that they can live in the wardrobe for many years to come. And to do that, they hunt for high-end materials, natural fibers, and handmade craftsmanship. We're getting into all of that on today's episode. Plus their Brimfield circuit, which they hit really hard hopping between Sturbridge and Dealer's Choice and Hurtans while camping out of their Airstream. Also, their journey to going live on Whatnot, including doing a live show from the fields of Brim this year, plus the realities of sourcing and pricing vintage as it gets harder to find and more expensive, and the stories behind all their most special finds. Let's dive right in. Speaker 1 (2:19) Hey there and welcome to pre-love podcast. I'm so excited Speaker 3 (2:22) to have you on the show today. I would love if you could introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what you do. Of Speaker 2 (2:27) course. Hi everyone. My name is Beau. I'm so excited to be here with Emily. My fiance and I run a shop called Reject Archive. We sell vintage, mostly women's clothing. It's kind of all eras, antique to Y2K. Speaker 1 (2:41) We specialize in 20s Speaker 2 (2:42) to 40s. We love 30s. We kind of restore everything ourselves. Mostly we do online and we do some vintage shows. We do markets like Brimfield, some shows in New York City. And yeah, we just love clothes and we're excited to be here and talk about it. Speaker 3 (2:55) Me too. I want to hear a little bit about your story with style. Like how did you get into the world of fashion? Was it something that you always loved? Speaker 2 (3:02) Totally. So I grew up drawing. I started drawing from the time I was like two. I've always had ADHD. And so drawing was one of those things that kind of let me turn my brain off. And I could just kind of put all of my mental energy into this one thing. And it was one of the only times, you know, like my brain was quiet. I remember that even as a kid. And I started designing clothes when I was a kid. That's like, it's all I've ever wanted to do, really. So I don't know. I think when I first started, I was just kind of recreating. things that I saw through media. I was watching like movies and shows. And then eventually I had my own ideas and I drew those. And I come from a long line of sewers. Like my mom, my great grandmother, my grandmother, they all were sewers. My grandma was like an expert quilt maker. I have actually this antique quilt square that was like my great, great grandmother's that she made when she was 12. So I think it's just kind of like been, you know, in my blood. And so I always appreciated. fashion and garments and garment making and craftsmanship and all of that. And my mom taught me how to sew when I was young. She used to make all of my Halloween costumes. So eventually I made her teach me and she also, she would knit. She still knits all the time. I think that's kind of her thing that allows her to turn her brain off. So yeah, we just love making things. We appreciate all of it. And my mom, actually, she's not like an antique dealer, but she grew up doing the same thing. You know, her dad would take her through abandoned houses in Tennessee. She grew up kind of in the Smoky Mountains. And so they would go through abandoned houses and find stuff. She used to have a booth at some antique stores. So it's just like always been on my radar. And then eventually she taught me how to thrift because, you know. Mall brands were big when I was a kid, like Abercrombie and Hollister. That's what everyone was wearing. And my mom eventually taught me that, you know, I could find these things for cheaper. So that's really how I got started. I've been thrifting since I was in elementary school or middle school. And then eventually I kind of, you know, developed an eye for things that I like. Speaker 3 (5:05) He gave you a good thrift education. What was like the thrift scene like near where you grew up? Speaker 2 (5:09) Oh my gosh. I grew up in Oklahoma in this town called Edmond, which is kind of like a... wealthy suburb above Oklahoma City. So I grew up out in the country, like outside of the suburb. There were actually a lot of really great thrift stores there. I feel like Speaker 3 (5:25) the suburbs have great thrift stores. Speaker 2 (5:27) Yes, totally. At that time, I was in high school from like 2009 to 2013. And back then, you could easily find vintage things in abundance at the thrift stores, even at Goodwill. Like you could find some vintage leather pieces. It was super easy to find 60s, 70s, and obviously 80s and 90s, much easier than it is today. But yeah, the thrift stores were great. There's also this little kind of artist community in Oklahoma City called The Plaza that I grew up going to, and there were some vintage shops there. So I would hit those up all the time. There's this one called Bad Granny's. It's all like very accessible vintage. So you can find really old things for a really great price. I grew up shopping there. I befriended the owner. I still am friends with her, love her. We go back anytime we go home to visit my family. But yeah, the thrift stores were great there. We actually started selling in Oklahoma. So that's where we were sourcing everything. And it was easy to find a lot of these things that we love. for a lot cheaper than we can find them up here. We live in New York now. Yeah. Totally. Speaker 3 (6:34) Yeah. I mean, times have changed and the location matters in a big way. Speaker 2 (6:38) Absolutely. Do Speaker 3 (6:39) you remember some early vintage purchases? Like what were you kind of into as you were developing your style at the time? Was there any like aha moment where you were like, oh, this is what I really love in vintage? Speaker 2 (6:51) Absolutely. So actually one of my first few vintage pieces that I loved and like wore to death were not things that I found myself. They were from my mom. My mom's, my mom had this brother, Danny, who passed away. And so she kept a lot of his things and she gave me some of his clothes that she just like had in a box. And one of them was this shirt that his wife made him in like the sixties or seventies. And it was this. long sleeve denim kind of patchwork shirt that had, you know, the classic kind of 70s like spiky dagger collar. Yes. It had like the pearl snap buttons. And then on the back was this like bald eagle that was embroidered in it. And I think she had even signed it on the back like with embroidery, signed her name on it. And so I just kind of like wore that into the ground. I had one of his Letterman jackets too. It was just like maroon and cream. Letterman jacket from his high school. I guess he played football or something. Played a Speaker 1 (7:54) sport. Did some kind of sports ball. I Speaker 2 (7:58) loved those pieces. It was cool because it was kind of like a family heirloom. But yeah, that was one of my first intros to it. And then I started looking for things like that. But I was talking about Oklahoma City and the plaza and the vintage shops there. There was this... record store that was kind of like in a basement you had to like step down into it and then they had like racks of clothing too and they had vintage band tees and if I had a time machine and I could go back I mean you could find super rare vintage band tees like tour tees for you know 20 50 bucks which at the time you know in high school was a lot for me but now Speaker 3 (8:39) Yeah. I Speaker 2 (8:39) wish I could go back there and just buy them all up. So I had this like really sick Iron Maiden t-shirt that I got there. I had kind of started hanging out with the punk kids in high school after I came out. You know, they were one of the first groups of people that was like really kind to me. And I had all these guy friends for the first time that like protected me. And Speaker 1 (8:57) they Speaker 2 (8:58) also had like really cool vintage, you know, misfits t-shirts. And we would all just kind of trade clothes. So I had all these incredible t-shirts from... friends and from this record shop. So that was kind of like some of my first big, you know, grail finds, I feel. Speaker 3 (9:15) Yeah, definitely. And like, did you want to go work in fashion? What were you thinking that you wanted to turn all of this love of clothes and vintage into? Speaker 2 (9:26) Totally. I always wanted to work in fashion. I grew up watching, you know, Project Runway and America's Next Top Model and I don't know. I just like, I totally saw a path to get there. I didn't know exactly how to do it living in Oklahoma, but yeah, it's definitely something I always wanted to do. I, like I said, had designed for a long time and I also was like a huge Lady Gaga fan, obviously in high school. I think she was like really blowing up when I was in eighth grade going into ninth grade. And then eventually I realized, you know, she had this thing called the house of Gaga, which was basically just like her. styling team, you know, from clothes to hair to makeup that were working to create these like singular looks and really these like major moments. And I think that was kind of the first time I realized that styling was a real job too. And so I've always wanted to do that. But yeah, it's definitely something I've always wanted to do. And my mom has always been super supportive and, you know, like fostered creativity and tried to help me. you know, get where I wanted to be. And so eventually, I moved out of Oklahoma, I moved to Chicago, and I went to school there for a bit at Columbia, studying fashion design and fashion business. Yeah, that was kind of my first intro into that world. And there I learned a lot about other careers within fashion, outside of just the basic ones that people know of, like fashion design. Were Speaker 3 (10:55) you dabbling in selling vintage at the time? Speaker 2 (10:57) I was not selling vintage yet. And I really wish I was because there's so much great vintage in Chicago. I was just shopping vintage for myself. I ended up working in nightlife. You know, I was working at like clubs doing kind of club kid drag looks. And most of them were made out of vintage things. So, you know, if I had a gig and had to host this party, I would go to one of the vintage shops and find some kind of. old dress and kind of like cut it up and make something new out of it and I would make these head pieces and do a whole makeup look and yeah eventually I befriended this this girl who was on drag race and we became good friends and I got to design some stuff for her that ended up being on drag race and yeah all this time I was going to school for this kind of stuff I didn't graduate I am a dropout, but I learned so much. And I really loved that period of time, just kind of being young and moving to a new place and being around a bunch of other queer people, creatives, getting to work and all of that stuff, things that I'd always wanted to do. So it was kind of a dream come true. Speaker 3 (12:08) Once your stuff is on dry brace, it's like, what more can school really give me? I Speaker 2 (12:12) know. Speaker 3 (12:14) I've achieved the dream. Speaker 3 (12:18) So Speaker 2 (12:19) then how did all of it like evolve into, Speaker 3 (12:23) okay, maybe I think of vintages that have that this is going to take me. Yeah. Speaker 2 (12:27) So this was all happening in like 2018, 2019. And then the pandemic hit, you know, which kind of changed my life. So I actually, I was living with my ex-boyfriend and like our relationship was kind of fizzling out. And I had known Adam this whole time, my fiance, Adam, that I. run the business with. He was still living in Oklahoma. And so I would go back and see him and hang out with him. And yeah, in 2020, like early 2020, I was actually going back to Oklahoma to go to a concert with him. It was an Orville Peck concert. And I know I was so excited. And this was like, truly the day that everything was shutting down. All kinds of businesses were making decisions like, are we going to stay open? Are we going to what are we doing? So I just went to Oklahoma anyway. I was like, I guess we'll see. And they canceled that concert the day of. And I ended up just staying there. I lived with my parents again for a little bit. Then I moved in with Adam. And my mom owned a liquor store in Oklahoma that she was working, you know, six or seven days a week. And so she gave me a job there. And then Adam and I eventually ended up like running it ourselves. Speaker 2 (13:41) Yeah, during this time, I had stopped going out. I had gotten sober. I had all this extra spending money and, you know, from not going out and traveling and doing all these fun things all the time. So I had, you know, a lot of expendable income for the first time in a long time. And we just started collecting vintage. I don't think we really had like a super clear vision of what we were going to do. We were just kind of doing what I had always done, you know, vintage shopping. thrifting, estate sales, all kinds of stuff. And then eventually we had a little collection and we started trying to figure out where to sell it. And the first place we ever sold was this basically flea market in Oklahoma City that they hosted at the state fairgrounds. And it wasn't, you know, like the ideal place to be selling kind of curated vintage, but we just didn't know. And it was our first thing. So when we were selling there, we actually met Speaker 1 (14:42) these friends, Britt and Justice, Speaker 2 (14:44) who live in Oklahoma City. They both have vintage shops. And they kind of came to the booth and they're like, what are you guys doing selling here? And they introduced themselves. They told us about this vintage market they were doing called OK. I Speaker 1 (14:57) think it was called just OK Vintage. OK Vintage Market, something like that. Speaker 2 (15:01) So we started selling there. And then from there, we just started finding other things. We started traveling. Yeah, the whole story of how we even moved up here is kind of crazy, too. I can get into that. Speaker 3 (15:15) Yeah, because so like, where, how long were you kind of collecting pieces with the idea of like, maybe this is going to become something? It Speaker 2 (15:25) was at least a couple years. Yeah. It's because we didn't even like start. Speaker 2 (15:33) Reject Archive, which used to be called Jackalope Vintage until 2022. So at the time we had started going to Marfa, Texas, just like for fun, because it was still pandemic days and it was a place that we could go. And we stayed at this kind of