College Student's Thrifting Talent Sparks Vintage Fashion Sewing Business | @JackSews
we're about to meet a really inspiring creative young man who sews and has been really shaking up the world of upcycling and turned it into a business welcome to the Sewing Report i'm jennifer moore this channel is all about making sewing crafts fun and approachable for everyone and i'm really excited because we have a guest in this episode i am welcoming @jacksews. jack welcome to the sewing report hello thank you for having me so the reason i'm having you on the show today is because i found your instagram account last week and i was really blown away by what you're doing during covid you that kind of really changed your life so can you explain like what you you know how you got into sewing and also how how you decided to start a business during covet and and all that that transpired sure yeah so i mean i started sewing back when i was like 15 or 16 and that was uh a while ago so but i've been i think i've been sewing for about like seven or eight years now so it just started off as a as a hobby just just for fun just it all started because i wanted to um make my pants fit better because they were too like clownish and balloony so i uh started off with with that and then i eventually went on to start making stuff for people um like hoodies and stuff like that and that was about two years ago where i started selling it to just my my friends mostly and then right when covid started like a little over a year ago i had two jobs i was working part-time at both of them i was a writing tutor and i was also a server at a cafe and i wasn't really having a good time doing either those jobs but um yeah so then COVID kind of canceled those two jobs so i was forced to start uh selling a lot more and making a lot more in in order to make money and to pay pay my bills and stuff so that's how i got started and selling more and the whole business thing i think it's kind of interesting what you've created here on instagram and i'll pull up your instagram is you kind of have like a cult following now so you have over 4 000 followers and i like how you you show what you're doing how you're making things and then you have a drop so it's a little bit mysterious but does it also kind of gives off this air of a little bit of exclusivity like there's only one of these and i think it's a really interesting business model can you explain how you came up with it and you know why you decided to to go this route well it was it's mostly just there's just one of me and i can just make one so i mean i just make one and then i sell it and i've been dabbling in setting up a website and selling items on there because as i continue to get more more followers um it gets a little more difficult to field all the all the messages about wanting to buy stuff so i'm starting to phase more of my for sale items onto the website so that i don't have to be getting all these messages saying oh can i buy it can i buy it and like trying to figure out who was first because that's kind of like stressful so um yeah but it started off just i mean just like when i had like three 000 followers it was pretty uh easy just to like say it's for sale dm me if if you want it and then i'd get like five people who asked me if they could buy it and then i just pick the first one and just go down the list until someone buys it it can be a little scary going out on your own and doing something that you've never done before were you surprised at the response you've gotten at at your um upcycling products i think it's been a little bit of a surprise because i've always felt like oh i just make this stuff and like i i really think it's cool but then like as i continue to grow and to reach more more people i can see that there's a much wider appeal for what i make and also i mean there's plenty of other more um more more popular uh people that are on instagram and on tick tock too who are making clothes just like me with upcycled vintage uh garments and such that have thousands and thousands more followers than i do so there's definitely a vast market for these items now jack i know i feel like you're a little bit younger than i am but i think it's so nostalgic i was an 80s and 90s kid that a lot of the upcycling items you've been working on they have a lot of like really iconic characters and tv shows like you've got goose bumps you've got polka i saw something with pocahontas on it i saw a couple rugrats item which was a show i used to watch are you getting a lot of people like maybe my age like what's your typical you know age range that you've got with customers because like i know a lot of people in their 30s and 40s would totally go for all the star wars stuff and all of the things because they remember it from their childhood so i think it's awesome that you found a way to one give these items new life uh two create a sustainable fashion business and three really offer a lot of these people like it just sort of feels like a like a warm memory like you're like oh my gosh i totally remember um he-man or you know whatever else like though also the wolf blankets like those are awesome so i think it's really cool that a lot of that stuff from the 80s and 90s seems to be back it's weird but it's also really cool yeah i i totally um yeah i i definitely agree that like the the cycle of of fashion is kind of like bringing back things that were vintagey and stuff that was back way before my time but um like definitely things that even now today are becoming more popular because i think there's there's a certain section of the culture today that is kind of looking towards the to the past for like entertainment and such and finding that really that nostalgic feeling that they get from like 80s and 90s stuff and even in younger audiences like gen z and and such who weren't even alive back when the rugrats actually was was on on television they they also have that feeling of like oh this is like this like vintage and like nostalgic piece and um even if they weren't alive during that time i think that still holds that's some sort of sentimental feeling and value just because it is vintage and it is you you it's unique and i mean you can't get it at the store so i mean that adds to the the value that people feel towards the items so can we talk a little bit about your your design and making process because you've posted some videos of you behind the scenes and what i've noticed is that when you're making a piece you really take the existing design elements of the does the pattern and also with the physical design like if a hoodie has a pocket or a certain aspect you'll really work that into the finished piece um can you talk a little bit about what goes through your head when you're trying to figure out what to do with all of these projects sure yeah so one that i did recently that comes to mind was this star wars fleece that i made and um it was based off of the um episode 3 of star wars about and it was about um like looking like the the mustafar duel that anakin and obi-wan have and um so i kind of decided to take those like the elements of like fire and like the lava stream with and also like when they're dueling there's like the little rocks and stuff that are in the river and they're like fighting on them and such so i kind of wanted to have that to take all of the fire lava looking type of material and kind of weave it around the front and then have that neck part kind of look like a rock or something that's in the lava river so just to kind of pay homage to the to that scene that you can see there on the front just the dueling on the river and just kind of having that lava flowing type of look but um most of my projects i don't put that much thought in uh into the design but that's one that comes to the forefront of my mind when uh i think about something that i put a little bit more like special thought into the design of no i think that's awesome and i know you've kind of talked about how some of your decisions are more practical too so like the that one with the pocket you kind of wanted to keep the pocket and by just working it in you didn't have to make a pocket so it's sort of like be taking a blanket and using the edge of that for him so you kind of save yourself a little bit of work now how did you i'm sure you've gone through some trial and error through your sewing projects and whatnot what kind of advice would you have to someone who maybe is interested in doing some of this type of upcycling sewing like how do you get better at it and how do you figure out like i'm i don't do a lot of upcycling because admittedly i'm not even sure where to start and i feel like it's a little bit overwhelming but where where do you get started and how do you get better at it right so i mean i tell people all all the time to just just get their machine or if they don't have a machine just get like a nice starter one and i mean i pretty much just taught my myself how to do it i mean i learned all of the like basic um uh like starter type of techniques from kenandrewdaily who's on youtube and he's been making clothes on youtube for for years and years and he's uh kind of his videos gave me the the the foundation to build on to which i've just kind of taught my myself the more um advanced things that i do now but um but if you're starting out i mean just just start sewing and uh just like doing your own thing don't try to copy someone else or make something like someone else just kind of just get all your garments and you can just go to the go to your your local thrift store and just pick some stuff out that you want to just cut apart and then put it back together again and just in any way that that that you want to i mean there's really no there's no rules to fashion and that's what makes it so so so much fun that is a really good point there really is no wrong way to do things and if you do something that works for you it's it's not wrong just keep doing it so i gotta ask what what sewing machines are currently in your arsenal like what do you what do you like to sew on okay so i have been using a um singer heavy duty for the past six or seven years now and that's been uh that has served me well but i i have now retired that sewing machine for a um it just came in the mail and i believe it's a janome 3000 so i'm gonna uh pull that out and start working on on that for my sewing machine but for my serger which i actually use way way more than my than my sewing one is uh a brother 10 34 d oh yeah that's the one i've got too it's great for the price it's so great it yes it definitely is i use the surgery way way more because i mean i've as i've been learning how to sew more quickly and efficiently i've figured out how to do lots of things that i used to think i could only do with the with the sewing one but i can now do it with the with a serger and i just i just like to use the surgery more for stuff because i feel a lot more confident in the seams and stuff because it's overlocked and i just have a lot less a lot fewer doubts about them like coming apart later with the customer and so i just always want to make sure that all of my products have like a zero chance of like coming apart or something later because that would stress me out i hear you there no that's awesome that serger is great i do recommend that a lot too especially for someone without a big budget because it's under three it's usually under 300 bucks it's great i've had mine for like six years i've had no issues and i'm glad you mentioned the janome hd 3000 because a lot of people have been asking me about heavy duty sewing machines and i don't personally do a lot of heavy duty duty sewing but that model does seem really popular have you tried it out yet what's your okay so yeah that i would love to hear what your thoughts are after you've been using a while because a lot of people have been asking what do you use for jeans or for heavier material a lot of your your drops like go pretty immediately are you comfortable sharing like kind of a window for what you've been charging for some of your custom pieces yeah sure so um the the ones that i just normally drop like just like oh i've made this this is just you can buy it now if you want to those range from about like 125 to 200 like if it's just like a simple fleece that's probably like 125 to 150 but if it's more com complex with like a vintage sweater and like like another vintage blanket like slashed through it or something like that and i also have to like take into consideration how much i paid for the the material and such like those will be like more around like 180 or 200 but if you want to like custom order one that's gonna be like that's gonna be more so yeah you know that those prices actually i'm i'm sure they're they're definitely giving you a pretty healthy profit margin i feel like those prices for custom sewn pieces are still pretty reasonable especially when you look at um like i was telling you your fashion reminds me a lot of bts the korean k-pop group yes you guys know i'm a fan and a lot of your pieces remind me of stuff that j-hope wears j-hope kind of has an adventurous fashion style and you'll look up his clothes and his shirt costs 1200 bucks wow or his his pants will be 800 that he sleeps in so i feel like charging 200 bucks for a custom piece compared to your designer fashion which isn't made of sustainable materials and you know is more considered high-end like i still feel like you doing that type of business still is even to the average person still pretty pretty reasonable you know when i know people that have paid 300 for a t-shirt so i mean that doesn't that still seems pretty good and as far as the business is going so far has has that made up for the income that you lost with the tutoring job and with the your server job is it been pretty good yeah um i've i've definitely uh i am happy that i am where i am now than than when i was back back then with those two part-time jobs i i it has been paying better than both those jobs so i'm really really thankful for it yeah not to mention you get to work from home you're not really answering to anybody so i mean there's i i feel like you i work for myself too and there's a lot of freedom that comes with it and i think it's really cool that you took the leap and decided to do that although you were sort of forced into that situation i know covet has been terrible for for the whole world but there have been some things where it's created opportunities for people like you so i think that's really interesting that that this business grew out of a pandemic i mean that's crazy yeah there's been lots of lots of different people on instagram and all across different social medias that um during covid during the the lockdown part there's just been all sorts of creative people or entrepreneurial minded uh people who have just been popping up all over and so there's there's so many more um people out there selling stuff that they make or selling their intellectual property now than there used to be back before the the lockdowns so you told me you're you're currently in school is that right and what do you when you graduate what do you want to do after that like do you want to keep growing this business or what what else do you hope to try to get into yeah so um i'm currently studying finance and um i used to think like back before i was doing all this business stuff on my own that i'm just gonna work at a firm somewhere and maybe be a personal financial um advisor or something like like you sound too cool for that kind of job i'm just gonna put that out there you're too like you seem too like hip for that i don't know it just seems yeah i mean i always thought like i'll just figure that out once once i get there but now that i've been seeing so much um uh success and also just the the expanding market for the stuff that i make and just the ideas that i have about like fashion and stuff and just seeing that there's a wider market for it i feel like i can still continue to have this be part of my um my occupation post my graduation and um i'm learning learning plenty of stuff at school in the business school about how to run my business more efficiently and especially like the learning about the the finance stuff i mean i feel like if you're gonna be a business owner that you should definitely be able to keep track of your finances because if anything's gonna go wrong that's where it's going to go go wrong is with your with your finances so you definitely have to be able to keep an eye on that um yourself and i would feel more more more comfortable if i were to ever own a larger business that i want to be directly watching the the finance side of of it and i can hire the rest of the responsibilities out at that at that point all right so let's talk a little bit about the fashion industry because so you kind of call your style street style or hype beast fashion now i'm kind of old and i'm still trying to figure out what hypebeast fashion is how would you describe it um well i would say the more like height b stuff would be more like things that are associated with like sports where brands like nike and um i mean i don't i can't afford to source like supreme like towels or anything like that sort of thing i'm still so confused on what it is i see the hashtag everywhere and i just wonder what is included with hypebeast is it vape hoodies i don't know right yeah that that kind of stuff you know i don't know but i think it's cool that you're incorporating like a very it's a like that stuff is so trendy right now and i it seems like a lot of your followers are younger too so it's cool to see you're kind of introducing sewing to gen z which is something you know a lot of the quilting and sewing industry is worried about the future of people getting into sewing because like nobody hardly anyone my age and i'm 38 hardly anyone in my age group sews and when i would tell them about it they'd be like well my grandma does it and i'm like that they're like that's great do you like as far as your age like the people you know in your friend group how do they see your sewing like are they like that's cool do they ask questions like what's the response um well outside of the people i know who are like actually going to school for fashion or make clothes everyone else they're just like wow that's really cool and um i'm not really sure what they think beyond that they think it's cool but i think that like like as you said that it's kind of like it's dying out like this actual skill of sewing um but um i hope that more people get uh hooked on it just like i have and whenever someone messages me and they're like oh i kind of like want to start sewing but i don't really know like how to start or i don't have like the the confidence to do it i'm like oh just do it just do it because i mean just once once you get started with with it you mean you probably will keep going because it's so much fun no absolutely and i was surprised i never thought i would be like a sewing person like i started kind of late probably after 30 and it's just amazing how fun it was and i wanted to share it with people but yeah when you talk to people about it they just have so many misconceptions on what it is or then they ask you to hem their genes or something yeah it can get a little frustrating and i want to ask you as a guy it's obviously men are still a bit of a minority in the sewing circles unless you're like a tailor or fashion designer but what do you do you have any thoughts on what the industry can do to try to make sewing seem more appealing to to men um i'm not 100 sure about how the sewing industry could be more appealing in any way because i feel like the sewing industry as a whole just is like to anyone younger than than like 40 like i don't feel like it's really like targeting them in any way but um i feel like as like custom clothing and like repurposed clothing and kind of this whole surge of like the the popularity of vintage um i feel like that will encourage more younger people to get involved with with sewing because with that whole culture shift in fashion like with vintage and repurposed comes with you either have to buy it from someone like me who's making it or you have to make it all yourself you know absolutely no those are some really good thoughts i totally agree it does seem like the industry not only i will say the marketing tends to look a little bit more feminine you know like pink things machines with hello kitty or flowers on it or something like that but it also seems a little bit in i would say intimidating to younger people in general and uh and the other thing maybe there's something with the sustainable fashion angle that could get younger people because you're very passionate about sustainable fashion and you don't use new materials do you feel like the gen z crowd is really on board with uh with being uh on this sustainable fashion train it does seem like there's a lot more awareness about how clothing is made yeah i definitely think that um that younger people feel more passionately about the environment and sustainability as a whole so i mean the whole sustainable fashion movement is centered around like you don't need to go buy like brand new clothes when there's so many out there that are that are cool and they're used or you can take two used things and make something cool out of both of them like i think we've just come to a place as a i mean even across the whole world that i mean there's been enough clothing made at this point where you really don't have to buy anything new but that's just the way i i look at it i mean but i mean there's plenty of purposes for for new clothing and plenty of people that are out buying new clothing and i don't think they're wrong for that or anything like that but it's just like i feel like there's so much out there that's cool it's already made so you don't you don't have to go buy something new that's generating more waste into the waterways or into the into the environment as a whole yeah no i i agree with you and it does seem like i think a lot of what contributes to this is definitely social media and even on youtube you'll go on there and you'll see a gazillion forever 21 halls zara halls you know i went to old navy and you know i was talking to a friend of mine who was an environmental reporter and it's not just like she felt that a lot of it wasn't just buying green items but it was just about buying less stuff like in whatever you buying just use as many times as you can so i still have clothing i literally have stuff from 15 or 20 years ago that i wear regularly i'm that old i have shoes that are 15 years old so and i know it's a little hard for people that are very preachy about like don't buy anything made in china like i get that and i'm on that but it's so it's almost impossible to live that way and i understand that so i feel like it's got to be a good maybe a healthy medium like you kind of try to buy american when you can earn by sustainable but i wouldn't beat myself up because you can't you just can't possibly switch over your entire life to being sustainable you know i mean i'm sure there are some people that that can like if you're living off the grid or whatever right it is really hard to escape the the fast fashion and all of the you know those type of manufacturing practices it's just very hard but i think you're definitely taking a lot of really good steps towards that by offering all of these sustainable fashion pieces and and tell me a little bit about um that you the fact that you donate some of your proceeds to human trafficking which i think is really neat yeah so i mean i'm definitely um passionate about a lot of different things but that's one thing that i feel like kind of gets overlooked by the media and by our modern culture i just feel like it's not really mentioned as much as that as much as that it should be so um i just feel like that's something that's that's really terrible and definitely needs to be addressed more than it is now and so just by me giving um my contribution towards the towards the cause then i mean i feel like that's that's better than than nothing and also just having that little blurb there on my page is making anyone who who sees it maybe they'll spark a thought in their mind to look into it and to try to uh to be active in in stopping that um along with me and the many others around the globe who are trying to stop human trafficking and i also want to talk a little bit about your um social media presence too you've been i've noticed your following has really been growing on instagram and tick tock so i'll bring up your tick tock how um can you kind of talk a little bit about how you started uh growing those accounts and what kind of tips you would offer maybe to people that are also trying to do the same sure thing um so what i've found is that i mean if you have a creator um account and also i think they have it with business accounts for instagram and on tiktok that you can look at the the analytics or the like uh the little button that says like your information about the people who are visiting you and visiting your pages and stuff and just look at those and figure out when people are viewing your page the most and like what days and what hours and then just post during those times and you'll definitely get a lot more um traction on your videos or your posts if you post during those high traffic times so i mean on tic tac i think my like good time is like at seven on like thursdays and fridays and then on sunday so i just like put stuff up then and um like i just uh pay more attention to the videos that do well because obviously something of um about those videos um intrigued my audience and so i'll definitely try to like read you those types of more popular things like i've realized now that um like videos that have me like wearing it right at the beginning kind of have that like grab your attention moment instead of starting off with like the raw materials laid out because i think a lot of people like see see that on tick tock and then think uh i don't really care about this just this blanket but if they see me wearing it first and think oh he made that then they'll keep watching through the whole video no i agree i know a lot of people think that you need to um not give away the visuals but you need to give away the visuals right off the bat to get somebody's attention especially on tick tock where the attention span tends to be so short so i feel like you're doing a lot of good things on social media and a lot of as we've kind of seen through this pandemic that a lot of physical sewing and quilting businesses have really suffered and i feel like a lot of them if they stepped it up with the online presence i feel like that could help them and i yeah i mean you're you don't live in a like a big metro epicenter or anything like that and you've literally found a way to create an online business kind of in the middle of nowhere and i feel like that should be a testament to what one what you can do and also the fact that there's so many opportunities online and i think a lot of people are overlooking a lot of possibilities can do you have any maybe some advice or words of wisdom for someone that wants to find a way to make money with their sewing or with their craft but maybe doesn't doesn't know where to start or you know like what have you what have you learned through this because again you know i make all my money online you make money online there's a lot of stuff you can do online that's not being done right i totally uh agree with with that is that there's just such an untapped market of just really anything that is online or works through social media i mean like i have started all this and thought like how am i gonna get like a larger following and like how am i gonna know if people actually care about the stuff that i make or if i'll get any traction with this but i mean if you just get you just start and just be consistent like that's one of the main things you have to do is like you can't post or you can't do something on social media like once a week you have to like be more consistent than that but i mean you can accomplish so much on social media and on and online and way way way more than like most people would ever think and so i mean i really think that even if you don't live in the big city or don't have a really awesome camera to take awesome pictures with love of your stuff there's so much market out out there online that is just untapped and if you have a skill that you feel like isn't being represented or if you have intellectual property that you feel like isn't really out there then definitely get online make an account somewhere and just start posting about it and just putting your stuff out there and eventually you'll definitely have a large following yeah no and you've really been able to accomplish a lot and again i think that just speaks to your to your own talent and creativity which is certainly a few levels above mine and i want to ask you more about your do you have any particular project that sticks out as one of your fav like favorite like i know you liked the uh some of your star wars projects what do you think is uh if you had to if you had to put one at the top of the list which one would it be wow the one at the top that's definitely hard um i would say that one that comes to mind is a jacket that i made out of a quilt for the christian singer corey asbury um he asked me to make that for him and it took me a while to make because i've never i had never made anything out of a quilt and i'd also never made like an open face jacket because normally i just make hoodies so it was diff it was it was a different thing to do a jacket like like this that i'm wearing except it didn't have any buttons and didn't have a zipper it was just open-faced and had trim along the the opening and had like little pockets on the sides and stuff and that took a while but it was a it was a learning process and definitely was was fun to learn some new techniques all along the way but that was definitely one that came out and at the end i i looked at it and thought this is something special here so that's definitely one that i put definitely in my top three and you've done a couple quilted items right like i saw another i think another one um and is there any type of sewing that you or project that you really want to do maybe this year like do you have anything on your bucket list for sewing um i'd say i want to do more projects that um have like zippers and like like doing like zip up stuff like i've i'm not talented at all like doing zippers or anything like yeah and especially anything lined with a zipper that can be a little hard to figure out now that's i think that's really cool in your wildest dreams what do you want to what do you want to happen with jack sews uh i would like to um eventually get to a point where i could kind of have some uh people working for me who are helping me sew and just helping me with the with with the whole process and just continue to grow like i really don't i don't have like a specific like end goal but i would just like to continue to to grow this because i feel like there's plenty of market for it and people really like it and hopefully i can just like keep riding this this wave absolutely well jack thank you so so much for joining me on the this show and i also want to put it out there for you how for the people watching how can they support you like what do you what do you want them to do go to your instagram go to your tick tock how can people support your mission and your sewing just follow me on instagram and on tick tock and you can find both of those just under the the title of jack sews j-a-c-k-s-e-w-s and just give me a follow and that's really all i all i really want i just uh want your follow so you can see all the cool stuff that i am making well very cool and i i'm already following jack and all those places and i i feel like jack also needs to have a youtube so if you have a youtube i will also link it in i will link everything below jack thank you so much for for joining us this has been an awesome conversation and for everybody watching let us know what what do you think in the comments what's your favorite after scrolling through jack's instagram what's your favorite piece and is this inspiring to you because this is super inspiring to me i kind of want to go try to find some fruits and stuff now and and try to see what i can do but follow jack everywhere and also you know it would also help me out if you like this video and if you enjoyed conversations like this also let me know below in the comments and subscribe to the sewing report where we really try to make sewing and crafting fun and approachable jack thank you so much well thank you so much for having me on all right guys we'll see you next time
2021-03-07 23:03
