Today we’d like to introduce you to Tori Kobayashi.
tori, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I grew up in Sacramento, CA, where in the 2000’s most kid’s got their fashion through watching TV, fashion magazines and the mall! My grandpa also taught me how to sew growing up, I always appreciated the values he taught me as a kid with an attitude of… “why pay someone to do it when you can do it better yourself?”
I started buying and reselling thrifted clothing when I was in middle school & high school. I grew up in Sacramento where most kids would go to the mall to buy their clothing, and the best way to shop for a unique style was checking out buy sell trade stores. I started going every other week to Crossroads & Freestyle Clothing exchange to swap out my closet… I also did social media marketing for the Sacramento Antique Faire, so that’s where my love for vintage (beyond just thrifting for style) started to activate.
After I graduated college I moved to Los Angeles, and that’s where I started to truly dive into vintage and curating a secondhand shop through Depop. As time moved on more resources for reseller’s started popping up like reselling apps and the vintage game keeps changing over time!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There has been a lot of ups and downs with running my own business. When I first started Nostalgic Threadz in 2018 it was just a Depop shop where I would sell pieces from my wardrobe or vintage collection so I could buy more pieces. I never really planned for Nostalgic Threadz to be a full time gig, but in 2020 my job in the fashion industry looked like they were going bankrupt and I thought it was time to take a leap of faith.
It started off strong, as many businesses who started during the pandemic saw… but it has been a huge learning curve. I was used to having a safety net when it came to risks working for other companies, but once I started doing everything myself I realized more intimately what it takes to keep a business going.
Learning how to budget has been huge for me… Also just being extremely resourceful. Only buy the things you absolutely NEED! My grandpa’s DIY teachings as a child has really helped me craft my way through the struggles of a small business owner.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My grandpa taught me how to sew when I was 8 years old. When I was in middle school and high school I hemmed all my jeans… I was short and nothing would come in the right length for me when it came for pants and that was always a source of frustration when it came to shopping… constantly thinking “why doesn’t anything fit me right?” as a child.
I have been up cycling clothing since high school. I started by tie dying and adding patches to levi’s cut offs. In the 2010’s there was a huge flower child trend that I heavily participated in when it came to curating a bohemian hipster style that was very much tied to music festival fashion.
Now I would like to say that my up cycling style is a lot more personal, now I carefully curate vintage materials (fabrics, trims, zippers buttons) and create pieces of art. I hope people who view my work are starting to see the evolution from vintage + clothing curator to fashion designer and artist. And I love creating pieces from repurposing old clothes, I believe my job in the world is to give clothing a second chance and figure out how to create pieces to their fullest potential and keeping clothes out of the landfill!
This is why I love collecting vintage so much, it helps inform my creative process when I’m working on clothes! I love looking at colors, prints and silhouettes… people really do not realize how much higher quality clothing was made before the 2000’s.
What makes you happy?
I love photography… I feel like having this creative medium to balance out my business helps me to romanticize my everyday… kind of how old tumblr used to feel like.
My sister runs a vintage camera shop, @catmommycameras, and I’m so lucky to be able to play around with different cameras and camcorders to capture my art and my life. Social media has really pushed the creative world in different ways, and shooting with a vintage camera has really made me embrace taking photos for the sake of creating memories… and not necessarily just “for the gram”.
When I was younger I remember taking a bunch of pictures with my friends when I’d go out and then upload them onto Photobucket or Facebook for everyone to see… It was like this huge rush and everyone would get so excited! So I definitely love doing photography and sharing things through my eyes whether its capturing trips or the every day.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://depop.com/nostalgic_threadz
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/nostaglic.threadz
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaOf4gNNTBtd8gJXNqsVkaQ
Image Credits
Taylor Kobayashi
@catmommycameras
