Anyone who's been following me on Instagram for any amount of time knows that my wardrobe is a mix of new and thrifted finds. I've been thrifting all my life, thanks to my parents taking me and my brother along on their frequent adventures in thrift stores, antique shops, flea markets, and garage sales. I've grown up in nothing but old houses, as an adult lived in nothing but old apartments when I moved out (by choice, because I love the beauty and charm of old buildings), and now own an old home of my own with Zack. Our home is filled with a mix of new and vintage furniture and decor, and every day I'm in an outfit built from new and thrifted (mostly vintage) pieces.
I've been entertaining the idea of opening my own thrift shop for some time. The desire really struck me hard two years ago when, as I sat gently cleaning a vintage Skipper doll case for my mom as a Christmas gift, I thought to myself, "I would love to do this for a living." The mailman delivered the case really early that morning (it was an eBay find), so I immediately got to work with q-tips, a soft rag, and a gentle cleaning agent getting off the shocking amount of grime, dirt, tobacco, and I-don't-want-to-know-exactly-what from the outside and inside of the case. By the time I was done, it didn't look (or smell) anything like how it did about an hour before: the rich aqua blue color of the case was bright again, the black plastic handle was shiny, the artwork of Skipper at the airport popped off the surface after being revealed from under a layer of brownish residue. With the exception of some very tiny cracking at the hinges of the case, it looked brand new, like it did when its first owner bought it fifty some-odd years prior.
It was almost therapeutic and cathartic, sitting there in the silence of the morning bringing back to life something that many people would've thrown in the garbage or refused to buy given its state. My parents have always been against waste, and that mentality is I think what drove both of them to find value in things from eras long past that are still beautiful, functional, and have plenty of life left in them. For my mom, it's vintage Barbies (50s-70s), glassware, purses, and trinkets. For my dad, it's radios, speakers, receivers, old Oakland A's memorabilia, and cars. Definitely cars.
As I looked at the end result of my effort and elbow grease, I realized how much I enjoyed cleaning that little Skipper case, but more importantly how much I would enjoy doing such a thing for a living. But the scary thing is the uncertainty of it all; it was bad enough paying ridiculous Bay Area rent then, but now we have a ridiculous Bay Area mortgage to worry about. Would such an endeavor be sustainable as a career path?
For now, I don't think it's something I can quit my day job to do full-time, but it is something I have the ability to do on the side as a passion project. With that, I'd like to introduce Fang + Bone Vintage.
My humble shop is filled with treasures I've spotted on my (many) thrifting adventures, things I think are quality and which deserve a new lease on life. "Quality," in my opinion, doesn't necessarily mean expensive or high-end, nor does it have to mean exclusively fabrics and textiles we typically associate with being more costly, like leather or silk (though I love my leathers and silks, don't get me wrong). Clothes, jewelry, accessories, home decor, cool little trinkets and knick-knacks — you'll find them at Fang + Bone Vintage (styled as FangandBoneVintage because Etsy thinks alpha-only shop names with no spaces is how people prefer to write).
Please be patient with me as I get my shop up and running. I don't have a restock schedule, I don't have particular days of the week set aside to do sourcing, and I have to work packing and shipping out around my work schedule. But I do aim to have things shipped out ASAP (estimating 1-3 business days to get things to the post office). At the end of the day, this is a labor of love for me that I'd be thrilled to be able to do full-time one day, and I just want to be able to share my passion for thrifted and vintage things with the people who really appreciate them.
You can find the link to my Etsy store in the icons in the upper-right corner of your screen. Thank you for your support of my little shop, and here's to an exciting new venture.