Perennial Vintage Supply

Vintage Sweater Season

Happy Fall! It's the most wonderful time of the year, for me. And now, it means I can start to wear the fall gear I love so much.

I'd say that 65% of my Etsy shop consists of fall and winter wear. So that means sweaters, cardigans, jackets, coats, and thermals have taken over. Which, to be honest, they do all the time. I prefer winter wear. I also sell winter wear for about nine months of the year. It's the summer months, when everything is put on hold, sales slow, and I'm not selling what I love; when I wonder if I'll ever have a good month again!

And every fall, I laugh at myself. Sales always pick up. Like clockwork. The moment September 1 arrives, it's like an avalanche of buyers shows up too.

I try to pick up fall and winter wear year-round during my sourcing, and hold onto them and list them when August arrives, because the moment September 1st hits, people can't stop buying them. It's a literal switch that turns on the moment the calendar turns. I don't understand it, and yet, I do. Who doesn't want to add a new vintage, amazing sweater to their wardrobe?

This month may be the best month I've ever had in nearly 15 years of being on Etsy. Why? That's the big question. I'm trying to figure it out and see what I've done differently. But I think it comes down to a lot of things, and they're all working together in synchronicity.

Last year, I downsized my shop from 800 to about 500 items. I sold most of the items, donated some (they'd been in my shop for years and I was over them!), and rephotographed a good hundred of them to relist.

Then I chose to source higher-quality items. This meant choosing the nicer wool sweater, which costs more than five lesser-costing (and less profitable) items. I then added in a new hundred items, all of August and the first couple of weeks of September, so I'm hovering around 600 items. This seems to be the magical number because, as I said, I'm on my way to my best month ever.

I also, much to my own reluctance, switched out all of my dual photos (photos with two pictures together in one image) for single photos. Etsy told us sellers that this does help shoppers see items better, more clearly, and are visually less cluttered.

Really, I hemmed and hawed at this for a better part of a year. I didn't want to change my photos; things were selling just fine, thank you very much. Well, come to find out, the images are a lot clearer when only one fills the screen (on phone, laptop, or desktop). And it may not look as artsy, but it sure does sell items! I should've listened to them and done this a year ago.

So, with nicer but fewer items, and with photos that actually show the item as clearly as possible, plus selling what's in a good chunk of my shop (fall and winter wear), that all adds up to a very profitable month. I couldn't be happier. It makes me feel like I'm doing things right finally. (It only took fifteen years!)

Happy Autumn, my vintage friends, and check out the shop for all the new winter wear.

-Heather

Cottagecore Craze: Unleashing the Jessica Fletcher in Your Life

I watch reruns of Murder, She Wrote.

I've been doing this for years, and I still love tuning in and seeing what I missed the first (or fifth) time around. One of the best things about this show, aside from the fact that it revolves around a writer who lives in a cozy New England town, surrounded by friends, and gets to solve murders (a super ideal life goal for me, really), is her wardrobe.

I realize this is all mid-'80s to 1990s clothing. And I lived through it. I wore it. And some of it was not so great. But some of it was, and I love it. And guess what? It's all back in again.

Because I sell vintage clothing, even some of the newer '80s stuff (I prefer "true vintage," which tends to be older - '20s through '70s), I get to see the changing trends and latest fashion crazes. One of the newer crazes, which has been around for a couple of years, is called cottagecore. What is cottagecore? Exactly what you think it is: grandma in her cottage, lace, flowers, teapots, gardens, floral anything really, plaids and checks, sweaters with geese on them... you get the idea. It's slow living at its finest. It's cooking and baking. It's reading and knitting.

It's the life I yearn to live, really.

So, when I'm watching the fabulous Jessica Fletcher do her sleuthing, you can bet I'm watching what she's wearing. I saw this fabulous sweater that was hidden underneath her jacket. Just based on what I've sold in my shop, this is either an Eddie Bauer or a Lands' End sweater. It has teapots on it! And hearts, and probably the whole "Home Sweet Home" written on it as well.

I googled it, hoping I would find this sweater, but I haven't been able to find it. Regardless, I just sourced this fun Lands' End cottagecore vest. It's in the shop now and wow, do I love it. It really is a throwback to the British Fair Isle vests that are so worn and loved there.

I also have a few other cottage core sweaters. Look at these! Pigs, geese, and cats ... oh my.

Anyway, have a wonderful week, and when in doubt about what to wear, always ask, What would Jessica Fletcher wear? Her wardrobe is classic and truly timeless. I wouldn't mind a whole closet full of her belts, sweaters, jackets, and amazing Coach purses.

Hues of Blues Fall Drop │ Vintage Fall Fashion at Perennial Vintage

Today, I dragged my husband to a different part of town (from where I normally thrift), where there are a couple of huge thrift stores. I thrift all the time, by myself, and without a problem. I love it. Like, really love it. The issue is that these two are so huge (in South Sacramento), and I don't want to do it all by myself. Besides, I love bringing him along.

He always has a perspective on vintage that I don't, or is suggesting pieces I wouldn't normally choose. More often than not, he's right in his choices. He has a great eye and is a super picker for my shop.

Today's haul was a bunch of great '80s and '90s denim, some deadstock plaid flannels, and even two '60s Hawaiian pieces (I'm always sourcing Hawaiian merchandise - year-round).

The busy season for me has finally begun. It's mid-August as I write this, and though it's in the triple digits here in Northern California and a great deal of the greater US, fall is on the mind of most shoppers. I'm already selling sweaters and jackets, and it'll go non-stop through February!

Head on over to the shop. I have a few things on sale just to clear out inventory for my new fall and winter merchandise that need a place on the rack! Have a wonderful end of your summer. Fall will be here in a month, and for that, I am so grateful.

-Heather

Fall is Coming: Get Ready for the Season at Perennial Vintage on Etsy

I'm ready for fall to get here. While it's still a few months away, starting August 1st (as far as selling vintage clothing on Etsy goes), people begin hunting for fall clothing on that day. It's remarkable.

I think it's because August 1st signals school will be in session soon, and the nights begin to shorten, and evenings and mornings "crisp" air returns.

The back-to-school call beckons all who listen, even if they're not in school! It's ingrained into us, at least it was for me, on the new shoes, backpack, and a couple of clothing items acquired every August. It's not fall without a few new items to wear.

If that's how you feel, too, then be glad: I've started restocking plaids, flannels, sweaters, and (always) jeans, for this very reason.

Head on over to Perennial Vintage, where I love to say this time of year, "The Pendletons are coming, the Pendletons are coming!" much in the same way good old Paul yelled out about the British.

-Heather

Vintage '50s Shadow Plaid Pendleton

Vintage '80s Pendleton

The Papel Mug Company

Just recently, I picked up a vintage mug for my shop and looked at the bottom of it. It was made by Papel. Papel is a company I've seen for decades. I've owned Papel mugs for years, and I remember seeing it growing up. I just figured Papel was another gift-making company, like Hallmark, that had been around since the '80s.

Well, I finally did a deeper dive into the brand, and what came up totally shocked me: Papel began at Walt Disney's Disneyland in 1955. What? How did I not know this? Papel's mug invasion all started and thrived because Walt took a chance at letting the owner and creator, Phil Papel, set up a small shop on Main Street, USA, of Disneyland. He called his shop "Ruggles China and Gifts." This wonderful storefront was there from 1955 to 1964.

The rest is history.

I'm such a Disneyland fan, have gone dozens of times, love the joy Walt Disney created, and am in awe of his visionary and creative endeavors. I also love vintage mugs, have a slight obsession with collecting and selling mugs, so this combination of two loves into one is sort of over-the-top incredible. I'm having a hard time believing two cherished things - Disney and vintage mugs - get to be celebrated together!

I've had issues tracking down, tracing, and researching other brands of vintage items I sell in my shop. It's as if some designers disappear after having a wonderful career. And if no one is recording the history of the brand, it disappears with them. Which is a horrible shame. Papel, on the other hand, actually has a history (thankfully, his son is making sure the name continues in the history books!) and there's even a website, through his son Stanley, which is remarkable.

Stanley is still making sure his father's legacy is written down, recorded, and known. He's on LinkedIn with lots of information regarding a book or two he's written about his father. The current one is called "Generation to Generation," and you can find it here. I look forward to reading it.

There is another page of information I found about Papel through Phil's granddaughter, Melissa (Stanley's daughter), and it is loaded with images of designs. They were the FIRST company to do personalized name mugs. Amazing.

300 million mugs sold later, even though the mug production is no longer, the history, love, and incredible tenacity of a man named Phil Papel created a corporation that put smiles on millions of American homes over the years.

What a legacy. Thank you, Phil Papel, for your ingenuity and vision for filling a void in the coffee mug industry. And thank you, Stanley, for continuing that legacy.

If you're anything like me, you have had - or still have - a Papel mug (or more) in your cupboards. And guess what? You have Phil Papel to thank for that.

Cheers. May your mug be vintage and your coffee hot.

-Heather