Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Smith.
Hi Matt, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’ve been interested in clothing as long as I can remember. When I was a little kid it was dressing up like my favorite athletes to watch them play on TV then it was alt-rock/punk aesthetics and thrift store clothes in middle/high school. I started thrifting at 12 or so and was always drawn to vintage clothing and styles. In a sense I was in the same category as Gen Z is today, nostalgic for a time period I wasn’t around for, but super into how it looked.
I started properly working in secondhand clothing around 2008, eventually moved to New York to work in the menswear industry, which I did until 2017. While in that industry I continued to thrift and sell clothes on the side (I’ve been selling on eBay since 2003). I also used a lot of the vintage garments I’d find as design and styling inspiration. I left that industry to pursue vintage clothing full-time and can hardly believe it’s been 8 years.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
A smooth road doesn’t really exist when you work in something of this nature. The hunt is the most fun part, but it can definitely be disheartening when you drive a couple hundred miles for either a handful of cool things or nothing at all. Watching the ascendence of vintage clothing as something maybe even breeching mainstream has been incredible, but the more popularity it gains, the harder it can be to source items. As with anything in a creative field, you kind of have to take things as they come and adapt, which I can confidently say myself and the friends I work with have done over the years.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I curate and sell vintage clothing. My main specialities are American-made items from the 30s-80s, a lot of denim, workwear, militaria, and hunting clothes/camo, but I basically pickup and sell anything that I personally think is rad. I’m a 90s kid, so I’m a sucker for 80s and 90s streetwear as well, especially Ralph Lauren and sports-related items. I’m also an absolute nerd when it comes to clothes. I want to build as much knowledge as possible and have done so over the years. I’m a go-to for helping identify/date/teach people about various things. That’s probably what I’m most proud of for my years of working with clothing, essentially being an encyclopedia. I think my knowledge base sets me apart from most of those other dealers around me.Most of this business is pure luck, but I’ve honed my picking skills over the years to be able to give myself a leg up on a large amount of competition.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I actually co-host a clothing-related podcast called Apocalypse Duds and have heard from friends that they learn lots of things from it. Other than that, a lot of my knowledge came from various blogs and messageboards over the years, Style Forum being a big one. Sadly, a lot of the blogs I loved don’t exist anymore. I will say, however, reading books and chatting with other enthusiasts can only take one so far. So much of clothing needs to be hands-on experience, like being able to discern a reproduction simply from the feel of the cloth, or nailing down a time period based on design details. Those types of things you can’t really understand until you’ve put your hands on a 1,001 garments.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: rebelsrogues
