This is an as-told-to essay based on an interview with Erica Lubinic, a 25-year-old vintage-clothing reseller from Canada.
Her business, Saint Ivy Vintage, sells secondhand clothing and offers personal-styling services. She brought in four figures in sales in June, according to documents viewed by Insider. Lubinic projects five-figure months this quarter, she said.
Lubinic draws most of her clients through social media. As some Gen Zers and other consumers have become interested in the sustainability and affordability that thrifting can offer, #ThriftTok has generated more than 2.3 billion views. Meanwhile, #vintagebundle has more than 1.9 million views on TikTok.
Insider spoke with Lubinic about building her reselling career and tapping into social media trends to grow her small businesses. The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
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I first got into vintage in 2017, when it was just becoming more mainstream.
I specifically remember one curated vintage store in my university town, in Waterloo, Ontario, where everyone shopped. That was my first introduction into the world of vintage and I thought it was the coolest thing.
But I soon found myself thrifting things that I wouldn't even wear, but thought, "This is way too cool of a find not to buy."
That, combined with being a college student needing extra money, led me to set up a Depop profile.
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It was a side hustle up until October, when I quit my full-time marketing job. Now, after years of building this passion around vintage and personal styling, I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to make it my full-time career.
Initially, I just wanted to fill a gap on my résumé
Before taking on Saint Ivy full time, I went down the traditional business-degree route of working in brand marketing.
But by last October I needed a change. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do next, so I decided to invest more time into my company. That included moving from Depop to Shopify and doing a total rebrand in November.
It was initially called Rick's Thrift, but I wanted to separate my name from the brand. I landed on Saint Ivy Vintage and a whole new aesthetic, with a promotional photo shoot and everything.
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I was not planning on becoming a full-time entrepreneur. I just thought, "I'm in marketing, branding, and data analysis, so this will be a really great project to make up for the gap in my résumé."
Shortly after that, though, the business took off.
TikTok and vintage bundles led to booming sales
Before posting about my business, I built a TikTok following based on my personal style, outfit-of-the-day videos, and thrift hauls.
But at the end of 2022, style bundle videos started popping off. That was a reminder to me that it could be a great business opportunity. So I opened up bundle services with Saint Ivy.
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It starts with clients ordering a small-, medium-, or large-sized bundle, and filling out an order form with questions about their dream collection, pieces they do and don't want, their measurements, and a Pinterest board of inspiration.
TikTok is the reason my business has grown to where it is today because it's so easy for clients to find me. When a video of mine goes viral, viewers can just click the Linktree link in my bio, and it will automatically direct them to purchase their own bundle.
In June, 77% of my sales came from that. TikTok and Linktree have become tools that I suggest for every small business owner because they've been such a great way to directly generate clients through content.
It's fun to find clients through social media because while some of them share my personal style, others don't at all.
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There's a lot more to tap into for my business: I want to become a one-stop shop for all things vintage. But for now, I'm really focused on figuring out how to do this full-time and to scale.
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