Looking through the racks of clothings, two boys found a hidden grail – an old vintage jacket. To them, it was just an interestingly designed jacket and they bought it, not knowing the actual value. When researching what type of jacket it was, they found out it was worth almost 60 dollars and asked themselves, “I wonder if we can make it into a business?”
Seniors Rohin Malayil and Mathew Koithara started a business in the early fall of 2023, Vintage Refinds, selling vintage clothing from the 1980s to the 2010s for a good price; it went further than they had anticipated. The two wanted to make money, but also did not want to be like the other companies that sell overpriced, low quality items.
“We had been planning on starting a business since summer,” Malayil said. “We were going through ideas like throwing out people’s trash and putting up Christmas lights. But then we got to the idea of selling clothes because we both like thrifting.”
Although the two mainly advertise and sell through Instagram, to expand their business, they have begun selling their finds through Depop, an app on which you can resell a variety of items.
“We do have people who have bought stuff out of state,” Koithara said. “So, that’s when we usually use Depop, or we usually have people pay for shipping. [Then], I personally ship it,”
A great deal of their customers are Hebron students, but not all of them buy the clothes for themselves. They can also be given as gifts, too.
“I found Vintage Refinds through Instagram when my friend Adrian bought a piece from them,” junior Arvind Kurup said. “I thought it was really cool. When my dad’s birthday came up, I saw a Ferrari Jacket and knew I had to get it for him [since] vintage clothes can be hard to find.”
Usually, Malayil and Koithara try not to sell all of their clothing at the same time until they can meet with their wholesaler, Jellies World. The wholesaler is based in DeSoto, and every few weeks, they take the hour and a half drive to get their next shipments of clothing.
“Once we got a wholesaler, things got a lot easier,” Malayil said. “Instead of spending hours searching through clothing racks and looking online, we could just go and pick up a huge load. Usually, we try to keep it around 20-30 [items], because we can only hold so many at a time.”
Although the co-owners have different ideas about the business, such as how to expand or how to advertise, the two plan to remain in a partnership. Together, they have created a business that is continuing to grow.
“Even with the differences between us, we really work well together and we have accomplished what we wanted,” Koithara said. “I’m happy we accomplished all of this while still being in high school.”