Closet sales are the new brands
A quick primer on the great closet sales of NYC, and some kick ass street style to go with it, courtesy of the homie Chris Fenimore
Closet sales are the new brands
If you keep up with internet culture amongst the cool kids of NYC, you know there’s a fun shift happening.
I swear, every week, it seems like someone with good taste who lives downtown or in Brooklyn (with sub 15k followers on Instagram) is selling their closet.
Alfargo’s is a community-driven marketplace that hosts vintage meetups once a month.
Throwing Fits ran a secondhand Bazaar last fall with Cash App, curating fashion folks and their closet
Basic Space has emerged as a startup that partners with influential people to sell their closets.
The list goes on and on.
It used to be that you simply go to a brand for their creative vision and product. They held the keys to what’s good. And they still do.
But now, you also look to the tastemakers, curators, and content creators with built-in distribution from their TikToks, IG accounts, or podcasts to know what’s good, and you buy it from them.
Which leads me to the point of this piece.
The homie, Chris Fenimore, who photographed a lot of good stuff for me recently, was in Manhattan last weekend photographing a closet sale to support his two friends, Sam and Sameer.
I’ve never personally seen their wardrobes, but legend has it they own some great shit, stuff you can seldom get ahold of secondhand. I thought this closet sale perfectly illustrates what I just mentioned.
But I’ll let Chris explain the rest…
Oh, and subscribe to his bangin’ newsletter about clothes, photography, and life.
PS- huge shout to Chris for snapping some legendary street style.
A sartorial dispatch from Chris
Last January, I photographed a closet sale two friends put on at Leisure Centre, a great vintage shop on New York City’s Lower East Side. Sam and Sameer decided to do the same sale again, but this time, it was 40 degrees colder.
That said, the garments and camaraderie were flowing, and it was a pleasure to meet some new folks and photograph some repeat ‘fit heroes from last year.
What makes the sale really cool is both Sam and Sameer have incredible closets and taste, so when they choose to move stuff, we all win.
It’s the only place you can get exceptional prices on Visvim, Craig Green, Evan Kinori, Dries Van Noten, and almost any other excellent menswear brand you can fathom.
Plus, the community shows out.
Because it was frigid, I didn’t walk great distances with people or even shoot them on the fly. Asking for permission is something that is becoming more routine as I grow older and more experienced.
I’m primarily a portrait photographer, and it’s becoming more natural to take street-style photographs in this way.
Conversely, it’s becoming harder to point a giant lens at a stranger and shoot without saying a word. I bounced between Leisure Centre and Colbo, where another good friend, Alex Delany—Sprezza community, you might know him—was playing vinyl and pouring some tasty wines.
Here are some of my favorite outfits from the day.
Do you know of any in the LA/OC area?