University of Oregon advertising student Eduardo Olivares has always had a passion for clothing and fashion, but it wasn’t until his freshman year of college that he realized he could turn his interest into a career.
He enjoyed shopping at thrift stores, where he found unique, inexpensive pieces. His friends later expressed interest in purchasing his finds, so he began selling clothes. Olivares created an Instagram account in March 2019, called BounceBack Thrifts, dedicated to selling vintage apparel, including hoodies, hats and T-shirts.
After a year and a half, Olivares’ account reached 4,000 followers.
“It’s helped me continue to grow as a person. I’ve been able to meet new people, I’ve been able to keep learning the products and it’s something that I love,” Olivares said.
One of the many people Olivares met is Harrison Stevens, who graduated from UO in June as a business major. A vintage clothing retailer, Stevens sells products primarily through his Instagram account, Stanley Thrifts. The name came up organically when someone in Stevens’ fraternity said he looked like Stanley Yelnats from the movie Holes.
“People ask me if Stanley and Harrison are the same person, which is something I really like,” Stevens said. “I like the anonymity or the separation between the two because it is kind of like a switch I can flip at any time.”
Olivares saw Stevens selling his clothing at a booth at the ASUO Street Faire in spring 2019. Intrigued, Olivares said he reached out to Stevens to get to know him and “talk vintage” over lunch at Chipotle. Stevens ultimately asked Olivares to bring his clothes to sell at his booth that Friday. Over a year later, Olivares still sells his clothes alongside Stevens at ASUO street faires, where they sold nearly 1,000 items last fall.
Kate Reid, the owner of Eugene’s Public Streetwear, was selling products at the fall 2019 street faire when she noticed the persistent traffic at Olivares and Stevens’ booth. She offered them space to sell clothing at her store. Olivares and Stevens agreed and hatched a plan while eating Voodoo Donuts.
“I had a maple bar with hot chocolate, that’s what I always get,” Olivares said. Stevens had a cup of coffee.
Early this year, Reid hosted a pop-up series called the Throwback Files every Friday at Public Streetwear, where Olivares and Stevens sold clothing at Public Streetwear. Each week had a different theme, including sports teams, crewnecks and duck gear. Stevens described the Throwback Files as “a smash hit.”
Reid said she was surprised by how Olivares and Stevens use their communities to build up their businesses and each other.
“It was a super collaborative and caring business relationship, which — in a world that is capitalistic — is hard to find,” Reid said. “It was really easy for me to want to foster that in a way and bring them together into my space.”
The Throwback Files gave Olivares and Stevens a chance to work in a brick and mortar store, where they learned which items were successful and how to choose appropriate price-points, beyond the street faire’s shorter three-day period.
“That’s kind of when we started realizing that people were willing to pay more for our products,” Olivares said.
Their experience at Public Streetwear sparked an idea: to open their own store in Eugene. Stevens said they already identified a location and a name for their shop, which they’re keeping private until later.
“We’re gonna team up and take over Eugene,” Stevens said. “It’s gonna be awesome.” Their ultimate goal is to have stores next to college campuses across the nation.
But until COVID-19 restrictions are reduced, Olivares and Stevens will continue selling vintage clothing primarily through Instagram. Each of them dedicates roughly 10 to 15 hours per week to collecting, posting and shipping clothing to customers. Olivares said balancing his business with schoolwork and his job as an insurance agent — which he started shortly after graduating from high school — has never been a problem.
“Learning from the business owners, learning from my boss is definitely what motivated me to get this going,” Olivares said.
“I just love vintage clothes!” Stevens said. “I have this little slogan that’s ‘I only wanna wear T-shirts that are older than I am.’ I get so fired up when I find something dope. It’s a high you don’t get anywhere else.”
Olivares and Stevens’ common interest and similar businesses led to a friendship, as well.
“We’re two very different people, but at the same time, we’re very alike,” Olivares said about Stevens. “We have the same interests, we have the same goals and we’re willing to do anything we can to reach them.”
“Stanley walks so BounceBack can fly,” Stevens said. “We met over a passion for the same thing and now he’s one of my closest homies. We text every day, and whenever I have something too long to text out, I call him. He always picks up. We work together like peanut butter and jelly.”
