Profile: Daisy Lee Vintage
Reduce, reuse– and look dang good doing it! Introducing your new favorite vintage shop, Daisy Lee.
All photos courtesy of Daisy Lee Vintage
Vintage is always in style– and Daisy Lee Vintage is making moves with their second storefront, newly re-opened on iconic 18th Street in the Crossroads. Here, we chat with the owner about how they source clothing, their creative goals, and what we can look forward to in their new space!
First of all: congratulations on the new shop opening, and during such a difficult time no less! Kudos to you. It's probably a long tale– but what led you to opening a brick & mortar space in the Crossroads?
Thank you so much! We originally opened the Crossroads space in 2017 and then the building was bought and the new owners did a huge remodel from May of 2019 to July of 2020. During that time we sold our clothes at Fetch in the West Bottoms and did a pop up at Oak Park Mall. It was a wild time, but it taught us so much and we're grateful for the push it gave us to try new things! We were so successful at those places: we still have a collection at Fetch, and we are a permanent space at Oak Park . It's been amazing for us and our business. Now back to your question… we originally chose W 18th because of our success at several First Fridays. Our good friend Jamie who owns the Hair Parlour inside of the Bauer let us pop up there when we were just selling as a hobby! It was so fun and thrilling to see others enjoy what we had to offer. We both knew we wanted to do it full time one day! Jamie contacted us when the space across the street opened up, and said it would go quickly, but gave us the information we needed and we went with it! I was 8 months pregnant at the time but we refused to let the opportunity pass us by! We were nervous because we knew it would go fast– so we quickly did a photoshoot and wrote a love letter about the space. We met with the then landlord at the time, David Ford, and he gave us a tour of the whole building then drove us around the Crossroads in his vintage Thing . I remember us leaving with butterflies in our tummies because we so desperately wanted the spot and could see the potential it held. When he called us a few short days later we knew the rest of our lives would be forever changed. Being in my early 20's exploring Crossroads on First Friday with my now husband is an experience that has shaped me in so many ways and opened my mind to so many things I didn't even know I was missing. I hope we can bring a piece of that to some young kid finding themself.
Why should people buy local, and more specifically, buy vintage?
Honestly, I think people should buy local because small businesses are working constantly just to survive right now. 2020 has been tough, and that money you spend here buys our next meal and pays our bills and gets puts back into the local economy. Each piece or item you buy locally was picked out thoughtfully by the owners of the shop, it meant something to them, and they hope it will mean something to you. A customer to a small shop is like a new friend; you build beautiful relationships and have meaningful conversations. It's just more personal and thoughtful. You're not just another dollar to us. I could give you a million reasons why people should shop vintage but the best one is because it literally saves the earth. Fast fashion is one of the big industries hurting our environment– it's so wasteful. Shopping vintage not only makes your outfit more unique and special, but it saves that used item from ending up in a landfill.
What is your buying process like, and what can people expect to find in your shop throughout the year?
We are constantly searching and hunting for vintage threads. Each week we are thrifting, going to estate sales, bidding on Ebay and sometimes buying entire wardrobes from people. After we buy the clothing, we then decide if we are going to up-cycle the piece or leave it as is. You can almost count on new pieces being added to the shop weekly, sometimes daily. You can expect to find essential items from the 90s and rare hard to find pieces from the 60s and 70s. Our biggest goal is to find pieces people feel comfortable wearing everyday, not just to costume parties! Some of our key pieces are: mom jeans, cropped knits, up-cycled plaids, 60s minis, cozy sweaters, fun tops, rad outerwear and 90s and y2k streetwear pieces.
Creativity is such a big part of setting up a shop, and yours is so colorful and full of style. What goes into that process?
Where to begin? I would say the biggest thing is the eras that inspire us. Currently we are obsessed with 60s and 70s interior design, which definitely inspired our cash-desk design and key pieces throughout the shop like our fringe ceiling light, sunburst mirror and gold and glass table. However, in our mall space you can expect to see the influence of the 90s. We have this awesome lava lamp and curated VHS selection to get people talking! We want our space to feel fun and alive. We hope all our elements start great conversations amongst friends.
What can we expect in the future from your shop? Any pop ups planned for the holidays?
This year one of our biggest goals is to be more involved with our community! Now that we have permanent homes and aren't popping up all the time, we feel more grounded and have a better grasp on things. This coming weekend we are doing a clothing and necessity drive for Rose Brooks Center which is a shelter for domestic violence victims. We will also be participating in Flowvember with other local shops to support Barrier Babes mission of providing feminine products to local KCMO schools and low income community organizations. We also recently collaborated with local artist and actvist Ari Bonner to create buttons for the BLM movement and Suicide Awareness. All the profits of these buttons will be donated to organizations that support the same mission. Another big goal of ours is to find more vintage mens and plus clothing! We want our company to accommodate everyone! This holiday we're sitting pop-ups out, we had so many last year– we kind of just want to enjoy our new spaces. We are looking into hosting our annual vintage and makers event again… really, it will all just depend on Covid and finding the right space.
