Fashion Thrift Society Brisbane April 2024 Recap Castledoor Select First Vintage Pop-Up
Fashion Thrift Society Recap Brisbane April 2024 Castledoor Select’s First Vintage Pop-Up
Castledoor Select recently had the opportunity to do our first Vintage Pop-Up at Fashion Thrift Society in Brisbane at the RNA Showgrounds April 28th 2024.
The purpose of this article is to document, recap and reflect on how the event went for us, provide some of the notes that were taken on the setup and offer some tips/extra information for other people who may be interested in running a pop-up and/or selling at an FTS event.
The following article will cover our approach to navigating the following:
The Fashion Thrift Society Stall Application Process
Costs & Revenue
Schedule & Foot Traffic
Stall Layout
A checklist of everything we took on the day
Inventory & Pricing
Customer Experience & Experiments
What we would have done differently
General Tips for Selling
Conclusion
Special Thanks
Please Note:
Castledoor Select is NOT affiliated with FTS nor are we being paid to write this article. There was nothing quite like this article that we could’ve referenced prior to going to the event so if your plan is to do a pop-up OR sell at a Fashion Thrift Society event in the future (in our case the Brisbane one) then we hope this article may be of benefit to you.
The Fashion Thrift Society Stall Application Process: (please note: this is accurate as of June 2024, and may be subject to change)
The overall application process for the stall space was smooth.
We applied for the stall in mid-March (the event was scheduled for the end of April). On the FTS website at the time of writing, they have an ‘Apply to Sell’ page which has dates and locations. You select the date you want to apply for and then you are directed to a Google form which you are asked to fill out.
The application form asks for your details, your Instagram handle, what you sell, the price range you’re selling in, whether you’re a brand/seller and some other standard questions. If you’re approved, you’re then sent a checkout link for the stall you’re after. We were sent this link through Instagram DM.
Costs & Revenue:
The stall prices were the following:
$100 - Small 2m x 2m
$170 - Medium 3m x 2m
$265 - Large 4m x 3m
We opted for the Large stall 4m x 3m which was $265. Parking was also separately charged (by the Showground themselves) at $18 for the day. Regarding the allocated space you are given, you are sent a map screenshot and all correspondence before the event is through an Instagram group chat which you are added to by FTS. Pay close attention to this group chat in the week leading up to the event as various graphics are posted within it that contain important information. We did not pay adequate attention to this group chat and almost made a mistake with our bump-in time. Do not do this, pay attention to the group chat.
Regarding the stall: To be completely honest, initially, we considered the pricing to be high given the space you are allocated. No clothing racks are provided and you’re on a 4m x 3m space which you do not choose the placement of. This was no knock to FTS, we understand they have significant overheads and hosting it at the RNA Showgrounds presents its challenges too. This was just our transparent first impression.
We were stall number 86 (Back Left of the Marquee)
However, at the end of the day, we understood why the stalls were priced accordingly. The foot traffic was considerable and in hindsight, we should’ve taken a lot more inventory. (For reference we took around 250 pieces when we easily could've taken 500+)
Our total revenue for the day was $1379 ($300 cash collected + $1079 between Pay ID + Square). More notes on what inventory we took further on in the article.
Major Key: With the stall, you’re not so much paying for the space, as you are for the opportunity to present to the foot traffic that comes with an attendance such as FTS. (We can only speak to the Brisbane one).
Schedule & Foot Traffic:
Bump in Time: 7am (Large Stall 4m x 3m)
Scheduled Selling Duration: 10am to 3pm
7 am to 10 am - Sellers Set-Up
10 am - Buyers allowed in
11 am to 12 pm - This was our peak traffic zone
12 pm to 1 pm - Things begin to slow down but still busy
1 pm - 3 pm - Had some extra sales here but tapered off after 2pm
3 pm - 4 pm - We were in the car fully packed up and left by 4pm
Event stats:
41,000+ interested in the event on Facebook
8000+ people to the event itself
(Maybe 200-500 people physically looked through our racks)
200+ Vendors
Stall Layout (4m x 3m):
Our initial problem was people (sellers) were continuously walking through our booth because we were at the back left of the marquee closest to where everybody parked their cars. So to discourage this, we created the stall as shown below in the diagram. We created the shape in a C which reduced the amount of people that would walk through there. By doing this we also limited the foot traffic passing through the booth (to get to the other side and/or browse) so at max we could probably only fit around 15 to 20 people at a time. In hindsight, we may have made some alterations to this, opening it up slightly more however, this also meant that nobody stole from us (we were warned about this before the event).
A checklist of everything we took on the day:
5 x Clothing Industrial Steel/Metal Foldable Racks
250 x Pieces of Clothing (98% were upper body garments and were ready on coat hangers BEFORE the event)
1 x Trestle Table (strong Lifetime Brand one)
3 x Phones (1 Phone for Content and 2 Phones for taking payments with square)
Please note: We set-up Square the night before and tested it before the event
2 x Bum-bags (Used these as across-the-chest pouches for the float)
1 x Float (We were recommended to take $150, we took less and instead asked customers to pay in cash initially. Luckily we had no issues with this but please don't be like us. Instead make sure you have your float organised beforehand and broken up into smaller notes).
1 x Drinks & Snacks (you may not get much time to leave the booth unless you have spare people, so highly recommend packing drinks and snacks).
1 x Whiteboard (We used this as a makeshift sign and put the PayID on it so we didn't have to keep repeating the number, however would recommend getting a proper sign with a QR Code on it if you want people to follow you easier)
1 x 50L Tub (had giveaway items in it)
1x IKEA Bag (Full of hats which we then laid out on the trestle table)
Inventory & Pricing:
In terms of inventory, we placed bulk hats on the trestle table and then organized each rack by item type (not by size or price). The inventory we took consisted mostly of branded pre-owned shirts, t-shirts, jackets and tops. We took less than 10 pairs of bottoms (jeans/pants/shorts). No reason other than bottoms requiring more “trying on” and sizing issues so we opted out by only taking tops. We still allowed people to try things on but this greatly reduced the need.
From a pricing perspective, the general customer sentiment we could gather going into the event was that other sellers were pricing too high because of the vintage items they were stocking.
However justified, there is no more disappointing customer experience than seeing something you like on a clothing rack and then it being priced 2x-3x your expectation. Not only does the customer not buy, but given the setting of a ‘Fashion Thrift’ event, tackling this customer sentiment was of our utmost priority.
What we did instead was price almost everything below $30. With our average sales price being between $10 and $25. The model was simply to sell the most pieces as possible, not at the highest prices. Give as many people good deals as possible and push through the volume and multi-buys. As mentioned above, we took around 250 pieces when we easily could've taken 500+.
Obviously some pieces were priced higher. However, the buyers that understood and recognized those products were happy to pay more because they knew what the true vintage was and ultimately we would give them a good deal on it regardless because we were there to sell items.
We didn’t go in with set prices. Instead, we led every single customer interaction with the words “How much do you want to pay?” The logic of this was that people would say an amount they were comfortable paying and 9/10 times we would agree to their first price. Firstly, I used this as an excuse because I was too lazy to set up the price tags. But secondly, we just wanted to gauge the price sentiment of potential customers.
Turns out, people would say $10, $20, $50 etc and they naturally would give you the range that they felt comfortable paying and it was simply a matter of saying yes or no. In our mind, this worked perfectly, because we didn’t come across a lot of low-ballers and were selling items to people at prices THEY were happy to pay.
Clip below from Set-up to First Sale:
Customer Experience & Experiments:
Coin Flip
What I also personally experimented with and did with some fun negotiation was some coin flips. If someone would come in and say 30, I would say coin flip and they'd ask what the other price was and I'd say 40. If they win and guess correctly, they get the initial price.
This also created a bit of fun, a little something different for the customer interaction and it gave them something memorable, especially if they won because they're like, “Hey, I now have this interaction where I won a coin flip” and then they also have that feeling of winning something. Even if they’re paying the same amount they originally would have, they now associate that item with that positive feeling. The idea being, they feel like they've got a good deal (and they did get a good deal) and they also walk away from the interaction feeling better than they did when they first came to the stall.
Physical Positioning:
In the peak window around 11 pm to 1 pm, people were coming in and out of the stall continuously, and so our approach, body language-wise, was not to crowd this small space but to position a little bit further back and outside the stall itself.
Obviously, not to the point where people would say, “Hey, who do I talk to?” but we would watch customers as they would pick up items and then gauge, okay, this person wants to buy this item now, and one of us should approach them. We also made it a point not to approach them until that point because we noticed that in common retail, sometimes the assistants just crowd you instantly, and it can make you feel self-conscious. It's just not a pleasant experience.
So by creating that space, it allowed people to go and look through the stock first, and once they did have a couple of things they wanted to buy, to then see one of us to pay for the items. It was about finding that balance between, “All right, we're here, but also we don't want to crowd you looking through the stuff because when you find something you like, you'll find one of us.”
And so we were just paying attention to the body language of people, so one of us would be positioned inside the booth, and then the other two of us would be positioned outside of the booth. At one point, all three of us were positioned outside of the booth because we knew that the only way to leave the booth was through the front part, and this goes back to the layout. Ultimately if this were a store, it would warrant a different approach but because it was a busy 4m x 3m area, this is what we found worked well.
Competition & Giveaways
So one thing I did was some push-up competitions. Essentially if they could do 20 push-ups with me they would get a free item. And because we were selling at a lower ASP and because we are moving volume, we can afford to do these giveaways. So we did a push-up competition with two different groups of friends. If they could do 20 push-ups, they got a free item each, both of which we recorded, which is great for social media content after the fact.
We also did some giveaways where if somebody could answer some questions, we then gave them free stuff, almost like an unexpected trivia. The way we did these giveaways was we waited for the booth to fill up, and then I would go in and say, “Hey, can I get everybody's attention?” I would then proceed to ask them a question. And so they're kind of looking around like “What's going on?”. They're confused, and then the switch flips when the person does speak up and says, “Yeah, I can answer the question.” They then have the opportunity to get the answers right.
We film the whole thing, of course, and then they get a free item. So maybe they don't buy from the booth, but once again, they leave our stall with a positive experience. Specifically for these giveaways, I had a 50L plastic tub that was hidden away, so people had no idea what was going on until the person who answered correctly received their prize.
Clip below Our First Vintage Pop-Up Recap:
What we would have done differently
One thing we would have done differently was set the prices.
The reason being, because we were focused on good value with a lower average selling price, there is no way of gauging how many people just walked past and assumed that our pricing was the same as all the other vendors, despite us wanting to give the best deals possible on the day.
So, in the future, I think it would be wise to have those cheaper sections and allow people to see the price, and boom, that's what they want, they can buy it.
We know that some people may have felt funny about asking “Hey, how much is this?” And they may have been on the fence to ask about the price and then as a result, also have been on the fence about buying the item resulting in leaving without buying the item altogether.
So to potentially increase the sales later, maybe it would be simply a matter of pricing 90% of the items, perhaps not individually pricing, but putting them into price buckets. For example a $10, a $20, $40, and then having a rack where we still run that “how-much-do-you-want-to-pay” idea?”
Secondly, what we would do differently is take more stock.
Had we known the foot traffic was as much as it was, there would have been opportunities to re-stock and replenish the racks. This may have also been an opportunity to invite people back at certain times, so intentionally having scheduled re-stock times could’ve been an undervalued opportunity.
General Tips for Selling at an FTS Event:
Bring a friend (or two). This should go without saying but when it gets really busy, if you’re operating a larger stall having the help will make a huge difference. You want to make the customer experience as seamless as possible.
Strong racks. Assume at least 100 people will look through your inventory. Factor this in when considering what clothing racks you’re taking to use. The stronger the better. You don’t want racks falling down or falling apart at the busiest parts of the day. We do not recommend the standard ‘RIGGA’ IKEA roller racks and instead would recommend getting some steel industrial ones. We purchased the ones we used on the day from Facebook marketplace.
Multiple Payment Options. We had a variety of people wanting to pay via card, cash and Pay ID. Ultimately if someone wants to give you money, you need to be able to accept it, so the more options you have, the better. Ideally, if you’re running a larger stall as well, you want to have more than one square terminal. The reason being, when it starts to get busier it is much easier to process payments through more than one terminal. One is good, but two is even better. Square (or any other processor) can be put on your phone, so if you have it on two phones, you’re off to the races.
Look after your customers. This one should go without saying, but being grateful and expressing that gratitude to the strangers wanting to buy things from you, will do wonders for your business. Whilst other sellers look at it purely as a transaction, if you can create positive associations with you, your brand and what you’re selling, the outcomes will take care of themselves.
Clip below Walk-Through of the event:
Conclusion
To conclude, the overall experience of our first Vintage Pop-Up was fantastic.
Would we have wanted to sell more? Of course, you can never sell 'enough'.
Did we learn a lot? Absolutely.
Would we do it again? Yes.
Our first FTS event was a great opportunity for our first time selling in-person and we'd recommend attending (even as a customer first) if you have any interest whatsoever in vintage clothing. There's always going to be good deals if you bother to look and if you want to attend as a seller I hope this article helped to answer some of your questions. As mentioned in the beginning, we are not affiliated with FTS so this article was written for the sole purpose of answering some of my own questions that I had before we attended for the first time.
Special Thanks
First and foremost, to Gabe from Gabe’s Closet, who we thank for his patience in answering all the stupid questions we had before the event. We would not have attended the event had it not been for Gabe’s guidance in the lead-up. I’ve personally known Gabe for years and his encouragement to attend this event played a huge factor in us deciding to sell in-person for the first time. Beyond grateful.
To Arby from Memory Lane Vintage Store, who gave us some great advice on how to do the layout of our stall which made a huge difference. Thank you for the time you took to come and say hello, offer your advice generously and make us feel welcome.
To Jackson from Brisbane Vintage Exchange Market / Summerhouse, who gave us some great tips on pricing, what to expect and insights that made our day much easier. Also for being one of our first customers of the day and giving us the encouragement we needed to get things done, very appreciative.
To the FTS team, we’d like to thank Georgia, Aisha, Alyssa, Doyle, Jeanie and specifically Melody for the effort she puts into organizing the FTS events. For us, this day ran as smoothly as it possibly could have and it’s no doubt due to the efforts by the FTS team. Hosting an event at this scale is incredibly difficult to do, please know your efforts do not go unnoticed. Thank you for giving vintage sellers like us the opportunity to begin with.
And finally to the customers that continue to do business with us,
Without you, Castledoor Select would not exist. Thank you.
Kind regards,
Kido (@castledoorselect)
PS.
If you got any value from this article, please send us a DM on Instagram @castledoorselect and let us know!