in an effort to be more sustainable in my apparel production, i began sourcing pre-existing vintage sweatshirts back in 2020. the sweatshirts (and sometimes tees!) are culled from secondhand stores around the country by a raghouse, and i pick through hundreds of them at the raghouse i work with in los angeles to find the ones that are salvageable for my purposes.

because these pieces are over 10 years old, almost all of them have spots or areas of discoloration. while most businesses might overlook these items because of their imperfect nature, i choose to use them so they don't go to waste.

sometimes i will ask my mom to do visible mending by hand on the more spotty ones. it's a SUPER special touch that i feel makes these sweatshirts even more unique!

another bonus of using these vintage pieces is their fit! while contemporary sweatshirts have a tendency to be like a big, clingy tube, these vintage sweatshirts are often slightly shorter with a looser hem that is more comfortable.

because they are anywhere from 15-40 years old, they're also usually nicely broken-in and fit like that thing you've owned your whole life, if you know what i mean?

however, because they are all sorts of brands from many decades, the sizing is all over the place. for instance, something may be tagged a "large" but it was made in 1975 for women based on 1975 standards for women and therefore it is a contemporary XS. dig?

so i do NOT follow the size listed on the tag when i'm sizing these for y'all. instead, we have our own sizing chart that we use. it is unisex, of course!

i will always grab ANY sweatshirts that will work for our purposes, but i am definitely at the mercy of what is at the raghouse when it comes to colors and sizes. XS, 3X, and 4X tend to be the hardest sizes to come by. mediums are the most common (unsurprisingly).

please measure your favorite sweatshirt/sweater/tshirt at home if you're not sure what your size would be. another safe bet is to know your chest measurement, and size up 1 from there. below is a diagram of how we measure the pieces.

if you have any particular requests when it comes to the sizing of the piece you've ordered (such as it needing to be at least a certain length), i welcome those requests in the notes field at checkout or via email/the contact form on this site! i will do my best to find one that will work from you from what i have in stock. i will reply to you as soon as i am in the studio fulfilling your order :-)

like i said above, i am totally at the mercy of whatever i find! each trip to the raghouse is a totally different combo of colors and sizes. i try to buy 100-250 sweatshirts at a time depending on what i can afford, but they become small groups really quickly as i filter by design and color.

not really! these sweatshirts have lived a long life and have likely already been washed hundreds of times. washing cold, inside out, with like colors and tumble drying at a medium/low temp is always your safest bet.

if your sweatshirt is embroidered, the backing paper our embroiderer uses to apply the design may feel stiff at first, but will begin to soften and dissolve beginning with the first wash. washing before wearing is always recommended because of this so it's as comfy as possible! :-)

have any other questions?

please do not hesitate to get in touch!