Reeti Malhotra, Contributing Photography

New York-based pop-up market Thrift2Death and premier local Connecticut market Forgotten Flea collaborated on Saturday to host “A Nightmare in Elm City,” a curated vintage event in downtown New Haven.

Located at 770 Chapel St. and boasting 20 clothing vendors, the market opened to early bird shoppers — who could pre-purchase tickets for $10 to get the first pick of available curations — from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and to the general public from 1 p..m to 6 p.m..

Sellers predominantly offered vintage, streetwear and Y2K — an umbrella term for early 2000s fashion — clothing and accessories during the event. Prices ranged from $5 to $10 per item in piles shoppers could sift through, to over $200 for unique, rare and high-quality pieces.

According to Thrift2Death co-owner Treysaun McGeachy, small vintage curation markets are also very different from franchised second hand stores, such as the Japan-based chain 2nd STREET that opened at the Shops at Yale this past October.

“2nd STREET focuses on curating second hand designer [clothing] and archival fashion. It’s a good place to go if that’s what you’re looking for, but for someone entry-level to fashion, you get lost. With [markets like] Thrift2Death, you’ll find a variety of styles. You can come and find early 2000s jerseys, vintage tees, whatever’s really your thing,” McGeachy said.

McGeachy shared that each Thrift2Death market sees around 1000 to 2000 attendees per event, with a majority of their audience comprising Gen Z students and youth. 

“A Nightmare in Elm City” is Thrift2Death’s third event in New Haven.

Mettao Feliz, owner of Forgotten Flea and curated vintage store Softwear New Haven elaborated on the demand for such events. “There was no other [curated vintage] market, really, in Connecticut. We would always have to go to New York or Boston to do events. But we wanted to bridge that gap, and [the numbers] have shown us how much people wanted us to fill that void,” he said.

According to McGeachy and Feliz, markets like Thrift2Death and Forgotten Flea function as middlemen between sellers and shoppers. Vendors, who paid $300 to attend and sell at Saturday’s market, are provided with a space and advertising, whilst buyers access their curations.

Piper Stetson, the owner of the local curated thrift business Feral.Fibers, outlined the value of these markets.

“I do this part-time. With Thrift2Death and Forgotten Flea, I get access to exactly the demographic I’m looking for. They have the perfect online presence to target the Y2K, opium kids; the ones who want to buy the streetwear and curated thrift [that I sell],” Stetson said. 

Besides pouring through racks of clothing, local shoppers also enjoyed the opportunity to get flash tattoos from Brooklyn-based artist bamboo.pokes, purchase baked goods from the New Haven home-baker Bakery Sucre, and listen to live DJ sets from On & On Radio and Thrift2Death radio.

Thrift2Death’s next market will take place on Nov. 16 in New York City.

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REETI MALHOTRA