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Some advice: If you love something, set it free — even the Miu Miu heels.
This was the notion that two friends, Quinn Shephard and Francesca Goncalves, were discussing in a sun-kissed setting (a “pool somewhere,” Shephard recalls). They wanted to barter their old clothing, but that was a sticky prospect in Los Angeles — the scene is riddled with suspicious stares from thrift store employees and digital cold wars with teenagers on Depop. There’s pomp and circumstance at every turn.
“So many people are like: I go to Wasteland or Crossroads and I get $3,” Shephard explains. “They’re not nice to me.”
Shephard and Goncalves wanted to start a closet sale that felt more like a fun hangout with friends. So one day last summer, Shephard and Goncalves hit the streets of Silver Lake, asking small businesses if they’d host an event that they were calling Outfit Repeater L.A. Shephard jokes that Goncalves is the “mayor of Silver Lake” — the kind of Gatsby-like woman who makes Los Angeles feel like a small town, chatting with strangers with an endearing openness. Finally, they arrived at Constellation Coffee, a contemporary, sleek coffee shop. To their surprise, the manager agreed to host Outfit Repeater L.A. that upcoming Sunday.
“She’s used to indie filmmaking, where you have to go up and ask people for things, and there’s power in that,” Goncalves says of Shephard, the director of TV shows including the Hulu drama “Under the Bridge.” Goncalves works in Stanford Medicine’s genetics department.
With their event fast approaching, Shephard and Goncalves created a blitzkrieg of advertisements across social media and posted fliers on lampposts throughout the neighborhood to drum up excitement. “We literally put up fliers until 2 am. It’s so funny because Quinn doesn’t do anything unless it’s 100%, and I’m like that too,” says Goncalves.
Clockwise from left: A shopper looks at a skirt. Seller Samantha Rose and Liv Hoffner. Outfit Repeater L.A. co-founder Francesca Goncalves talks with seller Mitch deQuilettes. (Yasara Gunawardena / For The Times)
The first Outfit Repeater L.A. event was a success, drawing a crowd of fashion enthusiasts and women who wanted to sell their beloved wardrobes directly to buyers, bypassing the intermediary of a thrift store. Women attendees eagerly inquired about selling their own clothes at the next event, offering up locations and contacts. “New coffee shops wanted to host us, and new girls wanted to sell,” Goncalves says. “It snowballed into this thing where it’s just getting bigger and bigger, completely by accident.”
Since then, Outfit Repeater L.A. has garnered a reputation as the Eastside’s hippest trading post for “it” girls, creatives and fashion trendsetters. Sellers have included independent film darlings like Geraldine Viswanathan and Francesca Reale, as well as fashion influencers with enviable style, such as Macy Eleni.
Despite its newfound fame, at its core, the closet sale is inclusive and accessible to people of all income levels. “I wanted to keep it very accessible. I charge a seller fee that’s so low, just to cover expenses. It’s not just vintage resellers or influencers that can afford to sell,” says Goncalves.
Goncalves attributes the success of the event to a hunger for social events that offer an alternative to the monotony of bar hangs. “People are tired of the bar scene,” she says.
Shephard explains that the appeal is simple: “It’s like going to a party with your friends for the day, plus you make money.”
At a recent Outfit Repeater L.A. event at Lamill Coffee in Silver Lake, actor Kate Mansi was selling her wardrobe after discovering the event through a friend’s recommendation. “I’m always selling stuff on Instagram,” Mansi says. “It’s nice to do it face to face. Clothes have a story. It’s nice to hear the story of the piece you’re inheriting.”
Mansi adds, “I have a very Virgo system with my closet where I turn the hanger backwards if it’s something I haven’t worn, and if in a year, I still haven’t worn it, it must go.” On this Sunday, one of those items was a well-loved blue polka-dot romper with puff sleeves, which Mansi found at a vintage store years earlier, and she sold it for $20. Another was an All Saints trenchcoat, priced at $40, and a gray A.L.C. blouse, for $30. A classic denim Levi’s jacket found a new home for $30.
Mansi parted ways with a black dress by Jonathan Simkhai, one of her favorite designers. To the woman who bought it, Mansi wisely prescribed that she wear the dress casually with flats or boots.
At a time when fashion retail has shifted online due to the pandemic, an in-person thrifting event has been warmly received by the community. “I’m focused on each sale being a unique thing that people walk away from, having gotten a cool piece and making a few new friends and maybe a lover or boyfriend,” says Goncalves.
Alena Nemitz, who has been creating social media content for Outfit Repeater L.A., met her partner of five months at one of the events. “I was selling, and they were walking through and introduced themselves to me,” she says. “Now we’re dating, which is so cute.”
Top row from left: A selection of items under $5. Seller Delilah Keyes sorts through clothes. A selection of shoes for sale. Bottom row from left: Kristen Vaganos goes through her clothing rack. A guest considers a dress. (Yasara Gunawardena / For The Times)
Eleni, who wrote a book on thrifting called “Second Chances,” was one of Outfit Repeater’s earliest sellers and champions. Growing up with a single mother in Dayton, Ohio, Eleni explains that she was bullied for thrifting during her childhood and is overjoyed to see a new generation embrace it. She believes some of the newfound eagerness for thrifting comes from an increased awareness of the devastating impact of fast fashion. “When I was a teenager, I wasn’t seeing videos on my phone of the inside of a Shein factory,” she says. “The curtains have been lifted, and there’s no way to claim ignorance as to where things are coming from anymore.”
Outfit Repeater L.A. has built a community of shoppers excited about clothing, Eleni explains. “Everyone is gassing each other up about how fabulous they look,” she says. “I love seeing people’s faces light up over other people’s things that they’re ready to be done with. It’s less [about] people trying to flip a profit and more people just trying to swap their clothes, share their clothes with each other.”
Goncalves describes the endearing experience of spotting items she sold from her closet on other women around Silver Lake. The world suddenly feels smaller and warmer. “I think clothes are so personal, but they are fleeting in a way,” she says. You love something and you want to pass it on, but it’s still your life and your ecosystem, even if it’s not right for you anymore.”
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