Vintage on the Move
Traveling clothing store gives shopping a new look
STORY BY SAMANTHA KLINGMAN | PHOTOS COURTESY OF ELIZABETH ENGLE
(above) Western alumna and business owner Ashley Hogrebe (left) is fulfilling her dream of selling vintage clothing out of her small trailer while traveling the United States with her friend and photographer, Elizabeth Engle (right).
Scrolling through Ashley Hogrebe’s Instagram account, hundreds of pictures of a little white and yellow-trimmed trailer cover the page. Woven handbags hang on metal racks. Plaid, leather and jean jackets line the bottom of the trailer’s window. Business owner Ashley Hogrebe and professional photographer and “co-pilot” Elizabeth Engle stand back-to-back in front of the freshly painted “rolling vintage shop” called The Living Room.
Growing up, Western Alumna Ashley Hogrebe was a collector, and had an eye for vintage fashion.
“I just started collecting all these clothes that I couldn’t really wear, but enjoyed,” Hogrebe says.
While in college at Western, Hogrebe dreamed of combining her love of vintage fashion and desire to travel. She wanted to create a business that she could take on the road, but the road needed to provide her with a sustainable lifestyle, she says.
In 2014, her dream came true.
Hogrebe purchased a trailer during her senior year of college and spent nine months repairing and fixing it up.
“My mom is awesome. She is like a Renaissance woman,” Hogrebe says. “She would come up on weekends, and if I gave her a pack of beer then she would help me.”
Hogrebe decided to name her business The Living Room after brainstorming names with her friends.
“We wanted it to feel like a community space, Hogrebe says.” “It’s not just a store to me. It’s also literally my home.”
After graduating from Western in spring 2014, Hogrebe decided it was finally time to take her business on the road.
Her first day as a business owner of a mobile vintage clothing company was filled with raised voices, frustration and tears. The tiny trailer that Hogrebe bought off Craigslist was more difficult to back up than anticipated, and Hogrebe and Engle had to drive much further than a few feet out of a parking spot.
They had spent the past three days before leaving on their journey tirelessly painting the outside of the trailer, cleaning and pricing all their clothing and making business decisions. Now they felt completely helpless as they realized they never learned how to maneuver the trailer in or out of a parking spot.
“We thought we weren’t going to make it. We almost quit, because backing up a trailer is so difficult if you have never done it before,” Hogrebe says, laughing as she recounts her first day on the road. “My mom was driving, and she was yelling at me, and I was yelling at Liz. Liz had nobody to yell at, so she was just crying.”
After several attempts at getting out of the parking spot, Hogrebe and Engle finally made it on the road. They successfully arrived at their first stop on their 1,400-mile journey at Make Shift, a music and art venue in Bellingham.
She drove, slept and ran her business out of her trailer for three months while traveling from Bellingham to San Diego with Engle.
Most vintage clothing is found at secondhand stores, which have become popular shopping destinations in recent years due to the economic climate and an increasing push for eco-sustainability, according to Fashion Practice: The Journal of Design, Creative Process, and the Fashion Industry.
Resale and secondhand stores in the U.S. have yearly revenue that is now approximately $13 billion and growing, according to The Association of Resale Professionals.
The popularity of vintage clothing from secondhand stores may be a rising fashion trend, but Hogrebe had her eye on vintage fashion well before the economy took a downhill turn.
After successfully launching The Living Room, Hogrebe opened a vintage shop online, set up her vintage clothing in flea markets and partnered with existing retailers whose brands aligned well with her product while on the road. She learned to run a business, drive a trailer and live in close corridors with another person all at one time, she says.
A lot of people see what we have done and say “I wish I could do that,” “I wish I had the guts to do that,” or “I wish I had the money to do that,” Hogrebe says.
“I bought my trailer for $50 on Craigslist, so literally anyone else could do this,” Hogrebe says laughing. “It’s been fun to be able to talk to those people and show them that their dreams are possible.”
As for backing up and parking the trailer, Hogrebe and Engle have come a long way.
“Now three months later, I can back up a trailer. No problem!” Hogrebe says proudly.
Hogrebe and her little trailer are rooted in Oakland for now, but she has big plans for The Living Room to hit the road again.