Hey, thank you for joining me for another episode of YQG In Bloom.
I am the host Tracy Martens and we are still here at Wolf and Rebel for the podcast pop-up.
This store is located on Seminole at the corner of Drouillard and they've been great at having
us basically take over the store all day today, but we've been doing non-stop podcasts and
it's been fabulous.
And one of my last ones, but not least is Rebecca Haddad and she is the owner of Spicy
Cat Vintage and More.
Yes I am.
Thank you so much for having me.
Oh, thank you for coming.
So tell me about your business.
Sure.
So I've been casually selling vintage online since probably the pandemic.
So probably like three or four years.
It was very casual, not serious at first.
Like I would kind of just like find something in my closet and be like, I don't wear this
enough.
I should probably put it online and sell it to someone or like I'd be thrifting.
I'd find something that like doesn't fit me, but I thought was cool.
So I would sell it online and it kind of just started out like that, like not very serious.
But very recently I decided I kind of want to make this like a serious business.
I want to like start branding it.
I want it to be a real shop.
I want to do like social media marketing.
So that's and like start getting involved with like local markets too.
So it's only like in the past few months that it's become like a real shop.
And that's a little bit about how it started.
I really like curating like really bright and funky pieces.
I have like a strong focus towards like the 70s, 80s and 90s.
But sometimes I also like to find and like curate like 50s and 60s pieces.
They're a lot rarer though, so harder to find.
And yeah, that's a little bit about the business.
It's just really about like bright and funky clothing, like sustainability, keeping clothes
out of landfills.
And it's just like a creative outlet for me, I guess.
I love vintage clothes and but I'm glad that there are people that are grabbing them.
It's a pain in the butt to go through one of our thrift stores and it's all jam packed
and nothing looks good.
I would rather buy something from you where you can actually see it and see how special
it is.
And the fact that you're curating outfits is even better.
Yeah, thank you for saying that because like a lot of people, there's kind of like an argument
of like people saying like, oh, like, these resellers, like they're like taking these
clothes away from people who are less fortunate and like can't afford clothes.
Like there's that like argument.
But like, I like to think, well, some people like don't necessarily have the time to like
go to the thrift store and like sift through like thousands of pieces and like find the
good stuff.
Like really like reselling and like vintage selling.
It's kind of like more of a service based business if you think about it than like an
actual product business.
Like I'm just doing the work of like finding the actual hidden gems there.
So like that's one way to think of it.
It's not just like a product based business.
No.
And I mean, we can play the devil's advocate and say if they wanted to sell, they should
hire somebody like you.
Yeah.
Anyone can do consignment.
They can reach out to stores.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Because you brought a few pieces today.
Did you know that?
I did.
Would you like me to go through all of them?
Sure.
Just so I guess we'll start with this one.
Dan Ye piece.
So this is probably from the nineties.
Yes.
And it's like this little cropped number.
It's very rare to find a cropped leather vest.
But this is one of them has really cute gold buttons.
Very cute fit fitted at the waist and it has some stretch in the back as well, which is
nice.
It's like in mint condition.
I know it's gorgeous.
I'm really happy about this find.
Another piece I have that's really great is this one varsity jacket that's made of corduroy.
Everyone.
I love bringing this piece to markets because everyone sees the pam embroidery on the side
and all they just yell out pam every time.
It's kind of like the best part about markets.
So it's like gorgeous fabric.
It's very sturdy.
It's really thick.
Yeah.
It'll definitely keep you warm.
It looks like it's like from a high school.
I did try looking it up on Google.
I think it's a high school, like the little patch on it.
So maybe a high schooler would have worn this.
I don't know.
But yeah, it's like a little piece of history.
Really cute.
But you know what?
In just those two pieces that you shown, quite honestly, people would have passed by them
in the stores because they don't really look good in Iraq.
But once you pull them out and you look at them, and that's the one thing I hate about
shopping is a lot of times you look over things until you try them on.
And once you try them on, it's like, oh, okay, that one's nice.
I like that.
Yeah.
There has to be someone there.
Maybe you don't see the beauty in the piece right away, but there's someone out there
that will see it and they'll style it and they'll show people the value in it.
Yeah.
Oh, for sure.
And then I have one more piece if we have time.
Oh yeah, we do.
So this one is very special.
I know this is a 1950s piece.
Oh my God.
So it's almost 70 years old.
And this is like a very common 1950s style.
It's called a fit and flare dress.
So it's fitted at the waist and then it flares everywhere else.
This one is really special to me because it's basically Halloween themed, like black and
brown stripes, orange accents.
Like it's awesome.
Oh yeah.
It is very small.
It's like about like a 25 inch waist.
So very tiny, but a very special piece nonetheless.
And yeah, like where else are you going to find like a 1950s Halloween dress?
Like that's awesome.
Why couldn't I have found this about eight years ago when I had a 25 inch waist?
This is beautiful.
I know.
I love it.
It's gorgeous.
And you know what?
There's a lot of love in this.
Like you take the time to find the wonder in each piece, which makes it really special.
Yeah, thank you.
And yeah, it does take like a lot of time like to like measure everything, like put
like all those measurements in like online description listings, like describe everything.
Like it's a, it's a love.
It's a, sorry, I was going to say love of labor, but I meant labor of love.
It's just like all of that whole process takes so much time.
And like, that's why the pieces might seem expensive to people.
It's not like I just grabbed it off the rack and like listed it.
Like it took hours of work.
So like, yeah, but that's where the price comes in, I guess.
Do you do pop up markets?
Yeah, I do lots of pop ups.
I was actually just yesterday at the downtown Windsor farmers market.
Yeah, it was my first time there.
It was great.
Yeah.
I missed it yesterday.
I was going to go, but I was like, I knew today was going to be a good day.
And you said you had an online store.
How can people find you?
Yeah.
So, um, my main social platform is Instagram, uh, at spicy cat vintage.
Um, so I usually advertise there and like just post like memes, like behind the scenes
content, that kind of thing to buy.
People can go to Etsy where I'm also spicy cat vintage or deep pop against spicy cat
vintage.
So those are my two selling platforms.
So yeah, and they can like always, um, I always post like, um, uh, drop announcements in advance
so people can know when I'm about to like list a new collection and they can just turn
on like their notifications for my page.
Um, so they, they never miss like a advanced notice of a collection.
I really appreciate you bringing these in and popping in and I'm sorry I made you wait.
No, no, don't worry about it.
I'm sorry.
I didn't say I was here.
I should have like checked in.
No, you're good.
But I really do appreciate all of this and spicy cat vintage and more.
Make sure you follow them on Instagram.
Yeah.
My name is Tracy Martens and I want to thank you again for joining me for YQG In Bloom.
You guys have a good day.