The owner of a vintage sportswear business has said he was “in the mud” before he began selling clothes online.
Ashweyn Skoyles, 22 from Nottingham, owns Sweatstash, a shop selling vintage sportswear. It has a stall in the Baltic Triangle’s Red Brick Market, as well as a site in Leeds and on Depop.
For Ash, the journey to this point has been far from straight forward. He bought his first vintage item in 2017, but it wasn’t a career he considered pursuing until times got tough for him while studying at Leeds Beckett University.
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Ash said: “I studied sports physiotherapy at university and worked in a pub part-time while the Otley Run was on. I was on the other side of the bar, the pub was rammed and I didn’t even get furlough money when lockdown hit.”
Ash said he had stopped enjoying his university course and turned to selling vintage clothes as a respite. In the years that followed, he has had to work long hours and spend less, but that bargain has paid off.
He said: “I’ve always made it work. From one stupid rail at the end of my bed, my business has grown to a stall at Red Brick Market and working with brands such as Urban Outfitters.”
Ash was drawn to sportswear because of their “boxy fits” and “unique style.” His stall in Red Brick Market is adorned with retro Adidas and Reebok jackets.
During his regular visits to Liverpool, Ash has grown to admire the city. He said: “I love seeing the fashion of people in Liverpool, I’m a big fan of the Albert Dock too. I studied its regeneration at A-Level.”
Ash also recently launched his own podcast, Clobber Talk, which is a series of discussions between Ash and other vintage sellers. This includes many with other stalls in the Red Brick Market.
Ash said: “I want to give a platform to other vintage sellers to talk about what goes in our industry. There’s so much more to it than putting items on a rail or seeing our items online.”
He added: “We’re all small business owners at the end of the day. Having any size business is an achievment.”
Ash has credited making conversations with customers and large brands as key to his increasing confidence. He said: “When I was working in my other jobs, people would always say I was really quiet.”
He added: “I’d get the mick taken out of me for mumbling to customers while taking food over to them. I didn’t have the confidence to speak to anyone.”
Fast forward to now, where Ash has helped Urban Outfitters stock their displays, his life has turned on its head. He said: “This business has changed my life. I used to be working in the pub, uni was terrible, I was in the mud.”
He added: “I’d say to anyone starting out, every time you buy something it adds to the journey we’re on.”
Sweatstash’s clothes can be purchased at the Red Brick Market or on Depop. The Clobber Talk podcast can be listened to on Spotify.
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