Somewhere underneath all of the leaves, you will find the roots of fashion that run deep throughout Portland. Our city’s culture is built from our history, love of our sports, fashion trends, music, art, and the nature that we are forever embraced in. They are all intertwined to create the weird, yet beautiful city that Portlanders call home. This home is rooted with shops and avenues that represent our history of vintage stores and thrifting. The new thrift market on the rise aims to build a welcoming community around fashion, that also successfully embodies the interests and diverse identities of everybody.
Co-founders and friends Austin Possert and Mason Fleming, have dedicated their time over the last year to build what started as an idea into a brand. Initially trying to become vendors at the Portland Vintage Market, last June they decided to create their own vintage shopping center. The main attraction was clothes, but also a safe environment that seemed to have something fun for everybody. To do so, they laid out the blueprint and put together the newly founded vintage pop-up, Thrift Haven.
Joseph Bornstein, a senior at Franklin, has attended Thrift Haven’s recent events and has been a supporter of the business’ latest success. He stands by the idea that fashion is a way to express your personality and believes that Thrift Haven is a place that allows you to be yourself. “I feel like kids use clothing to express themselves; you really can tell what type of person somebody is from what they are wearing,” Bornstein says. “Thrift Haven stands out from the other markets because they have things [from] a basketball three-point contest, to DJs, to food carts with amazing food. They have outfit competitions on Instagram during events that people can interact with. They are always trying to add activities other than just clothing to get different groups of people involved.”
As the business grows closer to its one year anniversary, Possert reflects back on the sacrifices he and Fleming had to make in order to achieve their goals. “[Mason and I] set our rules for each other and broke down our goals every day step by step throughout the process,” Possert explains. “We had to figure out how to balance work, business, and our friendship. Thrift Haven had kind of consumed the majority of our time together, a lot of our time was spent having expectations for one another.”
When starting up a new business, Possert experienced lots of rejection when it came to getting vendors for their events, as well as finding venues to hold their pop-up events. “Trying to convince people to pay you money to make these events happen is very, very hard when there’s no promises to the business being successful, especially being a new business,” he explains.
Throughout the whole process, they have still found success in holding a well-run thrift market in the early stages of starting up Thrift Haven. With over 40 vendors at their last event, Possert continues to push towards his goals of creating an environment that represents people of all diversities and cultures. “For every event, we try to create a community where people of all backgrounds can come and bond over their similarities and things they are passionate about,” says Possert. “We want to create a community where it’s fun and people want to stay and hang out, not just shop.”
So why should you consider going? The answer is simple: there is something for everybody. Thrift Haven strives to represent the city and the thrift community. It’s different, it’s weird, it’s beautiful, it’s diverse. It’s what it means to be a Portlander. “It’s a place where people of all backgrounds can come together and bond over games, clothes, music, and food,” Bornstein explains. “They also don’t charge high prices, and their vendors are very nice to negotiate with.”
Possert holds a high standard for the future of his brand; he explains that there is much more work to be done in order to reach his goals. He hints at looking for a local place to settle in permanently, as well as branching out into other cities for future thrifting conventions.
The next pop-up market is still in the works, and is scheduled for this upcoming June. The official date and location is to be announced. Until then you can check out @thrifthavenpdx on Instagram for their latest updates and announcements as they gear up for their next big event. There’s no better way to start the summer with some new friends, new experiences, and especially some new fashion pieces.
