“All the clothes you could want in your life already exist.” he adds, while giving me a virtual tour of the warehouse-based business over Zoom, which in the four short years since its inception in 2018 has become the UK’s leading supplier in the field.
The business boasts thousands of authentic vintage pieces from the 70s, 80s, 90s and into the 2000s – because, as Chris points out, what you throw away today is tomorrow’s vintage. “Nostalgia dealers are what I’d call us,” he grins.
The collection is weighted largely towards sports jackets for American football, baseball, ice hockey and basketball teams, but there are vest tops, t-shirts and other articles among the rails too. The team-branded clothing comes in all different sizes and, through a 2022 lens, could be described as gender neutral.
“Our three main business pillars are: sustainability, authenticity and community,” Chris continues, adding that a key aim is to “keep the items we specialise in, mainly made from polyester, out of landfill and give them new life.”
He explains: “We try to be as sustainable as possible. [All items] are thrifted and hand-picked, we don’t buy huge bales, we choose every item that we sell in the shop.”
?SE15 4PU (closest station Peckham Rye)
?https://t.co/K7zocXvZmw pic.twitter.com/ZenhmrcPzx
— National Vintage League (@NVLTweets) August 11, 2022
Despite being designed by American sports teams, 99% of the stock sold at National Vintage League is sourced from the UK.
“If we ever source anything from overseas, we’ll carbon offset that flight. And all of our bags are compostable too,” he says, proudly rustling one in front of the camera as an example.
A key arm of the business is helping sports apparel customers buy with confidence. “There’s a huge market for fake sportswear. People get taken advantage of because they would spend a lot of money on [the shirt of] their favourite player,” Chris says.
“So we wanted to create a place for UK buyers to be able to buy NFL [America’s National Football League] jerseys with confidence.”
The business doesn’t just sell sportswear either, prospective customers can make the most of its authenticating service if they want to check items they’ve already bought or spotted elsewhere.
Chris is an authority on the subject of real versus fake sportswear items. “Between myself and my warehouse manager Willie, we have 10 years’ experience authenticating this sportswear. We know all of the different brands, producers and manufacturers,” he clarifies.
Chris is happy to buy second-hand items off the public too. “A lot of customers turn up with trade bait,” he chuckles. “We’re more than happy to take a look, but we ask them to send pictures first so we can authenticate [the clothing] and work out whether they’re selling items we’d like to add to our collection.”
Thrifting and American sports are long-standing passions of Chris’s. “I’ve always been into thrifting. I started focusing on American clothing when I got back from America, where I lived for seven years,” he says, informing me that: “90,000 people watch the NFL in the UK when the season is on.”
It was discovering the sport had a huge following in the UK that gave Chris the idea to collect and sell authentic team kits.
The clothing has enduring appeal, he says, because sport is as much about the history as it is the current season. “So you might support the worst team in the world, but there might have been a point historically when they were really good. People [either] want to buy the stuff from [the era] when their team was really good, or to prove they’ve been with them a long time.”
The business exploded over lockdown – no doubt helped by the resurgence of 90s fashion – but for now, Chris and warehouse manager Willie remain a two-man team.
Price wise, Chris hopes to offer something for all budgets. “You can buy items from our store for as low as £10 and as much as £350; things rarely go higher than that,” he says.
The most expensive item currently on sale is a gold LA Lakers jacket, going for £300. “Yes, it can be a lot to pay for a jacket, but these clothes were made to last,” he stresses.
On our virtual tour of the warehouse, we pass jackets designed by Jeff Hamilton, vintage LA Lakers jerseys, vests from Michael Jordan’s glory days on the basketball court and team outfits worn by ice hockey squad The Mighty Ducks in the Disney movie franchise.
Eighties posters of NFL players designed by the Costacos brothers line the walls and on one shelf, there’s a replica of the troll-topped Geller Cup from the widely memorable Thanksgiving episode of Friends.
Next to Chris’s desk is a Nintendo 64 game console. “Squad goals,” he grins. “We try to make it like a clubhouse here.”
And you can see so for yourself: while the majority of its sales are made online, the National Vintage League is open on weekdays, so customers can browse the extensive collection in person. And while an obscure exterior keeps the warehouse largely hidden from those who haven’t come looking for it, Chris is quick to affirm that “after two years of being locked up in this bunker of vintage and doing everything online, it’s been really nice to open the doors.”
National Vintage League is beginning to get noticed. The business recently supplied clothing for a Craig David music video and further items were snapped up by the costume department for Marvel movies.
“We’re also currently a finalist for the Southwark Business Excellence Awards, for Best Customer Service,” says a chuffed Chris before wryly humblebragging: “We’re such nerds, but nerds rule the world now.”
This article was brought to you from The South Londoner
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