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It’s 11 a.m. on a Wednesday, and Luke Fracher is sifting by way of a mound of vintage garments on the ground of his slender store in downtown New York City. His retailer hasn’t opened but — normally that occurs “around 1-ish,” or at any time when he’s able to unlock the door to his Lower East Side boutique.
“Can you hear me if I move around and shit?” Fracher asks as he hangs up some vintage band tees that he’s simply unboxed. There’s a informal, DIY nature to the institution, one which may mirror the laid-back perspective of the vintage shopper who hunts for luxurious items throughout typical weekday work hours, however Fracher is way from a hobbyist.
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Opening his namesake store final December, Luke’s marks the primary buy-sell-trade store for males’s high-end put on in New York of this caliber. However, Fracher’s vintage obsession began years earlier than this New York endeavor.
Fracher was one of the founders of the Round Two vintage empire, a secondhand clothes revolution that redesigned the Buffalo Exchange enterprise mannequin for males’s streetwear. Fracher and his companions Sean Wotherspoon and Chris Russow capitalized on the hypebeast craze of the 2010s, turning their Richmond, Virginia retailer into a multimillion-dollar enterprise that expanded into 9 places in cities like Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, and New York City. But Fracher immediately discovered himself extra involved with worker payroll than doing the duties he liked — brokering offers with sneakerheads and assembly unusual characters with area of interest designer collections.
In 2022, Fracher left Round Two to open his eponymous enterprise, wagering that the New York market was additionally more and more fascinated about higher-end treasures. Through the method of hitting the bottom solo, Fracher was capable of replicate on the secondhand clothes enterprise and what gaps he noticed within the trade.
“All the stores that are following in the wake of Round Two do the exact same shit and are following the same playbook we put out eight, 10 years ago,” Fracher says as he busies himself round his storefront, his pointed Balenciaga mules clacking in opposition to the wood flooring. “I’ve made a conscious effort to steer the social media in a completely different direction, and do the opposite of what I would’ve done at the other company.”
Fracher’s eccentric model could be present in his private model — he’s at present sporting a bedazzled “I love Jesus” denim snapback — and within the quirky decor of his store. While the mounted tv fell out of the wall the week prior, the shop is normally crammed with the sounds of Werner Herzog movies or another “freaky film that nobody’s ever seen earlier than.”
Just like Fracher himself, Luke’s retailer is very curated with humor, antics, and good sense, providing a community-focused expertise to fashionable and vintage secondhand procuring. “We get everything from suburban moms to the older fashion dudes who live in Chelsea,” Fracher explains. “It’s a small space, but it’s also very intimate.”
Have you all the time been fascinated about trend?
Yes.
As a child even?
I come from a small faculty city in Charlottesville, Virginia. My dad’s a shrink, my mother’s an English trainer. Fashion was by no means one thing that mattered to me or my household rising up. I used to be carrying fucking Airwalks and shit you’d simply purchase in Supershoes, no matter was least expensive. Shopped in Marshalls my entire life. When I turned about 12-ish, I began being on the web far more. This was the early 2000s, so NikeTalk was large. It actually began with rap music, hip-hop shit; seeing how New Yorkers or D.C. dudes or Atlanta dudes had been dressing and being like, “Oh, this is cool. This is a representation of who they are or the places that they come from.”
So who had been some of your model icons?
Cam[‘ron] and Dipset had been large. As I bought extra into highschool, Wayne, Young Dro, a lot of Southern dudes had been a large half of it as effectively. But early on, primarily New York shit.
When had been you launched to the world of vintage?
I used to be by no means actually a thrifter. I labored at sneaker shops my total life, from 15 by way of to after we began Round Two. I attempted to do a actual job after faculty, nevertheless it did not actually work out. I used to be by no means carrying vintage for myself till I bought into it by way of Sean [Wotherspoon] and Chris [Russow] from R2.
So how did Round Two come to be? How did you become involved with Sean and Chris?
So mainly I had recognized Sean for a whereas, simply because Richmond’s small, and we’d all the time be within the strains for Jordan releases. He would resell them, and I’d simply purchase them for myself as a result of I’ve all the time been into it. We’d be the one two white guys in these strains, and we’d simply see one another and say, “What up?”
I began working at DTLR, which was this hood sneaker chain from Baltimore. I used to be working there 4 days a week, and I used to be working on the Saks Fifth Avenue the opposite three days within the Gucci girls’s purse part, doing inventory affiliate shit.
Sean was working at this retailer Rumors. It was mainly like a native Buffalo Exchange. You may discover a Supreme piece for like 20 bucks earlier than folks knew what it was. And Sean was like, “I think we can adapt this model for purely men’s stuff.” And so there was this retailer in Richmond known as Heads Up, which was like a festy dude retailer. They promote Seedless fucking hats and LRG and 10 Deep.
The dude who owned that moved to Colorado, and the house got here up for lease. Sean and Chris had been very very like, “Let’s do this shit.” They had been working collectively for a very long time. I used to be the odd man out. But I believe Sean wished me on there as a result of he knew I had retail expertise. I used to be vastly risk-averse on the time, so I did not wish to do it. I used to be up right here for a couple weeks, fucking off, partying.
Up right here in New York?
Yeah. And after they had been like, “Do you want to do this with us?,” I used to be dragging alongside and bullshitting. Then I simply noticed on Instagram that they’d signed the lease for this shit, and I used to be like, “Oh shit.”
“It’s happening.”
Yeah. “I should probably do this.” I used to be calling them, and so they would not choose up the cellphone. I used to be like, “I feel like I fucked up.” So I took the bus back, and I had $2,500 left from selling weed in a safe. I went to Sean’s house and gave him the bread, basically, like, “Here’s my buy-in for it. I’m the right person for this.” They known as me an hour later, and so they had been like, “You’re in.”
We opened in 2013, June, in Richmond, and I believe our lease was like 600 bucks at that house. I had simply began a job as a teller at Wells Fargo. It was my first actual job. The third week we had been open, I had simply gotten my paycheck from two weeks of working as a teller, and it was $286 or some shit. I come into R2 on a Friday night time, and so they’re like, “Do you want your cash for the day? We’re just going to split the cash in the register.” And they gave me $350. I used to be like, “Oh, fuck this other job,” and I give up that.
When did you begin increasing?
We moved to a greater house a block down, after which in 2015, we moved to LA. Jermaine from Utmost, a buddy of ours who had a skate firm clothes line, was dwelling in LA, was like, “You guys should come here. Fuck any other city.” We felt we had the most important help system there, so we went out to LA. And then that is when Round Two actually grew to become what it was.
What was the transition from Round Two to Luke’s?
How candid ought to I get with this? Basically, I had wished to make a transfer for a very long time and probably not recognized what that pivot was. My buddy Alex was working for Grailed and was like, “We’re bringing on new sellers, and we’re going to charge them no fees.” I used to be like, “All right, well this makes a ton of sense for the company,” and my enterprise companions had been like, “We don’t really want to sell through another platform.” I hit Alex up, and I used to be like, “Can I do it through my name?” He’s like, “I don’t fucking care.”
I had sufficient stuff personally the place I may fill a Grailed web page. They pushed [my stuff] on there, I bought a bunch of followers on it, and I used to be form of shopping for and promoting stuff within the streets through Instagram, higher-end stuff that we would not promote at R2. And I used to be like, “Oh, shit, I forgot that I’m actually good at this part of the business and I enjoy this,” as a result of I’d been doing operations for a nine-store firm for 3 years, and operating payroll and all that different shit.
I spotted that this was the pivot that I wished to do. I used to be like, “If I make half as a lot cash, however have 10 instances much less stress, it is in all probability value it,” as a result of I felt like I used to be killing myself, stressing myself out operating a firm that measurement.
So mainly I used to be doing that, however brick-and-mortar is all I do know. I both wished a showroom or a storefront. I used to be speaking to my buddy Mike [Bray], who owns Kind Regards, Valentino across the nook, Ding-a-ling. I’ve recognized him for a very long time on this neighborhood. He was like, “I think there’s a space in this building that we just got Bongos in,” which was what they transferred Valentino to. He was like, “It’s like a shithole and it’s tiny, but it’s going to be three grand.” And I signed the lease sight unseen. It’s a small house, nevertheless it’s additionally very intimate and simple to hold accurately.
What varieties of folks do you get in right here?
We get every thing from suburban mothers to the older trend dudes who stay in Chelsea, to the R2 clients, to youthful youngsters who’re simply moving into these things. For the primary 4 months we had been open, 90% of the individuals who got here in right here had been individuals who knew who I used to be by way of Round Two and Instagram. But as soon as we did The Times factor and Throwing Fits, phrase has gotten out that we have now one of the best stuff in New York. More and extra random persons are coming by way of.
Have you discovered that there is a secondhand vintage community in New York? Do you realize different retailer house owners?
Obviously, Brian and Jess from Procell are the progenitors of this entire reselling vintage factor. They’ve been doing it the longest. They’ve been doing it one of the best. John from Grand Street Local, Frank from Leisure Center, Xavier from Rare Bodega, Emma Rogue. There’s so many individuals. I believe there’s much less of a tradition right here doing it than in LA, simply because of the flea market tradition and the rag home tradition in LA, however I believe it is accomplished higher in New York.
Tell me about your band music T-shirt assortment right here.
When it involves promoting vintage, each vintage vendor has their very own area of interest, whether or not they’re into solely promoting Marvel shit and comedian e book shit or fucking Disney shit. I’m not tremendous into that. For me, it is the music stuff. When we first opened, I had 40 Nine Inch Nails tees as a result of I’m a large Nine Inch Nails fan. I hate the Grateful Dead, however we get Grateful Dead shit, and it sells. I attempt to get obscure stuff.
How do you supply your garments?
99.9% of the shit within the retailer, folks deliver to me. I do purchase, promote, commerce. But I’m not outsourcing product as a result of it is troublesome to supply [these types of pieces] except folks deliver [them] on to you. It additionally offers me a likelihood to work together with folks one-on-one, get to know them, get to speak to them, and offers them a likelihood to come back see what I’ve and drive site visitors to the shop.
Do you could have any favourite appears or types or items proper now that you simply’re actually fascinated about?
I believe clearly jerseys for the summer season are actually large, simply because it is so scorching. Everyone’s on that Y2K or post-Y2K shit. But I simply have been on actually freaky gown shoe shit personally. I’m probably not into sneakers anymore, however footwear continues to be the primary level of reference for every thing.
Do you’re feeling just like the vintage market is getting saturated? Is there a subsequent frontier for eclectic dressing and discovering cool items?
The tendencies that I see proper now are folks making an attempt to be distinctive or simply be totally different from everybody else. Vintage and secondhand is all the time going to be a large half of that. As the world legitimately begins to disintegrate and folks fear extra about local weather change or shit within the oceans or the piles of garments within the Atacama desert, persons are going to be an increasing number of interested in secondhand shit. And simply as consumerism will get extra insane, and as trend has change into extra mainstream, there’s going to be extra secondhand shit. So I believe if persons are there to facilitate that, it will keep round.
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