VSG has often highlighted the hottest vintage stores in town. What you may not know is how these stores stock their wonderful selection. Sometimes they will call upon a middle man if you will. Liz is the best and has made a business out of her love for thrifting by supplying stores with her fabulous finds. Her professional title is Treasure Hunter. How cool is that? Liz was probably one of the cool kids who made dressing in the latest fashions look effortless. She tells us how she got started and how she stays tuned into style past and present.--MSR

Professional treasure hunter…
Ultimately I consider myself a treasure hunter. I spend countless hours on the hunt...sometimes you'll come up with just one item, sometimes a carload, either way I feel like whatever I have come away with is treasure. The needle in the hay stack! You often have to thumb through isle after isle of bad polyester and contemporary hand-me-downs to find the score. Patience and persistence are key in this job. In the end I can't keep everything so that's where the wholesaling of my finds comes into play. It allows me to continue doing what I love by supplying to people in need of The Goods!

Getting into the game…
I've been on the hunt since before I was born! My mom and Nana shopped for my baby wardrobe before I was even here and would take me on thrift store excursions for as long as I could remember. My mom and I had a Saturday ritual of taking the bus to downtown Oakland to visit my Nana at the Salvation Army where she worked. The rest of the weekend was spent hitting up garage sales.

I continued this with my folks for years and always loved it! We went to flea markets and antique/collectable fairs. I collected vintage Bakelite jewelry as a kid, which I've always thought was kind of funny for a 7 year-old. So, as soon as my friends and I could drive, we started thrifting on our own. And as soon as I was 18 and could sell to the buy/sell/trade spots like Buffalo Exchange or Wasteland, I started to see how I could sell or trade things I didn't want for cash or things I did want. A few years later I was introduced to the shop owners of Ver Unica in SF and began doing trade with them, by bringing them things I would find in my shopping adventures and later they started buying direct from me so I had more of an excuse to hunt! So basically, it's been a long time coming that this would end up my line of work.

Basically, The Goods!, her wholesale business to vintage dealers, was started by having accumulated too much stuff and really realizing that was what I was most happy doing. I would get up even earlier before work to hit the local flea market that's open Tuesday thru Friday, besides the weekends. I would go to a near by thrift store on my lunch break or try and make it to one that closed late after work. It's pretty much all I could think about. And I figured there had to be other vintage stores that needed stuff like Ver Unica, so I slowly tested it out for awhile, mostly by selling at flea markets but also tapping into the vintage market in NY as well. I tried it for a year while I still held my full time job and it proved to be working, so I quit and started my dream job!

Over achiever…
Starting in high school I worked for a local clothing designer, he had a small store as well that used to carry just his brand but eventually we both decided that we could incorporate our love for vintage clothing. We started up our own buy/sell/trade, The Garment Lounge and carried vintage as well as a few other brands. It was so much fun!! I was so young and thought I had the coolest job in the world!! I was a buyer and manager and would go to tradeshows to buy merchandise for the store, it was great! Eventually, after I finished high school and college at F.I.D.M. I ended up designing clothes for 7 years. I worked for a company called Cosmic Debris and designed for their lines Yum Pop and Emily the Strange. I did it all at that job and intern learned a great deal about running your own clothing company, from concept to manufacturing to marketing. This is the mindset I have always had for The Goods! I try to treat my vintage finds as my clothing line. I present collections to my clients, I work with some to curate "lines" for their stores and I promote my accounts by announcing when new shipments of The Goods! arrives, etc. It is no different to me than sitting and designing a line. Both jobs are hard, take time and dedication, work long hours...therefore I should treat it the same. And I am much happier being out and about on the hunt!

My greatest finds…
I have a couple...On one of my morning jaunts to the flea market before work I scored a 60' silk Emilio Pucci dress in perfect condition for about 50 cents, I got an amazing price for a pile of clothing...it was a rare find. Besides designer dud's my other love is sneakers, so I have come across a couple of shops in my travels that have stockrooms of vintage dead stock Nike's. It is such an incredible feeling to walk into a shop and see original merchandise still sitting on the shelves from 25 years ago. Another situation like this happened about 5 years ago, when a department store in Massachusetts was closing down that had been opened since the 40's. It was about 4 floors of all dead stock merchandise from all eras. You feel like you have time traveled when these situations happen. It can be a very surreal experience...you almost don't know what to do with yourself!!!

Personal style…
My style is like an eccentric art teacher. I love bright colors and bold shapes, the puffier the sleeve the better! I also like very shapeless drapy garments that take shape from the curves of the body...from flat comfy shoes to the highest stiletto. I am pretty all over the place. But for the most part the more outrageous the better!! The late, great Isabella Blow is a style Icon of mine.

Current trends found in vintage…
I deal mainly in trend based vintage. My accounts are generally looking for the vintage version of what is currently in fashion, although there are always exceptions to this rule. They pay attention to what the trends are for each season as do I. There are always things or styles that I try to suggest to my accounts but sometimes I'm too ahead of the curve and they might not feel their customers are ready. I work closely with my accounts to check-in with them to see what's selling and what their needs are. I also am a freelance wardrobe stylist so I am constantly in stores, have my nose in a fashion magazine, and travel to tradeshows through-out the year for my side project M.I.S.S. Crew (an online fashion lifestyle magazine), so I am always seeing what's happening in the fashion world.

What we have to look forward to…
First and foremost I think quality will play an important roll this year in the vintage world. I say this because of the current state of the economy I feel like people will look more towards investment pieces and finer fabrics; silks, rayon, cashmere, etc. Most of my accounts are requesting items in silk; dresses, blouses and say that it's the finer fabrics and higher quality goods that go first. For more general items, the strappy, Grecian sandal still rules (and I say still because didn't we do that last year?), large hobo leather sack bags, rustic/worn in leather bags and belts, animal prints always rock and gauzy soft cottons. I am hoping to see the ladies start wearing baggier menswear inspired trousers with little tops and tanks but one can only hope!

Favorite hot spots…
I did a cross country road trip 2 years ago and found that the larger metropolitan areas are the best for hunting, i.e. San Francisco, Chicago, New York and areas surrounding these locations. Although I have never been, I hear great things about Miami, Florida. And as far as thrift stores, Savers/Value Village is really an all time favorite of mine. I really am a firm believer that persistence pays and that what is meant for you will come to you...and the early bird usually does get the worm!

Check out Liz’s latest finds and ideas at www.misscrew.com! If you are a vintage dealer looking for the right goods for your store please contact Liz Baca at www.gottagetthegoods.com.