Graphic designer Sam Gold has a healthy obsession with vintage men's sportswear and sources some of the best classic '90s Ralph we've seen in a minute. There are plaid button-downs with denim collars, Ralph teddies, classic Polo Sport windbreakers and back-packs on his roll of rotating wares. Our style assistant, Alex Frank talked to the Dallas resident about his perfectly curated archive. Read his full Q&A after the jump.
So you’ve been collecting for a year and a half. Has this always been your style?
I’ve always been into Polo, not the whole snapback thing, but those just sell well. You can get deadstock vintage snapbacks so we bought an insane amount.
Do you buy this stuff in Dallas?
Yes, not on the internet, around Dallas. Now we go to Houston, Austin, San Antonio, all over Texas.
Has it become a full time job for you?
No, I do graphic design, but hopefully it will.
The design is super strong for the site.
Yea, actually I’m part of a little collective called Key City here in Dallas, there’s graffiti artists, graphic design, musicians.
I’m just now getting into the Polo steez, but I’m trying to think of when I first liked it. I was young, how did it come into your world.
Pretty much, I got a P-Wing jacket, a varsity jacket, and my friend told me it was Polo. Then I got on the internet and looked up old stuff, P-Wing, the Cookie, and I decided I wanted to get into that sort of thing. So I started going around to thrift stores. I found a design with the Cookie—a Cookie jacket, I ended up selling it, but that piece started it.
How do you decide what to sell or to keep?
If it’s in my size, I keep it. That blue Polo Sport on the site, the shell jacket, one was in my size, and I kept it.
How much do these things normally cost when you find them at thrift stores?
The thrift stores have now figured that Polo goes for me since we’ve been going, so they’ve made the prices way higher for us. We used to buy a jacket for $5, but now we’ll buy one for $25. Normally if you just go to a thrift store, it’s cheap. Not in New York though.
Yea, it would be so expensive. As a New Yorker, I was like GOLD MINE.
The first thing I started doing before this site—I mean I sell to New York a lot—pretty much before the site, I started a thing on New York’s Craigslist. You’re not supposed to use the New York craigslist unless you’re from New York, but I pretended and said I was from Brooklyn but I’ll ship it to you. But so many people liked it, I sold a bunch of stuff, so I decided to start a site.
I love the backpack with the Polo American flag.
That backpack is awesome. It’s probably the size of a regular school backpack, but it’s got a leather bottom, and the classic American flag is awesome.
Is this kind of thing popular in Dallas right now?
No not really. People are on streetwear right now, 10 deep, stuff like that. It’s sort of starting to change a bit, but pretty much people aren’t that into this kind of stuff.