Today on the blog we are excited to be chatting to Kate who owns Weenie Wardrobe and Snagged It, and finding out more about these two brilliant small business!
Hi Kate, it's great to welcome you to the Pop Up blog today! We are really looking forward to be having you at our next Pop Up on April 30th and May 1st and to announce that you'll be having an entire Pop Up Shop as part of our market! So let's start with a bit about you and how you started Weenie Wardrobe? How did it all begin?
Hiya all, very exciting to be here on the Pop Up blog - thanks for having me!
So, a bit about me…quite simply I’m obsessed, addicted, in love with clothing and fashion and truly believe what you wear affects how you feel. My past career has been a portfolio of roles, but they have all had a link to fashion, creation and styling.
When I moved to Hastings and settled here and had my two boys it was a journey to find something I could do as a job, to fit around my family, but also bring me joy :-)
I’m lucky enough to work with Tots Play Bexhill and Hastings East, leading baby and toddler sensory and development classes each week and have met so many awesome families and parents through these classes, and this is where my lightbulb moment for Weenie Wardrobe began. As a mummy of two young boys I know the constant cycle of clothes vs growth spurts is endless and hard to keep up with! So, Weenie Wardrobe is a place that buys and sells preloved and vintage kids wear with the mission of re-loving, re-using and re-wearing the clothes that are already out there in the world and giving them a new story.
It's so lovely to hear how Weenie Wardrobe came about! So what sort of ages do you source for under Weenie Wardrobe? And do you stock these clothes anywhere locally? I currently have stock for ages 0-12 years with new stock drops happening on my Instagram stories as often as I can @weeniewardrobe I also have a Weenie Wardrobe concession in the fantastic Courthouse Cooperative, a shop full of incredible treasures in Hastings Old Town @courthousecooperative (8 Courthouse Street, Hastings Old Town, TN34 3AU) We bet it's great getting to source everything! Is it also right you put sourced clothes boxes too for customers? Yes! I offer a Weenie Wardrobe Thrift Box service. If you’re wanting to source more secondhand and vintage for your kiddos this service will do all the searching for you and deliver a box of goodies to your door! I base my search on a short questionnaire about what you’re on the hunt for or needing in your little ones wardrobe and within two weeks deliver your chosen size thrift box to your door! If you fancy giving it a try just send me a DM on Instagram @weeniewardrobe
We love this idea! So that's all the little ones sorted but what about your other business Snagged it? How did this business come about and what sort of clothes do you source for this one? Well...in the period before I had my second son I was selling women’s preloved and vintage mainly through a concession in Pearl & Queenie (@pearlandqueenie) in St Leonard’s on Sea. I took a pause from this when Jack was born, but of course kept a whole lotta stock I had sourced and collected over many years. One of my previous jobs before I had children was as an Assistant Buyer in womenswear, so let’s just say I was an amazing customer at the sample sales!!! It takes a long time and a passion to build up a stock of quality secondhand and vintage and I couldn’t just let that go, so I’ve set up Weenie Wardrobe’s big sister Snagged It @snagged.it It’s about that feeling of ’snagging’ that awesome treasure for yourself. I adore that feeling when you find that piece that makes you ‘eeeekkkk’ and again cannot reiterate more that it’s already out there in the world ready to be worn again - I’m happy and very willing to help you source it!
Ok, so what is your favourite item you have had on your stall? Oh man, impossible to answer!!! I think my favourite feeling when I’m running a pop-up is seeing someone’s happiness and excitement shine through when they find that piece that lifts their mood and makes them feel good! That's so lovely to hear and I bet it's great to see people's reactions.
We would love a sneak peak ahead of the market - what are your favourite pieces you're bringing to the Pop Up?
Oooooo tough again, but I think for Weenie it’s some of the crayola bright vintage pieces and for Snagged It I have some amazing Whistles summer dresses for sale and the ultimate summer staple - a vintage kaftan!
These sound amazing! We are so excited for your Pop Up Shop at the market and is there anything else you would like to share with our Pop Up readers?
I’d just like to invite you to come and join us at the EPIC Weenie Wardrobe and Snagged it Pop Up Shop I’ll be hosting alongside the amazing Pop Up Emporium market on Saturday 30th April and Sunday 1st May.
We’ll be at The Stade Hall, Hastings Seafront, Hastings Old Town, TN34 3DW from 11am-4pm on both days.
Make sure you check our Instagram pages for the chance to be one of the five lucky ones to have a 30 minute preview of the Weenie Wardrobe and Snagged It POP UP shop before anyone else! They’ll be an awesome £5-£10 rail of quality preloved and vintage for the adults to snag!
Thank you so much for joining us here Kate and telling us about your brilliant businesses!
Come and find Kate at The Pop Up Emporium on Saturday 30th April and Sunday 1st May with the Weenie Wardrobe and Snagged It Pop Up Shop! Or shop from Kate online at @weeniewardrobe and @snagged.it