How Clutch Vintage Built a $250K Dallas Clothing Store and Took a $10K Deal

At 14 years old, Charlie made his first dollar online from his YouTube videos. Now at 23 years old, he's doing 6 figures of revenue selling vintage clothing out of his store here in Dallas called Clutch. That's a retail for a thousand dollars.

I have I have those at a thousand. Yes. Yeah. Wow. Have a $600 offer, but I'm not really budging.

What would you consider a really good revenue target to hit this year?

Probably $1,300. So bad.

Now he's got an idea to take it to the next level with his own branded custom art pieces, but he needs some cash.

I want an embroidery machine very bad. And I feel like that would go make things way easier for us to make our own clothes. If you could get your perfect embroiderer, what would the cost be for that? 15 to 20,000.

The question is, can I put in my capital here to help him scale faster? Let's go find out.

Hey. How are you guys? Good. How are you?

I'm Nathan. Charlie.

Nice to Good meet

to meet you, man. Me tell me about Clutch. What are you what are you working on here? When did you guys open?

We opened, it's crazy to say now, three and a half years ago, 2022. And, basically, I kinda just call it my closet, but we're a a vintage clothing store. So we sell all types of old sportswear, music stuff, concert stuff, cartoon stuff, just all types. And then we most recently started selling like designer products, shoes, stuff like that.

Interesting. What got you into this kind of thing? Was this something like a childhood thing? Yeah.

I've done it since I was 12. I used to have a YouTube channel where I was painting shoes and going out and buying clothes from the thrift store and sewing them together. But after a while, I kind of learned that people didn't really care for what I was making as more than just the clothes that I was buying. Came home, people were like, I want that, not what you're making. I was like, I think I can make more money doing this than I am doing what I'm doing.

Much were you making doing the YouTube, you know, painting shoes kind of thing?

I was young. So I don't want to say I was making a lot of money, but I had sponsorships. So I was getting free paint. I was getting free shoelaces. I was getting all that stuff. And I was like 14. So I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

What was the first sort of thing you copped? Was it like a shirt or shoes or...

It was a Jay Z shirt from the thrift store. And it was one of the early ones from like the blueprint. And I brought it home and posted it on my Instagram and I got like $300 for the T shirt and I bought it for $1.99 So it's like, wow, this is definitely something I want to do.

Did you know when you walked into the thrift store that you bought it from, did you know that that was worth $300

No. Okay. I just liked the shirt and then I went home and looked it up and I was like, Oh wow, this is crazy. And so that kind of started like a... Now I could walk into a thrift store and tell you what anything is worth. Okay. I know nothing about this. I'm very curious. These right here are from the 1940s. So I got these a long time ago, maybe four or five years ago at an estate sale, Dickies pants. They're still intact eighty years later and people like... That's something that people love.

It's a retail for a thousand dollars.

I have those at a thousand. Yes. Yeah. Wow. Have a $600 offer, but I'm not really budging because I kinda like them a little bit too.

Okay. Don't be offended by this. Just know what you're saying. Is like, is that real mud or do you like add that to make it look

Yeah. More Yeah. That's real mud. Some of the shirts... I can I can show you some of the shirts where they add mud to make it more expensive?

Yeah. So you basically picked those up for free just because you showed up randomly at an estate sale?

Estate sale. $5. Estate sale.

Yeah. So is that what your weekends look like?

You

just go to estate sales?

Flea markets, thrift stores, everything. I find myself in hours away just like digging through some random person's closet like, oh, like, how did I even get here? But it's worth it. You know what I mean? It's very worth it.

What's the most expensive item you've ever sold?

As far as clothing goes, it was a nineteen eighties Cafe de la Moure, which is Vincent Van Gogh's cafe he opened up in in France or Italy. One of those. Okay. And they made a shirt for the opening and I I sold that for a thousand.

And what did you get that shirt for?

$25.

And how did you find it?

I... Dude, I bought it on a online site. They were sending bales of clothing and there was that one and I pulled it out and I was like, oh wow. And I... It was to an overseas buyer in Asia. They love the old American stuff over there.

You knew right away. Knew right away.

Yeah. Yeah. Because it... So on shirts, you can tell something's old by like the single stitch right here because this is a newer shirt right here and has two stitches on the sleeve. So I saw that double stitch and I saw Vincent van Gogh and I was like, Oh my gosh, this is like an eighties Vincent van Gogh tee. I'm about to make so much money because you don't ever see those.

And how do you know? Like, if I buy a watch, it'll come with, a thing that says this is verified. Mean, how do you know someone didn't know that's That's another you know?

And Problem with us is that sometimes you get got.

Yeah. You just have to eat it. Do you remember first year sales? Dude. We're talking like $500 or like $5?

No. Not even 5. I would say in between that, probably like $2.

Like $2. Yeah.

Okay. And mainly shirts? Shoes back then. Shoes. Like when I was 14, mainly shoes. Okay.

Yeah. And what has been your best year in revenue since then?

2023. And why? It was the year like it was right when we kind of opened. So we were still riding the wave of like everybody new shop in Dallas. Revenue wise, it was about $2.50. Okay. $250,000.

And is that good or bad for a vintage shop like this? I just have no context.

I think it's amazing. I mean, open three and a half years, I love it, and I get to do it. I want... I I love to do it. It keeps the lights on and it lets me... Like, I get to go and, like you said, kinda travel wherever to find clothes.

What will what will, like, the big vintage stores... Not the fake ones, the real ones in like New York and LA. What will they do in a year?

Oh, probably touching 1,000,000. Really? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Is this expensive here for you?

Honestly, no. I signed three year lease and I don't know. Am I allowed to say the number on that? Thousand 400.

Did it make you nervous signing it? You're committing to...

So nervous. Yeah. I mean, I didn't like to be honest with you, I didn't really have credit history before I was 19 Yeah. When I signed So it was it was pretty scary. I was nervous.

Did your parents or anyone have to cosign?

My dad. Okay. And he, that's how I knew when I knew he was all in on me doing this is when he cosigned Elise that I was like, He he believes in me because Yeah. No one's just gonna do that.

But let's talk about, sports hats. Obviously, everyone loves sports. Which of these is worth the most and why? Give give me three options to choose from. Three hats, including the one that is the right answer.

Yeah.

Yeah. I'm gonna try and pick.

Okay. We're gonna go Dallas on them. Cowboys, Texas LongHorns, the Mavericks.

Okay. YouTube, you know the drill. Cowboys, Texas, or Mavericks? What's your guess on which one's the most expensive and why? Leave in the comments below. I would assume that this one would not because it looks the least interesting. Although this one's pretty simple too. I mean, I would probably go with this Cowboys one just because it just looks older. Am I right?

Second. Damn. Okay. It's this one. And this is What?

This one?

Yeah. It's a... It's wild. It's a dumb reason kinda, but it's a 1990. It's a 100% wool is what this one is. And it was worn... Matthew McConaughey used to wear this all the time.

That exact hat or that style?

Just this this this, like, style of hat. Not this exact hat, but they call it a single script for $300.

$300 for a hat?

Just because Matthew McConaughey wore it. So a

lot of this has... You're selling stories, basically. Yeah. Can you tell me the story of where you've... How you found this one?

We're buy sell trade. If you know, like, that means where people can bring in whatever they want, they can trade with us or we'll just buy it off of them. And one of my friends bought this in who went to Texas, and this was, like, his grail hat for the longest time. He loved it and just had a kid, so he had to get rid of it. So I bought it off him. Wild. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you want to hear a crazy one, we can talk about this rack right here.

Okay. Tell me about it.

This is my favorite brand in the world. And Avisu is like a... It's a Japanese denim brand, salvage denim for all my fashion people out there watching. And, basically, they just do this on the back. The front's normally pretty calm, but the back has, like, a really loud design on it. They're impossible to find. I found a guy on eBay. He had a 120 pairs of these, but he lived in The Philippines. And with all the tariffs and everything going on, I couldn't get him over here. So I flew over there, picked up a 150 pairs of jeans, and flew them back in my suitcases.

Oh my god.

And it was the coolest thing ever.

So what will you sell these for, hopefully?

I have those... My favorite pair, I have them at 500. A regular pair of these, like this one, I have them at 200. It's not like a full embroidered everything on the back like those are. It's just paint and super fire. These are only 200. So this is where it gets messy back here. Basically, everything that we get in here, like, when I go to flea markets or estate sales and I kinda buy all of what

they have and their stuff in there I don't need anymore, it just goes into this big pile. If you wanna come in, we have people digging through it today. $5 apiece. That's wild. So it goes well. People love it.

Shoes are not a major sale point for you?

So if you're into fashion, recently the shoe market has just been dying and dying and dying. So when we first opened, was selling a ton of shoes and recently it just kind of hasn't been what people are going for. So we've kind of dropped the focus on those. From what I was doing when I was younger, it sucks to watch the shoes I used to sell for $1,000 self like 200.

It's crazy. Yeah. And talk to me more about when you launched this physical location. Obviously we talked about the lease. That was a big deal. Have you raised capital? Are you bootstrapped?

Bootstrapped all the way through. Okay.

Yeah. How much did you have to put in at the beginning to get it started?

Around 50,000 to kind of get everything ready in here and give the first months because I already had a ton of stuff. You know what I mean? Like, I already I already had all the clothes mostly. But then over the next year upgrading and doing everything, I'd probably say I put another 50 in. So I'd probably say 100.

So you put in some money at the beginning, $50,000. Where did most of that go? This doesn't look like a crazy build out in here. Was it mainly buying the inventory?

So, yeah, I already had a lot of inventory, but it was mostly buying the inventory, Doing, like, the whole getting the Shopify system set up. That's what we run everything through, buying all the parts for that, doing all the racks and stuff in here.

Mhmm. I've spent a good amount of marketing. It's it's done well. And with the growth that you've seen, what would you... You know, we're filming this in early twenty twenty six. What would you consider a really good revenue target to hit this year?

I went 300. So bad. That'd be our best year. And that just means that since 2023, I mean, it's been kind of progressing upward.

Where do most your sales come from today? People walking in? People walking in.

I'd say it's 70, 30 people walking in and 30 online. Online where? Website? Website. EBay, Depop, but mostly our website. They take pictures of everything and put it on the website because you have to measure all of it because with vintage clothing, nothing ever fits the same as the other one. It's definitely a process.

And are you doing this all yourself or what's the team look like? Do you have co founders?

Yeah. Have co founder and then I have like two... I wouldn't... I don't call them employees, but I have two partners that work here. I have a guy who helps me kind of sell the designer stuff and then a guy who helps me sell the sports cards. Okay.

Sports. Wait. We didn't talk about sports cards.

We didn't talk about sports cards. That's a crazy one. You wanna go to the sports cards? Yeah. Sports cards. Probably. This is kind of what people pay for right here and the reason why sports cards get so expensive. So this one is... It's CJ Stroud, which is the Ohio State quarterback from a few years back. He now plays for the Texans. And it's autographed by him. He marked it himself 25 out of 25 because that's how

many of those he signed. It's a thousand dollars, which is crazy. Is a piece of cardboard. This is my boy Speed. He does buy, sells, trades. I mean, all sports cards, Pokemon, all that stuff. It's... Yeah. It's crazy.

So walk walk me to, here, like, you hold this because I get nervous holding. I can just call you Speed? Yes, sir. Is that your actual name?

Nickname. But... Yeah.

Okay. I like that. I'm... Are we on that level? Can call you Speed? Yeah. We're on that level. Okay. Speed. Walk me through. Walk me through this. So does Onyx basically, like, buy or pay CJ a million bucks for like the rights to get his signature on x number of things or

how does the how's the industry work? They usually pay him per auto. So if he signed a thousand autos, he's probably making close to like 20 to 80 k.

Okay. Per product release. Do you sell five of these a week, a 100 a week? Depending on

the week, like, people will buy a lot. Other times, it'll be, like, five to 10.

And what's your guys' relationship? Do you own equity in the business, or do just get a cut on anything he sells, Charlie? There's, like, a revenue share based on share.

Okay. Super cool.

Yeah. Wait. Wait. Is he also, the Charizard expert? Yeah. Okay. Wait. Hold on. Come back. Sorry. I had this collection of about 3,000 Pokemon cards when I was really young. And when I was, like, 16 or 17, my cousin offered me, like, 2 k just for the whole thing. I'm, of course. Like, that's a lot of money. I saw... But I had, the Japanese Mewtwo. I had, like, Charizard in English, Japanese. And, like, had a... Felt like a full collection. Okay. Now tell me how big a mistake I made selling my whole collection for $2,000 about ten years ago. Pretty huge mistake. How much

is the charge card worth? Depending on condition, it can go like authentic, like starting at 800 all

the way up.

For one card? One. Oh my god. Up to like 30 k?

I quit. As you scale the business, how do you double triple revenue? In terms

of like for my ideas for the shop, I don't know if you've looked around and seen a few of the clutch things hanging up, but we do make our own gear every now and then. There you can see there's me up there and there's the store to the left. Okay. It's our own gear. I feel like making that type of stuff and finding a way to really tie in the vintage side of things into making new clothing with old clothing is kind of what I want to get into because that's what brands have done before and I feel like that's something we can really thrive doing. Do you

have a shirt you could hold of and like show us sort of

how you're thinking about this? Give a second.

So this

is an old Texas Rangers hat. Mhmm. This hat's from the nineties. As you can see, it's beaten and broken. This is like kind of like my first sample. This back's broken. We embroidered our own logo. So it says clutch with the t from the Rangers and then c h. That's our store name with the Texas Rangers logo in there. Mhmm. Bought this hat for $5.

Mhmm.

You can do that, remake it, add your own things, resell it again. And it's kind of a rare piece because it's a one of one. That's, in my opinion, the best way to take a brand like this to the next level because we get blank products all the time. Like this one, white crewneck. This one's... This one was a test one as well. You can see it's all dirtied up. And we printed clutch sporting goods, but sell it. You never you never made a new piece. I sold them for 40, and I sold, like, 50 of them.

The reason people do this is because they're they're buying into an identity. So the question becomes, how do you tell that story? Let's say people watch your TikTok. They see you. Right? You have a bit of a personality. If they were in a room talking about you and you weren't there, what do you hope they're saying? Cause that would reflect that you've successfully communicated like what you believe about the world.

I hope they say I'm fly to start off first. But like I said, I just hope they think that I'm not I'm not in this like just for the money, even though this whole time we've been talking about money. Right. I actually love this and I want to see it succeed. And that's what I hope people think about me. He really loves what he does. He really likes to go buy and sell old clothes, make clothes. That's really all I could ask for.

Let me ask a different question. How did these become a ticket? So what I mean by that is, you know, people pay a lot of money for Soho House because it's exclusivity. It's a club. If you hosted certain events that were just so crazy and so you, but the only way you could get in is if you owned a peach of clutch clothing. Right? That, like, obviously drives up the value because it's a supply demand curve. Mhmm. Do you have ideas like that to drive up the sort of identity verification opt in sort of nature of this? It's a... You should build a cult.

We try to do that.

You have in person events right now?

We have one here on Saturday and we don't do the get in for free ticket because we don't charge for tickets yet. We kind of do it as a come and go if you want to come look at stuff. But I mean, it's a great... Honestly, great idea.

Tell me what's already working.

So we have people come up here and kind of for the weekend, like rent a rack and we'll have a weekend of a few different people in here selling their own stuff.

Well, business model is interesting. Obviously, it's very dependent on you as an artist. I mean, it's really art. That's what it is. It's lot of fun. Yeah. It seems like you guys are having a ton of fun. Do you have an ask? Is there a sort of like, hey, Nathan, if I had another X amount of money, then I could do Y to help the brand grow?

I want an embroidery machine very bad. And I feel like that would go make things way easier for us to make our own clothes.

If you could

get your perfect embroiderer, what would the cost be for that? 15 to 20,000. Our engraving machine was 7. And it does wood, glass, metal, leather. It's honestly really cool.

And what's the difference between a thousand dollar embroidery machine versus a 20,000 embroidery machine for the audience that has no idea what an embroidery machine even is?

The amount of colors and how big you can engrave onto something. So like you wouldn't be able to do this hat on a thousand dollar embroidery machine. You need a bigger one where you can add a whole head to it and then it'll go around on the...

Could you still get a pretty good one for like 10 ks or you really need 20 or bust?

I feel like I've seen it from pretty good ones for $10.15.

If I made you an offer for 10 or $15,000 how what would be ideal for you in terms of structure? Do you prefer to pay me that back over time so it's a debt deal?

I like a deal like that where every time I sell a hat, you get a little bit back. Every time I sell... Every time I sell an engraved or embroidered tee, you get... Like, every time I sell something clutch. Like, you get... Because that's what you put your money into.

I like that idea. How much of clutch merchandise have you sold over the past twelve months?

$2,030,000. Okay. Over the past

over the past year, you did.

Yeah.

And what do think you'll do over the next twelve months just on clutch embroidered? I I mean, we were talking

about the 30 k number. Hopefully, than 20, 30,000. I'd hope for 50.

So here's my offer. I'll write a $10,000 check. You pay me back 1.2 x that, so $12,000. And the way that determines frequently you pay me back is it's just a percent of sales of anything that's clutch embroidered. In other words, that you use the embroidery machine on. Yeah. On that percent, I think we just sort of have to pick something. Right? We could do something like 5% on monthly sales.

I think we have a deal.

Alright, Charlie. Let's go for it, man. Awesome. Nice to meet you. Congrats on what you build. This is super exciting.

Thank you so much.

It's a lot of work. I don't understand this. It's very artsy. Like, it's not Excel spreadsheets. It's like it's art. Alright. What do guys see the deal? Would you have taken $10,000 paying back 12,000 over two years? That's by the way, that is a sweetheart interest rate if you do the calculation. I guess it's a sweetheart deal. The whole goal is though if if it takes off, we now have a relationship. I I can sort of

watch him and his team operate for a year or two and cut our bigger check down the line if they continue to scale. That's ultimately what we're... What we do the show for. So leave a comment below. Let me know if you would have taken the deal. If you guys like that deal, remember, new episodes drop every Wednesday. Click here to subscribe so you don't miss out. Also, wanna see more deals like this one? Click here to see the next deal immediately.