Episode 11 — Diversity Consignment X Project Reworked Runway with Luis Cepeda
Download MP3Welcome to this week's episode of Local Threads. I'm Molly, your host, and this week, I'm sitting down with Louis Sepeda. He's the assistant manager at Diversity Consignment, and he's here to talk about a special event that they do every year, and it's coming up November 2. So let's get into it. Welcome to the podcast.
Luis:Thank you for having me. I really appreciate you.
Molly:You guys have a Project Rework coming up.
Luis:Yes. On November 2.
Molly:What can you tell me about Project Rework?
Luis:So Project Rework Runway, I got it right the first time. I usually don't get it right the first time. But basically, what it is is it's we get a collective of designers, and they source, like, materials from our by the pound. Like, we make pre kind of made bags that are ready for them to come and pick up. The bags will include a multitude of clothing, so it could be pants, shirts, jackets, vests, anything like that.
Luis:And basically what we're tasking them to do is to create a whole new runway ready outfit based on the materials that were provided to them. We allow additional things as well, like if they want to add buttons, zippers, whatever, they can do that. It's just they can't outsource other materials besides what was given to them to create the runway ready look.
Molly:Okay. How many designers do you have for this one coming up?
Luis:Currently, 13.
Molly:Dang. Okay. And are they local folks, or are they, like, from all over?
Luis:So we try to keep it strictly to people that are within New England. So it's like they can travel to the store. We've had people in previous seasons and even this season come from like Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts as well, but like farther. Like I think there's like two people that are from Boston, but everyone else is kinda like farther out. But yeah, we get people from all over New England to come out, and it's a really good time.
Molly:I think I was in there not too long ago because I you guys did a like winter
Luis:Yeah. The winter markets.
Molly:Yeah. The winter markets, and I was selling some stuff, but there was a jacket in there from one of the project reworks.
Luis:Yes.
Molly:I still and it's a small, and I can't fit that, but I love it so much. The designer that did that, I heard that there was a piece that one of the actors from One Piece bought.
Luis:Yes. So our good friend Jason, shout out Jason, love Jason, but our good friend Jason, he created a pair of purple overalls. It had nothing to do with the runway, this was just something that he like created and brought to the store. The actor that played Kid Luffy on the Netflix one piece actually came into our store and bought it and modeled it for Teen Vogue. So you can go look that up, the actor who did Kid Luffy in Teen Vogue.
Luis:The overalls he's wearing was made by our friend Jason and sold at our store.
Molly:Yeah. That's so cool.
Luis:Isn't it?
Molly:Yeah. I mean, I'm sure that's opened up doors for that person as well.
Luis:Oh, yeah. Most definitely. He's a very talented designer, makes a lot of cool stuff.
Molly:Yeah. That's what I love about, like, doing stuff like community events like this because you never know who's watching.
Luis:Exactly.
Molly:You never know. Yeah. And I feel like if anybody does shop vintage or secondhand, they're going to diversity. Yeah. Like, diversity is, like, just on that list of places everybody hits up.
Luis:Yeah.
Molly:Did you have, like, an open mic or some music events?
Luis:Yeah. So we did I know predating me, we used to do, like, concerts in the basement, but then the city eventually said, oh, you can't do live music. So we're like, alright. We'll do something different. The different thing we did was we did acoustic shows.
Luis:So it's like technically not live music because there's no amplified music, but it's still music to be heard and peep very a lot of talented people that came out for our our weekend shows. Yeah. I met a lot of cool people, lot of very talented people.
Molly:You guys do a lot of uplifting local talent.
Luis:Yes.
Molly:Because you guys sell upcycled clothing from designers all around Mhmm. Too, which is so cool. Like, I go to a lot of events, but then I'll, like, go to your store, go to, like, other places, and I'm like, okay. I saw this at Diversity or, oh, hey. I know this person, and they're selling at Diversity.
Molly:I didn't know that. It's really cool. How did that, like, come about?
Luis:So our owner, Ian, big shout out to Ian, but he is a believer in kind of creating opportunities for people. His whole, like, kind of mission when it comes to diversity is how can this be an opportunity for you? Like, he'll even create specific, like, things for people. It's kinda like a like a plan almost. And it's like how can we get you to your end goal?
Luis:And even if it's like you can sell stuff in my store, you can do this, you can do that. Like recently we had a person that did a lot of like like photoshoots with us alongside us, and he is in the works of giving them an opportunity to now become a marketing assistant through us. So his whole thing is again just creating opportunity and very community oriented, very how can I help you out? He's a very, very good guy.
Molly:That's one thing I want to bring up too is like, y'all have fun on your Instagram. Yes. Love it. If I see a diversity reel, I'm stopping. Yeah.
Molly:The ones where you guys have, like, the signs and you guys are saying diversity?
Luis:Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was me. That was she was in that video, but the whole thing was filmed, like, by me.
Luis:Like, I did that one.
Molly:That's cool. You guys do a lot of cool stuff. Yeah. Like comedy skits, educational skits or not skits, but, like, just videos or And I like I think that, well, the name obviously says it all. There there's diverse content.
Molly:There's diverse people. There's just, like, diverse aesthetics. And so I'm just curious, do you know the lore behind the name? I mean, it's kind of obvious, but sometimes it's not. Like, I've asked people, and I'm like, oh, I've never even considered, like
Luis:Not to get too, like, deep into things, but originally, the logo was different. The name was the same, but the logo was different. Just diversity. The name Diversity Consignment.
Molly:Yeah. And was it has it always been in Jamaica Plain?
Luis:Yes. That's been the one and only location. To all of you that are messaging us about the Virginia, that has nothing to do with us, by the way, just so you know.
Molly:There's a Virginia one?
Luis:There's a diversity thrift store Oh. In Virginia, and people would think that it's related to us. And I always have to tell them, like, we have no correlation, but thank you. Yeah. Thank you for going there.
Molly:Yeah. Also, how did you get to Virginia?
Luis:Right. Like Okay.
Molly:That's one of the places I've never been, and I just don't really care if I ever go.
Luis:That's yeah. That's totally fair.
Molly:It's a skip over place, I feel like.
Luis:Yeah.
Molly:So you guys do buy the pound. Yes. Is that all the time?
Luis:Yes. That's all the time. There's been moments where we've kind of played with the idea. There was one time where it was a swap room, so you could, like, exchange clothes for other clothes, but that ultimately didn't work as well as we thought it would.
Molly:Yeah. Same. I had I had like a rack at my store and I was like this. People one, people didn't know about it. Yeah.
Molly:And then they were trying to give me clothes off their back. I'm like, no. I don't wanna wash things. You know what mean? It's supposed to be like
Luis:Yeah.
Molly:But also yeah. And then I just ended up just giving stuff away, which is not a really good business plan. Yeah.
Luis:Not not the ideal business practice. But I understand. I understand the the Yeah. Yeah.
Molly:Yeah. How do people get tickets? Are there still tickets available for Project Rework?
Luis:So Project Rework is actually a free event. Welcome anybody can come because it's gonna be during Jamaica Plain Open Streets. It's actually gonna take place outside of our store versus in the store like it was in previous years. So anybody can come, feel free to show out. Yeah.
Luis:It's gonna be outside, so you can just stand anywhere outside of our store to watch it.
Molly:That's probably nice too because it's you have more room to play with photos and videos will be fun.
Luis:Yes.
Molly:And so all the rest of them have been inside. Have they kind of like grown over time?
Luis:I'd say yeah, because it's like a kind of production valued thing. So it's like the more we do it, more it's like, alright, we kind of understand what we're doing now. So the first one I was a part of, it was a little a little rocky, I'd say. Like there was moments where I kind of doubted what we were doing, but it was a hit. Same thing with the second and third one, but, I mean, overall, like, we've just been getting better and better, I'd say, at doing it.
Molly:Yeah. There's a lot of, like, pathfinder type of things that you have to do whenever you're doing an event for the first time.
Luis:Yeah.
Molly:And then you're like, okay. Yeah. I'm not doing that part again, but this is what we did really well.
Luis:Yeah.
Molly:I love it because you guys didn't stop doing it. Yes. How has it like grown or like changed?
Luis:What I would say is I guess more people hearing about it for starters because it's like before it was kind of like people were like oh what's this? Now it's like people are like, oh, you guys doing the runway this this year? And it's like, yeah, we do it annually. You should know that.
Molly:So you do it only once a year?
Luis:Yes. Once a year. We tried for twice a year, but it's not in the cards. It's too too
Molly:Labor intensive.
Luis:Exactly. Time consuming. We can't we can't do that.
Molly:So whenever a designer applies, what are their requirements?
Luis:Well, we start by looking at their designs and seeing if it would be, like, a fit for them. The other thing we look at with them is do they align with what we align, like do we share common like interests?
Molly:Like sustainability?
Luis:Exactly. Are they using sustainable materials? Things like that. But there's not really that many requirements. Third one, just, you're a cool person.
Luis:We really appreciate a lot of the cool people we had. We actually had one really cool person. Their name's on Instagram, Urban Pigeons. They make a lot of really, like, cool, creative, like, coats and stuff. They actually gifted one of their coats to believe it or not soldier boy.
Molly:Oh, okay.
Luis:Yeah. Which I thought was really cool.
Molly:Yeah.
Luis:But yeah, just most important thing of all, we just if you're a cool person Yeah. I would say.
Molly:So you just have to be cool.
Luis:Yeah. Be you gotta have that coolness factor to you.
Molly:So what is then, like, some behind the scenes, something that people wouldn't know about that goes into these things?
Luis:It's a lot more time consuming than people think it is, especially for looking over the designers and picking because we get like hundreds of submissions for designers, models, etcetera. But looking over every single one, and I would say saying no to people is the hardest part of the whole thing because it's like I if it was up to me, I would want everyone that applied.
Molly:Yeah.
Luis:But it's not like we do have to have some like we do have to have some like rules kind of set in place for who we can take and who we can't take because it's like we can't have everybody there because we only have so much fabric that we can give out to people.
Molly:Yeah.
Luis:But, yeah, it's a lot more the stress too. Like, the stress level of, like, building it up is, like, off the charts. Like, we may keep it cool, calm, and collected on the surface, but, like, deep down, we're all, like, can I swear? Yeah. We're all, like, holy fuck.
Luis:Yeah.
Molly:I mean, even just, like, covering some of these events, same. Yeah. I'm just like I don't know what I'm doing.
Luis:Yeah.
Molly:And then on Instagram I'm like, oh, this is great.
Luis:Yeah, a lot of it is to like thinking on our toes because there's a lot of things that will like require immediate attention, and it's just like we have to think how can we solve this quick as quickly and as timely as possible to so people don't notice.
Molly:Yeah. Yeah. For sure. There's so much that goes into it. And then if you're recording or if you have audio I mean, tech just goes crazy.
Molly:Yeah. Like So don't go crazy, all of this tech, please. Yeah. Have mercy on me today. You said you were part of the first one.
Molly:You mean designing it? Designing it?
Luis:No. Haven't designed anything personally. I mean, like, I was a part of the diversity team. Think the first one, I was literally just the what was it? Stage director.
Luis:I was stage directing. So it was kind of like telling the models and designers when they can go, when to wait, like, we're just like telling them, oh, you're gonna stop here, you're gonna stop there, just so they know exactly what they're doing so we can put on the best show possible. Yeah. Which, I mean, that was pretty cool. It was really, like, difficult because some people couldn't hear me over the music.
Luis:But it it was cool. It was cool.
Molly:So do you have, like, a live DJ or live musicians? Well, not live. But
Luis:So we actually make a playlist every year. You could probably find our playlist if you look on Spotify, like, just look up Project Reworked Runway, you'll probably find some of the playlists we've made for previous
Molly:Oh, that's fun. I'm always looking for a new playlist.
Luis:Yeah. So if you if you're looking for some runway music, just diversity Project Rework runway, you'll probably find it.
Molly:What's the is there like a theme that they need to go by this year, or is it just all whatever you can come up with?
Luis:Yes. So the theme is actually revised war torn, but to put it, like, into layman's terms, it's just, like, rev revolution. So it's every piece, we want to send a message about the current events that are happening throughout the world right now. So each piece that you're gonna see this season has a message behind it.
Molly:I love that. Is there a list of designers that are part of this right now that we can go and, like, follow? Or you're not releasing that yet?
Luis:It's not out yet. Okay. We have a like a bunch of chats with the model designers, etcetera. But the only thing you're probably gonna see is if you look at our like things we're tagged in is them tagging us. We haven't put anything out yet of who's gonna be in it.
Molly:Is that the same thing that's gonna happen with the Open Doors, Jamaica Plain, or what is it? Open
Luis:Open Streets.
Molly:Open Streets.
Luis:Yeah. So we're looking into actually getting live music since we're gonna be outside. We're looking at a couple, like, bands right now and some people we know. We're also looking to get a live DJ. So it might either be live band or a live DJ, one or the other.
Luis:Mhmm. But it's gonna be a live something for it being outside.
Molly:So do you want anyone to hit you up?
Luis:I would definitely if you wanna inquire, I would definitely reach out at diversity consign on Instagram or diversityconsign@gmail.com.
Molly:Okay. Cool. Yeah. I'll send some people your way. So how did you come about working at Diversity?
Luis:Well, that that's a story in itself. But if we are gonna start at the very beginning so I was a barista at a cafe. I'm not gonna say which cafe. I was a barista at a cafe, and I used to shop in there all the time. And I used to talk to Ian a lot just about We used to compare ideas or like we would just talk to each other like, oh, how's your life?
Luis:How's your family? You know, all that stuff. We would just talk to each other a lot. One day out of the blue, he's like, oh, are you busy tomorrow? I'm like, tomorrow's actually my day off.
Luis:I was up. He's like, I might have an opportunity for you if you will take it. I didn't know what he meant by that, and I'm like, yeah sure I guess this place is cool, I mean I'd like to explore to see what you have to offer me. And from there he's like, I'd like to offer you a job here. And I'm like, are you serious?
Luis:He's like, yeah, I'd to have you work here. And I started out as a cashier, so I was just a cashier for majority of I don't even remember what year I started, but a couple years ago. Then after that, I moved to, like, like, social media. So I did the social media for a while. I still do the social media, actually.
Luis:But then from there, I moved up, and I'm the assistant manager. So it's like, things just started here and now they're like up here and I'm like, wow. I couldn't be more thankful for the opportunity that he gave me that day.
Molly:Yeah. That's awesome. So are you from this area or did you like move here? Are you born and raised?
Luis:Born and raised here. I've lived at a multitude of places. I've lived in LA. I've lived in Florida, Fort Lauderdale. Shout out for Lauderdale.
Luis:I've also lived in Delaware. Don't go to Delaware. There's nothing in Delaware.
Molly:I didn't think there was.
Luis:There you wanna go see a cornfield? There's nothing out there. But, yeah, here's home. This is where family is. This is where I grew up.
Molly:Mhmm.
Luis:So, yeah, this is always gonna be home for me.
Molly:That's cool. Now did you always like fashion, or is that, like, something that you kinda grew into?
Luis:So it definitely grew as I started working there because with the job obviously comes like brand knowledge, so it's like you get a sense of things that you may have never heard before. Like for example, like every almost everything I have on right now, I would not have worn this like a couple years ago. And now it's like me today, it's like, my god, this jacket from the fucking the thirties. Yeah, I need I need that in my closet.
Molly:Yeah.
Luis:So I would say with the job definitely my fashion sense grew because before I literally used to wear just like all like basic fits.
Molly:Yeah. I I can't go back to that. No. It's hard.
Luis:Yeah.
Molly:You know, it's just like, it's so fun to just like play with like, getting dressed up
Luis:Yeah.
Molly:And not looking like everyone else. Exactly. How how has your, I guess, aspect or point of view changed on, like, fashion as far as, like, the inequities or whatever?
Luis:I believe that fashion in itself is an outlet an outlet to, like, who you are and who you wanna be. I believe there was a point in time where I didn't care that people were shopping fast fashion, but now it's like any time I see somebody, like, with a shien or sheen, however the hell you say it.
Molly:Yeah. Right? I don't really know how you're supposed to say it. Right?
Luis:It's like one of those things I'm just like looking at, I'm like, what does this say? But if I see any of that, it like irks my entire being because it's like they're so unsustainable. It's like you're literally killing the environment because you know you're gonna throw that outfit away in about a week.
Molly:Yeah. It's not gonna last. Yeah. It's kind of like pulled the veil over. Like, I've just kind of like, once you see it, you can't unsee it.
Molly:Yeah. And it's like and then you're like, oh, this brand acts like it's sustainable, but it's not either. Primark? Yeah. Oh my god.
Molly:I was shocked that Primark came here because I only knew about it from living in Europe, and I was like, this place sucks. Yeah. Like, it sucks. It's like probably worse than Walmart, to be honest with you.
Luis:Yeah.
Molly:It's really garbage. I'd and why would it come here? I don't know.
Luis:It's one of those things, like, I feel like you get to a point when you're big overseas where it's just like, alright, I need to expand and come That's to the where because, you know, capitalism and all that stuff. So it's like, I need to go there and get people to buy my stuff.
Molly:So one I know I'm I'm like, I jump all over the place, so I'm sorry. ADD. Whenever someone wins Project Rework Yes. And I'm not even gonna try to say Project Rework runway. Whoo.
Luis:It's yeah.
Molly:What Yeah. It like what is there like a prize like
Luis:Well you get 250 cold hard cash in an envelope, you get a trophy that says you won the season, it's a custom trophy every year And, yeah, just clout at the end of it too. We'll shout you out a bunch. You might even, depending on if you want to, judge the next season because we ask the previous winner every single season, hey, would you like to judge the next season? And they're always like, I would love to.
Molly:That is so cool. So do you need any volunteers? Do you need, like, any help?
Luis:I heard somebody ask if we were gonna have, like, a makeup artist slash, like, hairstylist, which I'm like, I don't know. I feel like a makeup artist to begin with, because I'm like, for last minute like touches that they might need for like makeup, I feel like that would be pretty helpful. Any photographers, videographers, if you want to just come and record and send us what you get from the event, we would love that too. Just like community thing because as much as we would like to pay you, we don't have budget to pay you. I'm sorry.
Luis:Yeah. But we will we will shout you out.
Molly:Content sharing.
Luis:Yeah.
Molly:That's all what collab. Exactly. That's really what it's all about, to be honest. Like, if you want something, you gotta go out and get it, you know? You can't just sit around and wait for somebody to pay you because that might not happen at first.
Luis:Yeah. And that's the thing. It's like people have to understand too, like, we're a small business.
Molly:Yeah.
Luis:We're still on the come up. So it's like we can't pay everybody. As much as we would wanna pay everybody, we can't pay everybody. Like, we still gotta pay our employees and keep the lights on.
Molly:Yeah. Exactly. And remain a place for the community to go. Exactly. You can't just be give that's why I did not succeed selling clothes because I'm like, let me just give you all everything.
Molly:I'm like, this is a money pit. So how many people work at diversity? Because I could continue to see, like, the same folks, so I'm assuming it's pretty small.
Luis:So our team is made up of about like eight Yeah, eight people.
Molly:There's eight
Luis:people that make up the team. So Wait, Saren, nine. Nine people. Saren.
Molly:Then does everyone participate in like doing the whole show, like getting everything ready or is it just like a team?
Luis:So for doing the show, I it's primarily tasked upon the I would say, like, myself because I do the social media Mhmm. And Maddie because she, like, is the manager. So it's like we'll kinda come together and build it from the ground up, just the two of us. Ian involves himself sometimes, but it's like a lot of times it's just like, oh, we got it. You can stay over there.
Molly:That's really cool. Yeah. How do you guys select, like, the clothes that you give people?
Luis:Like, the selection process for the runway?
Molly:Yeah. So, like, do you guys just grab a certain number of things, or is it just like
Luis:I this year, specifically, I went by the like, I just gave them 12 garments, but I kind of picked things that kind of went together. Yeah. So it's like, if these two pieces I feel like would have gone together in an outfit, I would put them in the bag together, or like these three, put them together. And each bag has one surprise, like, curveball item that doesn't go with it at all, but it's like, I'd like to see you try to work this into the outfit if you can.
Molly:And so they have to use every single piece, at least one little, like
Luis:They don't necessarily have to. Yeah. I tell them all, I'm like, if there's anything left over, don't worry about it. But like, I would like to see all of it incorporated because it's interesting. It's interesting to see.
Molly:Yeah. For sure. I think it's a good design challenge. Whenever you have some some sort of limitations, I think it gives you an opportunity to, like, work through that and come up with something you wouldn't normally do.
Luis:Yeah.
Molly:Did you have 13 people when you started doing this, or is it just grown bigger?
Luis:I think when we started, we did the first time I was in it. I think we had 10 people, and then the next year, we had, like, 12, and then the year after that we had 12, and this year we had 13. So yeah, it's like slowly grown. It's kinda like the better we get at it, the more people we want involved in it. It's just like we can't have a bunch of people because it's like coordinating with all those people is difficult.
Molly:Yeah, for sure. So what can you tell me about the open streets in Jamaica Plain? Yeah. What's going on?
Luis:So it's a opportunity for businesses to really go out into the street and show the people what they're about. So a lot of the businesses will do like, there's some places that will do DJ sets, there's some places that like Boeing the toy store, which is up the way, they'll do like events for the kids or it's like, you know, some of the banks will have free checking like if you get a checking account, you'll get this much money. So it's just like an opportunity for businesses to really get out there and show their stuff for everyone to see because the whole street, the whole like center street is closed off so it's like you can walk literally in the street and it's meant for like families and stuff too like to just explore the area and get to know what's in the area.
Molly:Yeah. For sure. Yeah. How's parking gonna be that day?
Luis:Difficult. Yeah. I would recommend parking honestly, like if you can get close, good good on you. Coming early is also an option, like if you come early
Molly:But then you can't get out.
Luis:Yeah. Getting out is the issue. The third thing which I would recommend for everybody is just park outside, like outside the area. Yeah. You'll probably be better off that way.
Luis:Or even take the tea in, you know, park at a tea station and then take the tea in into Center Street.
Molly:Yeah. That's a good idea. Old transit transit first for sure. Yeah. For those people that don't know, diversity does consignment.
Luis:Yes. And
Molly:what consignment means is you bring something in, you guys either accept it, put it on the rack or whatever or not.
Luis:Exactly.
Molly:What kind of stuff do you guys take in?
Luis:So we take in a variety of things. Some people think we take in nothing because we're denying them all the time. Just because we deny you, that doesn't mean that we don't want things. What we're looking for is stuff that we believe our general audience wants. So we kinda have, like, these two characters, and those two characters kinda represent our customer base.
Luis:And it's like whenever we're taking stuff in, we need to kind of like envision those two characters and say, all right, would they wear this? And if the answer is yes, we'll take it. If the answer is no, we're not going to take it because we know our audience and we know what they want to buy and nine times out of 10 we're just taking stuff that they would buy versus anything because we love cool things And if it's not a cool thing, no offense, we don't want it. Oh. No shade.
Luis:No shade. No hate.
Molly:Yeah. Yeah. I think people don't understand too is, like, when you have a business, you definitely do have to know your audience. And what people usually do or businesses usually do is have a brand persona. Yeah.
Molly:And so I'm guessing that's what you're talking about. Exactly. You guys have so many artists that collab with you guys. Yeah. Whether it's like doing flyers or like just selling their art.
Molly:Yeah. Are there any particular artists that are part of this project rework?
Luis:No. Not really. Not anybody that's sold with us. In previous years, we've had people that have sold stuff with us. For reference, Jason is, like, he sells stuff with us, but, like, he also participated in it.
Luis:But this year, no, we don't really have anybody that is selling with us that is also a part of the runway.
Molly:Okay. That's one thing I've noticed lately is, like, a lot of the fashion shows around Boston, New England have kind of been, like, the same people in, a traveling band sort of way. So it'll be really cool to see like new fresh new folks.
Luis:Yeah. This is the first year actually that's featuring nobody from previous seasons.
Molly:Oh, that's cool.
Luis:Because usually we'll have like one or two people that'll like run again, But this is the first year it's, like, all new people.
Molly:Yeah. I could imagine, like, if you went through that and you didn't win, wanting to do it again Yeah. Like, I'd probably just keep doing it until I won. And, like, at what point do you, like, say no? Or do you even are they kind of, like, guaranteed to get in again?
Luis:For a lot of them, it's like they yeah. You kinda just have a guaranteed spot to get in.
Molly:Especially this particular subject matter, I feel like it's gonna be really dope.
Luis:But yeah. A lot of cool outfits.
Molly:Yeah. And there there's so many ways to interpret interpret this this shit show that's happening right now. I feel like people underestimate the way fashion can do that Yeah. Because everybody has been conditioned to dress the same Exactly. By the same shit, influenced by influencers, which is annoying.
Molly:Yeah. And nobody wants to listen to the sustainable influencers Yeah. Half the time.
Luis:Yeah. Which is like sustainability is really important because it's like, you know, the planet is still dying. Yeah. And buying all this stuff from mass produced warehouses, not to say a lot of places don't mass produce, but especially like the fast fashion warehouses, like majority of that stuff ends up in the dump, which is causing pollution, which is killing us faster than anything.
Molly:Literal plastic in our brains. Yeah. It's pretty cool. Right? It's pretty
Luis:awesome to some people.
Molly:I know. Right? Maybe they needed it. Yeah. Some little plastic to boost the IQ.
Molly:What else do you guys have going on like this year? Are you guys gonna do the underground markets again?
Luis:We're talking about it. We're not 100% sure if we're gonna do it or not. Cause it's like with the runway, it's kind of cutting it close for doing a winter market because it would be like the immediate month after like winter market. We're not 100% sure yet. Something else we're looking into, some events that we've talked about is open mic, so we're thinking about having like open mic nights, like if anyone wants to come, you know, do an open mic, that's fine.
Luis:We're thinking about doing we've done comedy shows in the past, but we're looking to maybe do like a comedy show again. Somebody said magic show, which I'm like, I'm not opposed to that. You know, magician.
Molly:Just don't burn the house down.
Luis:Exactly. Just don't burn us down. It's carpeted down there, please. Nothing with fire.
Molly:Yeah. Oh my god. That'd be kind of that'd be dope, honestly. There's just so many opportunity, especially because you guys are so open to the arts.
Luis:Yeah.
Molly:It's really cool. Are you guys looking forward to anything in 2026 that you normally have that people should know about?
Luis:Honestly, I would just say what we're looking forward to. We actually just recently celebrated our five year anniversary on Saturday.
Molly:Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot to bring that up.
Luis:But with that it's kinda like we're just looking to continue going in the direction we're going in and I would say our main goal is to put Boston on the map as a style location. Yeah. Just like, you know, New York New York, LA, Miami, like all those places that people are like, oh, people are fashionable out there. We're trying to make Boston a I part of that
Molly:think that's super important because there are a lot of people that do have style here, and you'd like, maybe you don't see it all the time, but that's it's not getting enough credit.
Luis:Like Yeah.
Molly:New England, especially, has so many creative people. I don't know if you've seen, like, the person that's interviewing, like, people, street style in Boston, but it's like they come up to the same people that are just wearing the same outfit.
Luis:Oh, I know who you're talking about. Yeah. It's literally, like, the same exact it's basically, like, the same video.
Molly:Black shirt, jeans. Yes. Yeah. Like, where are you at? Yeah.
Luis:Go literally anywhere else. Like, you're in the wrong location.
Molly:So you the five year anniversary. Yeah. So another COVID business. Yes. That's crazy.
Luis:We made it out of COVID. I know. It's great.
Molly:Yeah. I mean, the inception too. Like, everyone that's pretty much been on this podcast has, generally speaking, started their their or or their business during COVID, which is wild to
Luis:me Yeah.
Molly:Because I was not in the mindset of doing that.
Luis:Believe me, I me during COVID, I wouldn't have even, like, considered diversity an option. I was a totally different person during COVID.
Molly:Yeah. Yeah. I think everybody was. And then people that didn't change, I don't know. What's the tell you?
Molly:That shit changed me for sure. Like, canon event for sure.
Luis:Definitely a canon event for a lot of us. Yeah. We need we needed COVID, I think.
Molly:Yeah. I did too. I really do too.
Luis:Because it was kinda like a big reset in a way. You know?
Molly:Yeah. So when you worked at the cafe, were you, like, near diversity? Oh, okay. So would you go there, like, after work and, like, just meet, talk to people?
Luis:Pretty much. I would either go after work or I would go on break and then go there, and then just kinda talk to whoever was there, which the team was a lot different back then.
Molly:You guys got a whole bunch of followers recently, right?
Luis:Yes.
Molly:Yeah. And so that was all you, right? The Instagram, the social media person.
Luis:I mean, what can I say? I'm just I'm just good at what I do, I'd say.
Molly:Was there one particular video that kind of kicked it off?
Luis:So there was this one trend that it was like it was like a summer sale. That's all I remember. It was like Splash Into Diversity.
Molly:Oh, the water?
Luis:Yes. That one. Yeah. That that was me and my good friend, Racid. I was just like, he's the best when it comes to when I'm doing videos, because it's like, he's the most open to my ideas when it comes to things.
Luis:Because I don't know if you've seen our video recently, the one where I like put my hand like over his mouth.
Molly:Did you know? Yeah.
Luis:Because it's like I can literally just be like, yo bro, I'm gonna do this for a video. How do you feel about it? And nine times out of 10 he's like, yeah, let's do it. So, like, with that one, I was literally like, how do you feel about being splashed with water? He's like, he's like, how much water?
Luis:I'm like, not too much. He's like, okay. Let's do it.
Molly:Like a whole bucket?
Luis:Yeah. It was like a buck like, this big, a bucket, and I we just threw it at him.
Molly:So how did how did you get out of being the one to get splashed?
Luis:I was the cameraman. Cameraman can't get away.
Molly:Yeah. Exactly. I sorry. I'm the creative genius behind this. Exactly.
Molly:And I I just know the angles. Okay? I just can't
Luis:be the one. Exactly. I can't be the person to do it.
Molly:Those videos are hilarious. And that's what why I love the Internet. Those funny, like, trends and and things like that. Yeah. They're great.
Luis:Yeah. I feel like trends are really what made a lot of the videos we've made because it's like, we'll see a trend, and then I'll just be like, hey, Verseid. Let's do this.
Molly:And he's
Luis:like, okay.
Molly:Now was it on TikTok first, or was it Instagram?
Luis:So we tried going like, doing TikTok, like posting TikTok exclusive videos and then, like, Instagram exclusive videos, where it's like TikTok was more of our, like, trends, skits, and all that stuff. But we weren't really pulling numbers on TikTok as much, so we just took everything that we were doing on TikTok and just moved it over to Instagram, essentially.
Molly:I think that kind of happens. Like, you either you have to focus on one platform, it seems like.
Luis:Yeah. Or you have to have, like, multiple people, like, one person doing one, one person doing the other. We were actually supposed to do, like, a TV kinda style show. It was called Fuck Consignment, which it would kinda highlight on the everyday, like, working at diversity and kind of going into some of the behind the scenes stuff that people don't see working there. Because it's like, if you come in as a customer, you know, you think it's just, oh, I wanna buy this and all that stuff.
Luis:But there's a lot more that goes into it, especially on the consignment side. Yeah. I feel like a lot of our consignors are, like, really mean to us, and they don't and they don't need to be. It's like we're just trying to help you sell your stuff. Why are you so mean to us?
Molly:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of people expect to get a million dollars from their stuff.
Luis:Exactly. And it's like those same people will come in and they'll be like, this is new with tags. And I'm like, yeah, but this is from Old Navy. I can't take this.
Molly:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So you guys don't accept, like, newer stuff?
Luis:We do, but it's like Quality. It it really depends on what it is. Yeah. Because it's like just because it's new doesn't necessarily mean we're gonna take it. Yeah.
Luis:Is what some people need to understand.
Molly:Yeah. I really like the videos that you guys did on showing the consignment process, like what y'all will take and what y'all won't. Yeah. They'll always have like a new like series or concept going on which I think keeps everything fresh.
Luis:Yeah. That's a lot of props to Ian because he's the one that like is like, alright, let's do this now. And then it's like, we'll try it out. And then it's like, this is good, but now let's do this.
Molly:Now for anybody that wants to sell stuff they make at Diversity, what's the process for that?
Luis:So we have an artist contract, the artist contract you get a for starters it's a $20 startup fee, But with that, you get consignor access, which consignor access, you can see everything we see. So when things sell, you can see it. What your balance is, you can see that as well. It's a $50.50 split. You can also price the stuff because it's your stuff.
Luis:It's the only option that we have where you can price your stuff, because I know some people think they can bring in their clothes and then it's like, oh, I can price this Dior shirt, but it's like, no, we'll price it for you. But for art, you set the prices it's a two month period in store the two months is just to see like if you sell out if you don't sell out that doesn't necessarily mean you have to take it back we would just recommend like re upping some of the things that you have there Oh, also you get a social media feature and your names listed on our website for featured artists. We have a featured artist section on our website.
Molly:And so for consignment, guys do separate from the art contract Yeah. Is there a different percentage for the consignment?
Luis:Yeah. So the percentage is if anything's valued under a $100, it's 33% of the selling price valued a $100 and over it's 50%, which a lot of people see the 33% and they immediately get discouraged because it's like oh I'm not gonna make a lot of money, that's not true. It's if you bring in let's say a large amount of stuff and we take a lot of things you're gonna make money. Yeah. If you continually bring things you're gonna make money.
Luis:But if you bring in let's say five things we take two things and then it's like oh I'm not gonna make any money. Yeah. You we took two things. But if you keep bringing us things like those two things, you're gonna make some money.
Molly:Yeah. And I think people don't understand too, like, if you if you do have designer items and you try to go with The RealReal, it's wild how much they take
Luis:from you.
Molly:And so, like, buying from The RealReal is great, but I feel like selling from The RealReal is kind of crap.
Luis:Yeah. I feel like that it's like that for a lot of, like, different, like, online selling platforms, which is why I will always recommend consignment. Yeah. Because consignment, you're gonna get a better percentage than any of these places that you sell with online. I promise you.
Molly:Yeah. And you don't have to ship it. Like, I do not wanna go to the post office at that much. You know what I mean?
Luis:Like Exactly. It's like, I wanna just leave my stuff somewhere and trust that it'll sell
Molly:Yeah.
Luis:Which is the beauty of consignment.
Molly:It really is. Like, I've tried I've thought about I haven't tried. Thought about doing Poshmark or Depop, and I'm like, I just can't bring myself to do it. Yeah. Because I know how annoying it is just even buying something sometimes.
Molly:It's like a hassle. And, like, I don't know. Like, just let me take it to diversity or somewhere else that I know that's gonna sell. Like, and that's the thing that people don't understand. Like, okay.
Molly:Maybe diversity will take this much because it matches their brand persona, but the rest of it, find another place. Exactly. Like, you don't have to just be like, oh, no. I'm gonna throw it out now. Like, there's so many places.
Luis:Or even if you're if you shop with us, a lot of people don't know we do this, but if you shop with us frequently, say we don't take a bunch of stuff, you can donate it to us. We'll put it into our buy the pound and, like, you get a 30% off coupons at the store.
Molly:Even better.
Luis:Yeah. And you can use that to purchase whatever. That's a that's an employee discount. You wanna really that's an employee discount. That's how much I get.
Luis:Yeah. Donate it close to us.
Molly:That's really high. Yeah. Yeah. Because we're usually, 10% or if that Yeah. Like, that's a good option.
Molly:And that artist contract is also for, like, art, not just clothing. So just, like, anything encompassing art.
Luis:We take, minus clothing, we will take like paintings, we'll take prints, stickers, bracelets, necklaces, any type of jewelry.
Molly:When in doubt, apply. Yeah, exactly. There's so many great artists around here that
Luis:Oh
Molly:are looking for places to sell stuff. Is there anything you want from the community?
Luis:I guess the last thing I can say for the community is shop small, shop diversity. We literally built this store not for us, but for you. So everything we do is for you. I promise you may not think it it is for you. Literally everything we do is for you.
Molly:Well, thank you so much for coming. I am really excited that you guys wanted to do this, so Yeah. I hope you enjoyed this week's episode. Check the show notes on where to find Diversity Consignment. Check their Instagram for flyers and more about Project Reworked Runway because it's coming up, and I'm really excited, and I hope to see you there.
Molly:Thanks again for Diversey for coming on to talk about everything they're doing. Until next time. Bye.
