In the Meatpacking District in New York, surrounded by fashion designer stores Diane von Furstenberg, Stella McCartney and Moschino, lies Styleliner. Previously a potato truck, it has been reborn as a mobile fashion boutique stocking an eclectic mix of boho and vintage clothes handpicked from markets and designers in far-flung destinations like Brazil and Nairobi. No longer just the preserve of food businesses, old trucks and trailers are being snapped up by fashion entrepreneurs and transformed into stylish mini shops, stocked with individually curated collections sourced from around the globe. With fewer overheads and more flexibility compared to your traditional bricks-and-mortar indie, fashion trucks have become the latest shopping sensation in the States.
Joey Wolffer, owner of Styleliner, New York
Styleliner is a former potato truck that I found through a “truck agent” in Illinois. I started off selling accessories on the truck to my friends and mother’s friends in the Hamptons, where I’m from. Then it started to evolve. We are now a year-round business, spending winters in South Florida travelling to different events and trunk shows, spring on tour and summer in the Hamptons. Our fall and holiday time is spent in New York City where we have become a staple in the Meatpacking as well as Flatiron districts.
The beauty with a truck is that I can travel with my store – so if it’s raining in New York I can drive up to the Hamptons. I love the idea of being mobile, going direct to the customer and not relying on them always coming to you. If you have a standalone boutique you need to be in the best area in town and you have to be taking in sales of at least $20,000 a month.
I’m really proud of the interior. It’s a treasure trove where customers can open the drawers and discover handpicked accessories such as rings and necklaces from designers worldwide. You’d be happy if a store looked like this. People love the truck from the outside, it’s so original, and when they come inside they love the products. A lot of boutiques in New York have the same aesthetic and carry the same brands but there’s a customer that doesn’t want that.
Styleliner is my curated eye. I source everywhere from international tradeshows to Pinterest and Instagram to scouring markets when I’m travelling. I’ve been to all the markets in Brazil, Kenya and Nairobi. My most recent trips have taken me to Turkey and Ecuador. My look is eclectic bohemian mixed with vintage. I stock about 20 different designers ranging from $18 to $1,800. I wanted to offer a little bit of something for everybody.
I’m now designing my own line of handbags inspired by the bohemian lifestyle of the Hamptons in the 70s. Each style incorporates luxury leather with beautiful fabrics I have sourced from all over the world. The bags embody my style and the aesthetic of the truck in general. I started the Styleliner originally because I always wanted to design, but knew it was important to build my name first.
Stacey Steffe, co-founder of Le Fashion Truck, Los Angeles
Our truck always chooses to break down on us at the most inopportune times. The worst time was when we were at a private shopping party at an upscale and hilly neighborhood in Orange County with small windy roads. We’d parked in front of the home’s driveway but when we got ready to leave the truck wouldn’t start. After an hour of trying, it was suddenly dark so we decided to call Jeanine’s [my business partner] uncle and although he lived only about 20 miles away, the traffic was horrible and it took him at least an hour to arrive.
At that point it had started pouring with rain, and we were both dressed for a warm day and had no winter clothes in the truck. When we got out to greet him, we accidentally left the keys in the ignition and locked ourselves out of the truck. So all three of us had to wait in the pouring rain for the tow truck to come, which took over two hours to arrive and all we had to shelter us from the rain was a tablecloth! By the time all of this was over, it was past 1am and all the money we made at the private party ended up going to the tow truck which was a few hundred dollars and the mechanic, which was another few hundred.
I met Jeanine at a crafts fair we regularly pitched up to. She was selling her own jewellery, which I fell in love with, and I was selling vintage clothes. I told Jeanine that I was toying around with the idea of a “store on wheels” to get around to different markets easier with my vintage company. Her reply was: “I want in!”
I did entertain the idea of opening up a store but when I looked into all the Ts and Cs, and when I couldn’t find an ideal location that wasn’t expensive, I just saw failure. I liked the idea of selling on a truck; I thought it’d be a lot easier to pitch up at different places and I was sick of popping up stalls. It was very attainable and I just thought if it didn’t work it was OK because I wasn’t going to have to owe anyone $100,000 like I would if a physical store didn’t work. We bought our truck off Craigslist in 2010 and opened it the following year. It used to be a street advertising truck. We were inspired by French boutiques so we painted it powder pink.
We sell our own products but we also work with up-and-coming designers. Some designers come into the truck to have a chat with us and show us their jewellery for us to sell. Sometimes we find new designers at trade shows. We sell jewellery, handbags, hats, graphic T-shirts and some plus-size options. People can come to the truck and buy a dress and accessories for $75 (£50).
For the most part we stay in LA, although we do try and hit somewhere different like The Valley and Santa Monica. Running a truck is fun but there’s a lot of challenges. In some cities parking a truck is not legitimate and it’s something they don’t take very seriously. For example, in LA they have restrictions about parking – you can’t park on the street so you’re restricted to private property.
Sarah Ellison Lewis, owner of trailer Bootleg Airstream, Austin, Texas
After spending 10 years as a stylist in New York, I became disgruntled with the way the industry was changing – it had become very commercial. I needed a big break so I did what I always do and that’s head back home to Texas. I wanted a project to work on while I was there so I thought it would be real fun to open a shoe store. I actually wanted to open a physical shop but the cost of a commercial lease was enormous and I didn’t want to sign my life away for three years. I did a bunch of research and found that 90% of retail stores fail because of overheads and the biggest overhead is rent. I wanted to be able to succeed and not give all my money to a landlord. I thought, “What’s the easiest way to cut corners here?” So I found a 1968 Airstream Land Yacht and merchandised it. I called the trailer Bootleg as it’s based on the idea that we do whatever it takes to get our shoes. I parked it down a cute road in Austin and people just came. It became insanely popular.
The Airstream is a hub for getting to know people – it attracts everyone. I’ve fallen in love in it, cried, laughed, slept, eaten, worked, and hosted happy hours – it’s a roving party. Last year a cute girl visited the trailer – I later saw her starring as the girlfriend in the movie Boyhood.
The trailer’s intentionally unpretentious and very simple. I added wood shelves and benches and covered the walls in vintage photographs. I didn’t want a bunch of perfect things in there.
Buying is the easiest part of running the trailer as I’ve been sourcing from all over the world for years. I buy mainly from Paris and New York. I stock 450 shoes in 45 styles from all over the world, from hand-painted silk shoes from Thailand to rare Lara Bohinc sandals from London.
One of the hardest things is finding consistent staff interested and willing to sit in an airstream all day. I love crazy stuff like that but girls who want to work in retail and are looking for experience are like, ‘OK, so I work in a trailer’. Some people aren’t accustomed to it and can’t adjust.
We were profitable within nine months. Many people have tried to copy the business model and that’s been a challenge to manage. We’re in talks about opening a permanent second location at an amazing new hotel development in Austin, and we’re also in discussions with an investor about running a fleet of them. I’ve also built bootlegmarket.com, a global shoe platform that allows people to upload pictures of their shoes, brag about them and buy, sell and trade shoes.
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