{"id":71870,"date":"2019-11-24T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-24T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/?p=71870"},"modified":"2019-11-24T11:00:11","modified_gmt":"2019-11-24T17:00:11","slug":"lawrence-local-kyle-trompeter-thrifts-his-way-to-stardom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/2019\/11\/24\/lawrence-local-kyle-trompeter-thrifts-his-way-to-stardom\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawrence Local Kyle Trompeter Thrifts His Way To Stardom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Just 21-years-old, Lawrence resident Kyle Trompeter has already achieved celebrity status in the world of thrifting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2011, entrepreneur Simon Beckerman bestowed a gift upon the digital-fashion world: Depop, a simple mobile marketplace aimed toward consumer-based buying and selling. Set up to look like a social media feed, users can scroll through tens of thousands of sellers from all over the world mainly offering vintage or second-hand clothing items for a reasonable price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depop seemed to be an instant hit. Not even in their tenth year of business, the app already has over 15 million customers, of which 80% are under the age of 25<\/a>. As of 2018, sellers had generated over $460 million, with that amount steadily rising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there is certainly an abundance of sellers, there\u2019s a small elite group that dominates the Depop game. One of which is Trompeter, who has over 26,000 followers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was 2016 and I was looking for clothes, so my sister told me to check out [Depop],\u201d Trompeter said. \u201cIt was when people were finding out about it and I looked and thought \u2018whatever\u2019. Then a few months later I saw all these people selling things, so I went to Goodwill and I\u2019d find cool stuff and just put an item up on there. It just happened to get featured on the main page and people started commenting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I just kept posting and it spiraled and spiraled.<\/p>Kyle Trompeter<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

To Trompeter, it seemed his success took off with little to no difficulty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just kept posting and it spiraled and spiraled,\u201d Trompeter said. \u201cI grew a brand based on what my pictures looked like. People really like that I smile in every one of them; they thought it was cute. Over a year I got really big and in the past two years it\u2019s just been a constant, always working.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Trompeter feels he hit the lottery, there is still a method to his reselling, and most of it lies in how he finds his product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI used to go to our Goodwill, but it\u2019s pretty picked over, and Salvation Army never gets anything new,\u201d Trompeter says. \u201cI go to this Goodwill outlet in Kansas City where they have these big bins that change out every 30 minutes. It\u2019s definitely stuff they just took out of bags and threw in there, stuff that you would pay $5 for at our Goodwill but you pay by the pound. That\u2019s what changed it all. That\u2019s why I can charge so little and have free shipping, and that\u2019s why people buy from me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reselling takes the dedication of devoting large amounts of time to actually sift through these bins. Potentially 8 hours a day at this outlet, three days a week, Trompeter assures that the time spent is well worth it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI go to Johnson County part-time, so I go after class,\u201d Trompeter says. \u201cWhen it started, I was 18 and it very quickly became that I didn\u2019t need any other job to support myself. I was selling things constantly and every day I have like 15 packages. I also do Ebay — and I actually make most of my money through there — but I like Depop more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tTrompeter\u2019s life has changed drastically since stumbling into the resell world and understands he\u2019s living very differently than others his age. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy life is odd. I can make my own schedule. If I want to not do something for an hour, I don\u2019t have to,\u201d Trompeter says. \u201cMy friend and I are looking at moving to Colorado, and it\u2019s crazy that if the thrift stores aren\u2019t good, then I\u2019m not going to move there — because that\u2019s my job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another unexpected part of the Depop career is this whole new community Trompeter has found himself a part of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe community of top sellers has a lot of people now,” Trompeter says. “You have to make around $2,000 a month to be considered one,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This past summer, they invited him to New York for a big convention that Trompeter said was “more like a big party.” It was three days and they invited around 50 people, but only chose around eight who weren\u2019t living in New York. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When they brought us there, they threw this party, brought all these DJs and we sold our stuff,” Trompeter says. “It was really fun because I met all these people who were doing the same thing that I\u2019m doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, Trompeter is working on completing his Associate\u2019s degree in order to have a fall back if Depop or Ebay dries up at any point. The hope is that it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know a lot of people are doing this part time and they\u2019re working towards a career. But for me, if this plays on for the next 15 years, that\u2019s fine with me,\u201d Trompeter says. \u201cI figure, if I\u2019m wearing it, then someone will buy it. If I put my spirit into my Depop then someone will think that it\u2019s cool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n