This weekend, 701 Center for Contemporary Arts hosted the third annual Indie South Spring Market in Columbia. Founder and organizer Serra Ferguson pioneered Indie South in 2006 when she saw a demand for local craftsmen and artisans to network and sell their goods in a market setting.
The festival featured candle, jewelry, clothing, art and leather vendors. Business owners were eager to assist customers and answer any questions that they had about products, but at 5 p.m. on Saturday evening the crowd of shoppers was notably thin.
One vendor at Indie South was Sharon Young, owner of Thrifted Sisters, a vintage clothing company.
Thrifted Sisters offered a wide range of garments, from prairie style sundresses to Boy Scout shorts and black pleather platform boots. Items typically cost between $15 and $40, but Young also offered a bin of items at a reduced cost that were all $5. In addition, the booth offered a small selection of children’s clothes.
Young opened Thrifted Sisters in October of 2013.
“I have little kids and I wanted to do something fun — work, but still be at home, and I’ve always thrifted and done vintage since I can remember, I grew up doing it,” Young said.
Her love of thrifting stemmed from her parents, who visited thrift stores throughout her childhood. In middle and high school, Young started pursuing it on her own and developed her own individual style.
Young emphasized the importance of buying local, one of the central themes of the traveling Indie South market.
“It means so much to us little people. When you buy from me instead of a big store — it’s paying for my daughter’s braces right now, and for the little things. It supports us so much. It’s our lifeline a lot of times,” Young said.
Her original business partner was her sister-in-law, Jeanette Walker. Walker recently adopted a child, and is no longer a partner of Thrifted Sisters. Now, Young manages the boutique as primarily a solo endeavor.
Thrifted Sisters does not have a storefront. They use social media and accomplish most of their sales online, through Instagram or Etsy. Young also has a vintage booth at ReFind, an antique mall near Two Notch Road.
Although many vendors at Indie South travel across the southeast to different festivals and markets, Thrifted Sisters typically remains local.
“I don’t usually travel out of town with it. I wanted something where I could be a part of Columbia,” Young said.
Young doesn’t purchase any of her items from other vintage clothing stores because she would then have to mark up prices even higher. Instead, she sources from local thrift stores and the occasional estate sale.
“I basically dig so you don’t have to,” Young said.
In addition to finding items, Young cleans and preps the garments she finds at thrift stores so that once purchased they are ready to be worn.
“Instead of you going and — you might find one or two things but it takes you two hours, I have all the good stuff in one spot and you don’t have to go look for it,” Young said.
Young proudly recognized Thrifted Sisters' diverse options and funky choices. “It’s one-of-a-kind. What you bring home from me, nobody else has,” Young said. The best way to find Young is on Instagram at ThriftedSisters, where the first customer to comment on a post scores the sale.