Vintage and handmade in the same store?

[Former_Member]

My etsy shop consists of only handmade crochet and knit items. I have been doing some veerrrryyy late spring cleaning and recently discovered that I have a whole mess of vintage clothes that I'm not wearing anymore. I really don't want to go through the work of marketing and branding for two seperate shops, or deal with the trouble of combining shipping costs between two shops. How horrible do you think it would be to offer a small selection of vintage goods in the same shop as my handmade items? The Etsy labs all suggest to keep your shops very cohesive and focused on one type of product, but will my handmade shop come off as unprofessional if I also offer vintage items?

[elainesgems]

You could arrange your shop to keep handmade items first and the vintage items next.

[Former_Member]

That's a good idea! I really want to be able to keep everything of mine in the same shop, but I don't want to come off unprofessional.

[Former_Member]

I have a shop with both. I never thought it was unprofessional.

[Former_Member]

I think as long as your listings are clearly described as to their origin (handmade vs. vintage) it's okay when they are of the same genre i.e. all clothing, all home furnishings etc. I think it's gets messy when you start mixing crochet items with book or handmade cosmetics with coffee tables...does that make sense?

[Beaderbeads]

I have 2 stores on etsy 1 for beads & 1 for vintage items. Wish I could combine the 2. But I didn't feel it worked together. Try it, see how it goes. You can always open another store down the road. : )

[Former_Member]

I think I've heard it said in the labs that if you tie the vintage and handmade together, through photography, or some type of branding, it would work just fine. Since you knit and crochet and you want to sell vintage clothes, I think that could fit together well if presented the right way. They both are related to fashion and textiles. Hope that helps :)

[Former_Member]

Thanks everyone for the support! In a perfect world, I'd like to have two successful shops, but I just don't think I would have enough time or resources to properly brand and market two shops.

Katrina- I totally get what you're saying. Most of the items in my shop would be "wearables", so I guess technically it's still cohesive.

Beth- That's a good point. I keep treating this decision like it's now or never. But If the vintage doesn't work out in my crochet shop, I can always change it later!

Elise- That's my plan for this weekend, make sure my photos are all in the same style!

Again, thanks everyone for the support and input!

[Former_Member]

Our shop features both vintage and handmade. We're new and still trying to work out the aesthetic, but so far, we're happy!

[Former_Member]

This shop that I am on will have some vintage handmade handbags. I dont think its out of place so it should be perfectly fine :).

[Former_Member]

Try to tie your items together via photography. Most viewers will come to your shop by searching for one particular item, so it's not like they will come to your stop, get confused, and then leave.