Rochester Business Journal (RBJ) Feature

This is copied from the exact article in the RBJ, which requires a subscription - so that all my readers have viewing access to it!

Two years ago, Sarah Pavia had the idea to make a business out of teaching the Rochester community and beyond to live “thrifty.” An enthusiast of secondhand items, Pavia wanted to spread the word about sustainable fashion and all of the great things that thrift stores have to offer.

People were critical of Pavia’s idea, confronting her with questions like, “What does living thrifty even mean?” and “How can you monetize that?”

Well, she found a way. In fact, she discovered many channels to make a living out of encouraging others to live a secondhand life upon the launch of her business, Second Look Styling, in October 2018.

Pavia says she has always been a huge thrifter, and she began gaining traction on her Instagram account where she blogged about how to dress on a budget with trendy secondhand finds. In 2017, Goodwill asked her to be a brand ambassador for the organization, and a few months later they asked her to join full time. Not only is Pavia a budding entrepreneur, she is also the marketing manager of Goodwill, a position she accepted in March 2018.

Pavia notes that Goodwill is fully aware of her additional gig as owner of Second Look Styling.

In just one year in business, Pavia has racked up her service offerings surrounding her primary goal of helping others live fashionably on a budget using secondhand clothing, accessories and home décor. Pavia says most of her customers are women in their 20s through the 50s and 60s. She notes that she also works with men and children.

Much of Pavia’s services are uniquely customized to her clients’ desires. While she offers specific packages, Pavia frequently finds herself responding to random requests that are lobbed her way.

Second Look Styling offers in-home wardrobe consultations in varying capacities. Pavia rescues clients looking for help putting together new outfits as well as clients who want a few more pieces to add to their closet that Pavia shops for at thrift stores.

“Clients can book me for up to three hours, and with that service I bring in a bottle of champagne and we celebrate because for a lot of people it’s very daunting and overwhelming to look at their closet because they feel like they have nothing to wear,” says Pavia. “I never leave a home without a guarantee of at least 45 new outfit combinations from what’s in your closet. I also take anything my clients don’t want and donate it to their charity of choice with their permission.”

Thrift Box is another service Pavia offers, in which clients fill out a style profile and select how many items and the type of they want in their box. Pavia then shops around at thrift stores to find items that her Thrift Box clients are requesting. Thrift Box can be signed up as a one-time deal or a monthly subscription service.

“I wrap it all up, give them a picture of each item with a style assessment of how they can wear it and style it and I send it to them,” says Pavia. “Thrift Box is like Stitch Fix meets thrifting. My tag line is ‘Living thrifty doesn’t mean living less.’”

Pavia also enjoys hosting speaking engagements, workshops and style parties where she can educate her audiences on the value of living thriftily and incorporating more secondhand goods into their lives. She offers styling for photo shoots and portraits, help with home décor in a package called space styling, and personal shopping trips in which she helps customers navigate thrift stores and learn the art of thrifting.

A large part of Second Look Styling is the boutique, both clothing and home goods, which Pavia operates at her East Irondequoit home. Pavia is conscientious about carrying a wide variety of sizes, including maternity wear. She recently incorporated a consignment element to her business where she will take clients’ secondhand clothing and sell it in her boutique as long as it’s high quality, gently used and on-trend.

“I don’t want to just be another secondhand shop, because we already have a lot of great secondhand shops in Rochester,” says Pavia. Education and cognizance are of chief importance to her in her business. “I really want to bring awareness to the importance of secondhand items. One way I do this is through a weekly blog post for my subscribers. It’s all about conscious living and sustainable fashion.”

Pavia is currently experiencing growing pains in her business as she has seen fast growth over the past year. She says her dream would be to open her own boutique space outside of her house that’s not only a store but an education center.

“I’d have a teaching area where I can educate people on how to upcycle or repurpose, where people can come in and bring a lamp and have it fixed or have fun workshops on how to incorporate second-hand items into your life,” she explains.

Since her home is her main warehouse, Pavia’s customers usually come to her to try on boutique items. She also hosts pop up shops at locations around Rochester, where she holds workshops on topics like showing clients how to upcycle, repurpose or restyle household items that aren’t being used.

Pavia admits that she has her hands in many pots between her service offerings at Second Look Styling and her full-time job at Goodwill, but she enjoys taking on the creative challenge of figuring out how to best maximize her time.

Despite her current roles as marketing manager at a nonprofit and business owner, the master thrifter comes from a background outside of those areas. A native of Herkimer County, Pavia came to Rochester in 2011 for a role at Rochester Institute of Technology.

She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and went on to earn two master’s degrees in higher education. Her first master’s was in student affairs counseling, which she received from SUNY Oswego in 2008. The second was in higher education administration, from Syracuse University in 2009.

Now Pavia is all about spreading the word on the importance of living a positive lifestyle, and she does that through her niche of thrifting.

“I want people to realize that thrift store doesn’t necessarily mean grungy or gross,” says Pavia. “I’m showing people that secondhand items can be trendy and hip and cool. It’s not about where you got it; it’s about how you’re wearing it and how you’re styling it.”

Nsheldon@bridgetowermedia.com / (585) 363-7031  Small Business is a biweekly feature focusing on local entrepreneurs.

Thank you to Nicole and the team at the Rochester Business Journal for this feature!

Decorating Your Halloween Table on a Budget!

I’m obsessed with Halloween. I legitimately cannot get enough.

And I’m especially obsessed with decorating my dining room table for the holidays! (Did you know I decorate for others too?) While generally I show how I decorate my home with Goodwill finds, I couldn’t help but share some bargain hunting I did at Target to get the items you see here today. It may not be secondhand, but it’s all $5 or below and I just wanted to show off the goods ;-)

There are some thrifted items on the table - the white dinner plates for example, the small Halloween bowls, the candleabra (one of my favorite finds ever!) and a few of the black skulls. But for the most part everything else is clearance at Target or in their Dollar Bins. The runner was also on clearance this past summer for $2.38 and I found the black lace at Goodwill which I cut up and put as sections over the runner - perfect!

Whenever I see seasonal items on sale, like the black chargers, I make sure to pick them up if I can use them for a different season’s decor. I knew the black would be perfect for Halloween - and they were Hearth and Hand marked down to only $.88 a piece! The same was true for the small dinner plates and the napkins, they were all seasonal clearance at one point and I started accumulating the items with a vision for Halloween. So while it may not be thrifted it’s still repurposed so that counts ;-)

Each of the pumpkins were in the dollar bin area and I scattered them throughout on the runner. Less can be more and while I kept things in a similar color scheme here it only took me a minute of playing around with the table to come up with this creation.

A few simple finds and voila, I have a fun black/white themed Halloween table! Perfect for a ghoulish and spooktacular meal!

Part of my services through Second Look are also home decorating - check it out, no matter your needs! Seasonal, just because, moving, nurseries…I’ll help find you the best of the best items at a price point you’re comfortable with and come in and decorate your space! Can’t wait!

Happy Haunting!

Sarah

Making White Shoes White Again!

One of the things people forget about sustainable fashion is that it’s not just about buying used but it’s also about finding ways to “clean up” items that you may think about getting rid of due to excessive wear, damage, etc.

I had a pair of Converse that had seen better days and were no longer white again. But with a few tricks we were able to get these babies looking brand spanking new again. Based on the response on social when I shared this, I figured I’d put the tips here as well to help!

Here was the finished product:

Steps:

1. Remove the shoe laces, and clean off any surface dirt and grime from the shoes with a scrub brush.

2. For safe whitening and stain removal on most light colored clothing/bedding, my go-to is always oxi-clean white revive powder. Prepare a cleaning solution in a bucket, made up of a high concentration of oxi-clean and hot water, (think a full scoop in a small half-filled bucket of water).

3. Throw the laces in the solution, and then use the scrub brush to gently scrub cleaning solution into the canvas material of the cons, including the tongue. Save the rest of the solution.

4. Wait a couple hours, then throw the shoes into the bucket of solution and add more hot water until it completely covers the shoes. Wait another couple hours with it soaking in.

5. Remove the laces, and rinse those out by hand. Remove the shoes, and place them in a washer load with light colored and non-delicate items such as towels. Depending on how worried you are about any odors transferring, you can even skip this step and hand scrub and rinse the cleaning solution out of the shoes. Expect to put it through 2+ rinses.

6. Let shoes air dry, thread up the laces. If spots remain on the canvas, repeat the process with a stain stick spot treatment, and then the oxiclean again.

Amazing how they look brand new! Here are the two products recommended above for this process:

Typical gentle Scrub Brush | Oxi-Clean Used

And that’s it! If you use the process be sure to send your before and after pics - would love to see how it comes out! Clean rather than throwing out, buy used rather than new!