Losers Weepers Vintage, a clever wordplay on the common phrase “finders keepers, losers weepers,” is the latest student start-up sweeping through Queen’s campus. 

Kara Altow, Comm’ 19 and Karina Rebellato, Sci ’19, met in their first year at Queen’s and quickly bonded over a love for fashion — or more specifically, vintage clothing. 

Over their three years at Queen’s, both girls had noticed a lack of vintage clothing available in the Kingston retail community. In an effort to fill this gap, they came up with the concept for Losers Weepers in the summer of 2017.

“Both of us were finding there wasn’t so much access to cool, vintage clothing in Kingston or online, so we thought ‘why don’t we just make our own store?’” Altow told The Journal.

Losers Weepers is an online store where customers are able to buy specially curated vintage clothing via the website, losersweepersvintage.com and  the duo’s Instagram. 

As a new company, Altow and Rebellato said their “vision is constantly evolving,” but started with the intent of giving people who love vintage clothing access to it in Kingston. 

All of the clothing and accessories the partners sell are handpicked, so there’s only one of each item. Customers are warned against hesitating to buy pieces since they may be gone the next time logging on — hence the ‘Losers Weepers’ title.

According to the co-founders, one of the best parts of the job is curating the clothing and spending hours sifting through overcrowded racks of clothing to find the perfect pieces. However, they understand this particular interest may not be for everyone.

“A lot of people like the clothing [we feature] but don’t necessarily know where to find it or want to spend all the time to go through the racks,” Rebellato said.

The girls based their rollout strategy on young adult-geared companies and found the best way to market their store was through a strong, stylish and creative Instagram account. Outdoor photo-shoots provide customers with inspiration for how to style a piece and make it easier to visualize themselves wearing it. 

Altow and Rebellato noted a key strategy in developing their business is capitalizing on Queen’s relatively small campus size and relying on the power of word-of-mouth to raise awareness for their company. 

Although they carefully handpick and love every item they sell, they have a couple of favourites to keep an eye out for in their upcoming collection. Rebellato’s favourite is a reversible, vintage Nike bomber jacket; Altow prefers a winter sports jacket.  

You can find Losers Weepers on their website or @losersweepersvintage on Instagram. Their next clothing drop comes out Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 6pm.