MSU student bridges generations of fashion with EL retailer Additional Than Classic

There is been a increase in millennials and zoomers paving their own way in the trend globe by thrifting and next-hand browsing.

These folks are seeking to include a sure aesthetic to their wardrobe, precisely classic items that choose us back again to just a pair of many years in the past, from the 80s to the early 2000s, together with additional modern day coveted designer products.

1 Michigan State University student’s vision for a space that caters to this technology turned into a reality when he opened Far more Than Classic.

In November of past 12 months, 19-12 months-previous Louis Azor grew to become inspired after walking by an empty storefront on Division Avenue in downtown East Lansing.

“I just like closed my eyes, and I noticed like a bunch of young ones in right here and just hanging out remaining children,” Azor explained.

The vacant area sparked an thought to begin a business merging the strategy with a different a person of his large interests.

“You have to be exclusive, so that is when the notion of like receiving my next, like my very best passion that I have, like, clothing and model,” Azor reported.

Following months of perform, Azor was able to open up the doors of Additional Than Vintage, or MTV, in April.

The retail outlet presents products that Azor and his staff members thrifted by themselves from specific collector’s items to wholesale classic and garments traded in by shoppers.

He desired the shop to represent pop tradition from the 80s to the present.

“We have some vintage hats and some hypebeast hats like Supreme, and which is where like it results in being like additional than vintage due to the fact now you are connecting like our trend timeframe with, like, New York society to town society.”

On a person facet of the shop, there’s a shiny pink wall.

On it are paintings of President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and MSU football mentor Mel Tucker. He mentioned the former president and civil rights leader are American icons.

“I was, like, set them on the wall with Mel Tucker who’s the new pinnacle in East Lansing,” he claimed.

In the middle of the store, there are rows of graphic tees from the 80s hanging on racks.

Vibrant, color-blocked puffer coats line the partitions and designer sneakers are stacked on glass platforms on the wall.

The artistry driving the curated exhibit will make it challenging to believe when Azor says he was not so manner-forward escalating up in Philadelphia.

“Because like my moms and dads could not manage them escalating up since … it was just me, my mother, my grandma. So, I by no means like genuinely had like the flashiest of outfits,” he mentioned.

Nonetheless, he viewed his childhood idols like Jay-Z and Kanye West use trend to express by themselves.

Azor factors to 1 of his preferred objects designed by Kayne in the retail store: a sound blue puffer jacket.

Azor describes it as a “enormous inflatable trash bag.”

He mentioned he admires Kanye mainly because his design sets him apart from some others.

“He was extremely outlandish with it, like, his blue puffer coat jacket. No one would ever consider to just like develop that or just to go out in public putting on that, but he did it,” he reported.

Within MTV, purchasers can anticipate to stumble on things that may be offered out on the internet or uncommon to find.

Like an UGG x Telfar collaboration piece hanging on one of the walls. Telfar is an up-and-coming Black-owned manufacturer with a signature vegan leather-based browsing bag. It grew to become the “it” accent a number of many years back.

This bag combines the aesthetic of an UGG boot with the Telfar brand. Relocating in excess of a couple of clothes racks, Azor showcases a Godzilla t-shirt from the 90s.

He stated the piece is difficult to come by.

“This is like one of the previous, like, primary Godzilla tees which is not a print on.”

When it will come to sourcing items for A lot more Than Vintage, Azor claimed it’s all about who you know.

“You will find wholesale vintage.com. They have a great wholesale bins we just acquire off of from too. You will find a mystery…not solution, they are just like definitely superior ‘grailed’ fellas that live in Kalamazoo … Their whole lives, they’ve just been amassing like big items,” he mentioned.

As for the long run of Much more Than Vintage, Azor reported he’s hunting ahead to expansion.

“Actually, if this goes the way I can see it going, if it goes the appropriate way, we can, we could have a person in virtually in each single point out.”

A lot more Than Vintage is in its initial thirty day period of opening, and Azor hopes the keep will become as iconic as the style trends that carry on to depart their mark on us currently.