Last Call with Alli Jutras, founder of Back Alley Clothing

Last Call with Alli Jutras, founder of Back Alley Clothing - Worcester Mag

Posted: 22 Jan 2020 03:23 AM PST

Alli Jutras started a vintage clothing business when she was a student at Clark University. Today, Back Alley Clothing has grown into a successful pop up presence across Central Mass. You can keep an eye out for new pieces and upcoming retail opportunities by following Jutras on Instagram at @backalley.clothing.

Are you originally from Worcester?

I came here to go to Clark. I'm originally from York, Maine. I wanted to go to college somewhere with a strong cultural scene and an arts hub. Living in Worcester is very different than growing up in a small town, but I love it here.

What are some of the first cultural landmarks or institutions that drew you in?

I would say I was really caught by the murals when I first came here in 2015. There weren't as many back then. The first one I saw was the little blue fuzzy guy across from Hanover Theatre. Whenever I drove by him, it made me happy. I took a semester off to go to art school and whenever I would come back and visit, there seemed to be more and more murals. As I've been here, Worcester has totally grown. Working at the Pop Up downtown has been awesome because now I have the opportunity to help people put on art events.

What was your major?

Studio arts and also media, culture and the arts. When I first came here, that major didn't officially exist yet; I was one of the first people in the program. Now, it's one of the top majors on Clark's campus, which is awesome. I've really seen the program grow and I've been able to pursue so many opportunities because it allowed me to work closely with professors in such a small program.

How did you parlay that into a business?

Clark has a contest called the Ureka Challenge. I had the idea last January when I was out thrifting and I kept finding a bunch of clothes that I liked, but they didn't fit me. I was like, "What if I bought these and then sold them to people nearby?" My boyfriend is my business partner and we just came up with the idea to start thrifting clothes and bringing them to Worcester. It has been really cool because I love vintage clothes and unique clothing, but there isn't often an opportunity for people to buy them at an affordable price unless they have the time or energy to go thrifting. We're able to bring clothing to people at an affordable price and make it accessible here. After I signed up for the Ureka Challenge, they gave us $100 of seed money and also allowed us to meet with different people in the entrepreneurship department here. Then, we gave a presentation at the end of the year about where that seed money went and how our business grew along those months. Ureka helped us accomplish a lot, but it didn't get us to where we are now. We started up our Instagram in the spring and then that really progressed going into the fall. Now, people recognize us when we see them in person. We've had over 15 events in Worcester enabling us to interact with the community.

Are your events retail based, allowing people to come and buy the clothes, or are they more like fashion shows?

Definitely more retail based. We do a lot of pop up shops. We find a lot of vending opportunities at different local events like the Pride Parade. We also did the Punkcake Market around Halloween time.

Do you sell pieces online or are you just using social media as a building block?

We don't sell directly online, but we do most of the advertising there. We can let people know what we have for clothing using social media. Some people will even come to our apartment to try stuff on, but mostly we use our account to promote our events.

When you go out to thrift for vintage items, what do you look for?

I'm always looking for things that are really unique and unusual. I found a shirt the other day with a Van Gogh print on it that I loved. I look for a lot of things that are definitely my style, but I know other people would like too. I'm able to use my creativity and artistic vision. We've done a lot of research on what makes things vintage and how to identify pieces that are older. Honestly, it's just gotten better with experience because it's trial and error. My business partner, Max, and I were at Savers last week and I said, "I feel like I can just walk by things now and be able to tell what I want right away versus before when I would be digging through everything for hours." Lately, I pick up anything Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein. People really like vintage jeans, so we get a lot of them and then patch onto them and paint on them. We create a lot of custom pieces as well. I'm patching a pair of vintage overalls right now for someone. I usually look for pieces that are from the eighties, nineties, and early two thousands. Right now, a lot of the two thousands pieces aren't in, but I'm keeping my eye out because I think eventually the Hillary Duff style will be back in a couple of years.

I think you're right. Do you have some future goals you want to lay out for Back Alley Clothing?

My goal originally was to open our own store, but I have realized over time it might just be easier to keep doing the pop up shops because as much as a brick and mortar store is really cool and fun, there's a lot of responsibility that comes with it. And I think that if I were to do it, I would definitely want to wait a little bit longer to get more experience. The Clark Collective is a vending space for different Clark businesses. Right now, we're keeping our clothes in the back and they have dressing rooms that we're able to utilize as well. My goals for right now are to keep building our client base and extend to more pop up shops and small businesses. We had one at Bedlam Book Cafe a couple of weeks ago.