Pacing toward the corner of Elmwood and North street in blistering cold 25-degree weather isn’t my ideal Wednesday night. If you took the all of the Buffalo Bills memorabilia from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, combine that with rare finds from streetwear kings Supreme and Bape then add a sweet selection of low-key kicks and add a Pit Bull on top, you have My Cuzin Vintage.
Located in Buffalo’s Allentown neighborhood on Elmwood avenue, My Cuzin Vintage serves as the newest way to stay fresh with yesterday’s styles. Walking into My Cuzin vintage, you’re likely to be greeted by a friendly brown puppy and two men dressed head to toe in apparel that’s not sold in your local mall. I caught up with the owners, Derek Hoffman and Vincent Spano, to find out more about this establishment and how they got all of these sought after grails.
Derek Hoffman
How did My Cuzin Vintage get started?
It started as a personal collection ,we are Bills and Sabres fans our whole lives, we collected anything we could or anything from the 90s, we went to thrift stores and flea markets. We seem gems everyday now.We wake up saturday morning at 7am and go thrifting, we know who to go to at flea markets. They would always have the gems waiting for us, establishing a relationship with that person.We seem gems everyday now.
What's the awesome part of owning a business?
Meeting different people, you never know what’s coming to the store, we met so many people that love the same thing that we do, we are glad we can share this with everyone.
What community outreach do you guys do?
We had a pop-up shop recently, fresh dogs clothing x Apex Clothing, Buffalo has a crazy amount of talent that people don't realize, any way we can help expose that we will.
When did you start collecting?
When I was 12, but it was really just a personally collection just to rock in school and turn heads, my dad loved it and loved to see me wearing the gear and he helped me.I had 20 Pieces and Vince had 20 pieces, we combined it and we took some pictures to see what we could do and it took off from there.Me and Vince were best friends since the sixth grade, we would always scheme up little ways to make money and selling whatever we could. We saw all of these vintage clothing lines on Instagram popping up and we figured since we have all of this vintage clothing we would try it out, having no idea what It would turn into. We bought all of the equipment and cameras and it took off. We just think it's cool because it wasn’t really an idea to make money, we just collected the team that we loved and then it turned into...well you see.
Did you have any Players from the Bills come to check out the store and what did they think?
Robert Woods and Kevon Seymour, they thought the store was sweet, Rob Woods bought a lot of bills gear, Kevon bought some Tommy gear.
Vincent Spano
With you being from the Buffalo area and now having a business in this area, how has that helped in building this brand/establishment?
It all comes from the heart, I’m passionate about everything I do. I love Buffalo and a lot of people hate on buffalo, I would always say there’s no shot that I'm ever leaving buffalo, I love it.
You guys have pop ups and you help the artist, but what do your ultimate goal beyond clothing?
Just to help, make some money would be nice. Going full time and making this what I would want to do.I’d like to bring buffalo on the map and bring some attention to the queen city, it has a lot to offer and grows every day.
What is your favorite movies from the 90s?
I love the Goonies and Space Jam, Mighty Ducks, they were rocking some sweet jerseys and had the textbook 90s streetwear.
What do you remember most about the 90s as far as fashion?
Good clothes, they put time in making their clothes If you look at the pieces there’s at least 3 colors in almost every T-shirt, today you usually see one color because it's cheaper, the quality then was better, you washed them and it didn't shrink, and if it did it was a good shrink.
We are sitting in a corner decorated in apparel that says, ‘’ Everything is Buffalo’’ what is this brand exactly?
This is a brand I started three years ago, I’ve always hustled t-shirts starting in high school and in college, I crushed this tee that put me on academic probation, it had our mascot on the front with a bottle. I sold 1000 shirts in one day, there’s photo evidence of it. Out of college, I started this brand about something I care about, Buffalo. This has pull on social media, I like to collab my stuff with other local businesses.
