IntheNorthernVirginiaarea,the vintagescenewasnotascrowd-pleasing asinothercities;resellingbrandssuchas Supreme,Bape,Vlone,andmanyotherswas thetalkofthetown,sellingvintagepieces was not. In 2018, Fabricio Gamarra and Chris Claure realized the oversaturated market of resellingsneakers/streetwearwasnotwhat theywerecalledfor.ForbiiiddenVintage,a group,exposingthelocalcommunitytothe bigworldofvintageclothingforthepast threeyears.RangingfromvintageNikegear thatisseenbeingwornbythegrandpasinthe oldfamilyphotostovintageDisneytee’sthat openupthegatesfornostalgiatofloodin.
Inthebeginning,ForbiiiddenVintage consisted of Co-owners Fabricio Gamarra andChrisClaure.Still,newpartnerswere beingintroducedtothegroupthrough theyears.Today,AnnaliMenjivar,Luis Gamarra,MayaDumas,BryanSanchez, andJerryZamoraputinendlesswork. ForbiiiddenVintageispopularlyknown forhostingthevintagefleamarket knownasEuphoria,locatedthroughout NorthernVirginia.Variousresellerscan setupboothstoeithershowofftheir museumesqueinventoryorsellthegear theyhavebeensourcingformonthsto send it off to new homes.
well! To start off, we wanted to know if when growingupinNOVA,didyouseemuchvintage influenceallaroundyou?
Fabricio – Not really, growing up with hispanic parents, we would go into the thrift store and buy old toys, or i’d hide under the racks. That was the only source of vintage for me. Other than that, I would be in the mall buying $5 tees and there was nothing unique about them. Werethepeopleyouwerehangingwithignite yourloveforthevintagecultureorclothingin general?
Chris- I didn’t think much of vintage back then, and I didn’t think there was a market for it at all. Fabricio’s little brother started getting him hip so then Fabricio passed it onto me. I realized each piece had a story which made vintage real unique. That’s what I liked; it was something different.
Fabricio- At first, we wanted to branch out; We started with shoes but then we thought about producing merchandise. We also wanted to get into YouTube, but it didn’t work out, we never know what will happen in the future though. Merchandise will definitely make a come back soon now that Forbiiidden has more of a name.
There was a time when Forbiiidden didnothavethefollowingitcurrently hasnow.Didyouevergetscaredor worried that it would not reach the heightsithasreachednow?
Fabricio- No, not at all. In time, if you put in the hard work and you put your whole heart into something that you truly want, you can achieve it. There have been moments where we have been really disappointed though.
ANNALI MENJIVAR
Whenyouguysfirstenvisioned Forbiiidden,didyouthinkyouweregoing tohavethegroupthat’saroundyoutwoin this room?
Chris- I mean, Fabricio and I have spoken about this when we first started, our main goal was to open up a shop with all our friends in it. It wouldn’t feel like we’d be working a day in our lives, all we’d do is chill with our friends every day. And although we don’t have a shop yet, I would say the people around us help us so much. Without them, none of this would be possible at all; we thank them for it.
Fabricio- For the Euphoria that blew up, a customer came all the way from Florida. It was absolutely crazy to see that happen.
Fabricio- When we first started, you could say that we were. When we hosted the first Euphoria, we didn’t want to disappoint the vendors that came from Culpepper, Winchester, and some other locations.
FortheEuphoriaevent thatwentviral,people werewaitingupto3 hoursjusttogetin.How didyouguysfeelseeing the massive line that had formed?
Chris- Honestly, I was scared. I was so scared for the customers because they were waiting for so long.
Fabricio- I was speechless, I didn’t even know what to say.
Chris- Nah you weren’t speechless, you were saying “Holy shit” the whole time.
Chris- A regular day, I try to hit the gym. I usually don’t go. But we all still like to thrift as much as we can. We also work and go to school; we have to keep up with life still.
Fabricio- I go to the gym, go to class, and I also put in hours at my job. Whenever I have days off from all of that, I try to hit the thrift and go hang with friends. We also tag all our clothing with Pokemon cards that have QR codes on them. But man, the amount of time we take on that is ridiculous; that shit is killer.
Fromhereonout,whatisForbiiiddentryingtoachieve?
Fabricio- Opportunity for others. We want to leave something behind for someone else to pick up.
Chris- Just giving back to the community and just building it up as a whole.
Annali- Seeing the line that was forming at the Euphoria that blew up, I saw everyone with joy written all over their faces. I was so proud of Fabricio and Chris. I also created this one scrap book for Fabricio’s birthday that contained all of the “first times” with Forbiiidden. There’s just too many memories being with Forbiiidden, and seeing how far we’ve come makes me feel amazing.
Fabricio- With the pop-up that blew up, I just got emotional because all of the hard work finally paid off. We could finally see the product of it. Chris and I were just thanking each other for everything that we’ve done to this point. At the end of the day, we’re brothers and in business you need someone that will always have your back, that’s how Chris and I are, we always have each other’s backs no matter what.
Chris- Since Fabricio covered our happy moment, I’ll cover our “down in the dump” moment. At the VCU pop up.
Jerry- Aye, that was at my crib!
Chris- We were there from 12 to 7 and not a single customer showed up. The only people that showed up were Jerry’s friends, but they went just to talk to him. After the pop-up we were walking, and we told ourselves that what happened back there was going to be the first and last time that was ever going to happen to us. From here on out, we had to give it our all.
Chris- I have no problem at all speaking about the bad times you know. At the end of the day, the bad moments that seem impossible to get through are actually what make us grow.
