I really get psyched about people that have passion. Honestly, it can be for anything. I don’t care if you’re into collecting stamps--as long as you know your stuff and have a good collection to back it, I’m sold. Kate Jennings seamlessly balances a few different passions, from teaching, to photography, to running her own online clothing store, Na Nin Vintage. She is geniune, talented and hard-working, and these qualities combine to make her the kind of person you don’t come across too often. Kate was nice enough to take some time away from her busy schedule to tell me about her personal history and that of Na Nin, as well as what she wants to achieve with her current projects.
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Where are you originally from, and why did you decide to move to Richmond?
I'm from Fauquier County, Virginia, which is about two hours northwest of here. I grew up in this really nice small town [that] got our first stop light a few years ago. When it was time to go to college,VCU accepted me, and I liked how diverse it was, so I came here.
How long have you been here?
Right after I graduated from VCU in 2007, I moved to South Korea for a year to teach, but I’ve pretty much been here since 2003. When I came back from Korea I did graduate school at VCU. My undergrad is for psychology and I focused mostly on child psych. For grad school I did early and elementary education.
And now you are a teacher in Richmond?
I'll be beginning my first year being a kindergarten teacher starting in a few weeks.
Is that something you always wanted to do?
It definitely wasn't something I always saw myself doing. I never really knew what I wanted to do. I thought I'd be a writer, I thought I'd be an actress, I thought I’d be a fashion designer. When I went to South Korea, I fell in love with teaching.
Is thrifting something you've always been into?
Yeah, I've been thrifting ever since I was a child. I didn't go to a mall until I was in middle school. Everything that I had was either a hand-me-down or from thrift stores. My parents are big bargain hunters, so I grew up traveling on the weekends to nearby thrift stores, yard sales. I got more into it in high school, because I was starting to get interested in fashion. I was pulling stuff from my mom’s closet. I was really into the stuff she wore in her hippie days, and kind of mixing it up with my own style.
How did Na Nin Vintage start?
From thrifting so much, I collected so many things that I had a hard time letting go of. I honestly don’t wear but maybe 5 to 10 percent of what I own. I would find something [and think], “Oh, this is so great. This is only a buck, I have to have this.” Or “This is so rare.” Then one day I was looking in one of my rooms, and I was like, “I have a living-room-size room that's full of clothes. This is kind of wrong. I need to get rid of some stuff.” A girlfriend of mine was like, “Have you ever heard of Etsy?” It just seemed exciting, so I called up my best friend Samantha, who I really couldn't have done Na Nin without. I said, “Hey, do you wanna come over and model some clothes for me and I'll take some pictures? I wanna see if I can sell some stuff on Etsy.” So she came over, and I shot [her wearing] like 15 things. She's so beautiful; everything looked great. I put it up, and then within a few days people were buying. All of a sudden I had a pretty strong clientele--people wanting first dibs on things before I would post. I was personally shopping for a couple girls in New York.
So the people that contacted you to shop for them--
They would give me their sizes, send me pictures of looks they were going for--things like, “If you find a pair of brown leather ankle boots in a size 7 and a half, this is what I’m looking for, so give me first dibs.” It was working out great for me because that’s guaranteed business, and I like having relationships with people. It makes it more personal and enjoyable, and the whole experience is just extremely flattering.
Since you first started, how much has it grown?
I have emails maybe weekly, [from] people [who] are interested in selling Na Nin Vintage, or wanting to know about it. I just had a girl contact me in New York asking me if I wanted to do a lookbook video for her, because she sees what I do for my own things. I'm starting to make connections with a company in New Zealand that's interested in me. But most of that is definitely thanks to Need Supply.
Talk a little bit how that collaboration came up with Need.
I have a couple friends who work at Need Supply, and one of them showed my Etsy to Crystal, who’s the buyer there. She liked what I was doing--my inspiration, my photography, my own clothes, just what I had going on. I was sitting in Carytown outside of a sushi restaurant and Crystal came up and introduced herself to me. I was so surprised because this is kind of a stranger, and she was like, “I really like what you have going on. I’d love for you to come in and maybe we can talk about doing guest blogging or something to do with Na Nin.” I was just so elated and excited. I went in there, and she was like “Would you like to have a pop up shop and we can sell your stuff?” YES! Exclamation exclamation. Then I went in there in January, we shot a lookbook, gave them a ton of stuff, and it sold really well. It was just great.
How did you start taking photographs? Were you doing that for fun before or did it start when you were shooting your friends who were modeling your clothes?
I've always been interested in photography. I did it high school. I took a course at VCU. When you see things on the internet, there are all these fashion blogs and things going on. You see what they're doing, [and] you get ideas of how you wanna represent yourself. I'm not just selling a piece of clothing. If I was doing that, I would just have a thrift store. I am trying to sell a style, a vision. I got into photography because I wanted to represent my style the way I envision it. And when you have control, when you are the one that's behind the lens, it’s a lot more fun. I like using film, because it makes me a little more selective in what I'm shooting and I'm always surprised, or maybe disappointed, how it comes out. But it’s still exciting to me.
One thing that I think is really exciting right now is that fashion is so expressive. You can go on the internet and you are constantly seeing inspiration. You are seeing fashions from all over the world. You are seeing people who are taking vintage clothing and mixing it up with modern clothing. And it's not about having something extremely form fitting--everyone is having their own personal style and inspiring each other. I think that's a great way to use the internet. It’s easy [to] get caught up in social media or just killing time, but the internet is such a network of creativity and self-marketing, which I think is really cool. With my own personal fashion, I don't just want to be wearing what's hip or anything. I like wearing band t-shirts. 50 percent of the time, people see me wearing my Smashing Pumpkins t-shirt, like I'm wearing right now. Maybe it’s a little masculine, but maybe I'll mix something feminine in. I like to represent myself, what I think is great and what means a lot.
Would you want Na Nin to be a main means of supporting yourself, or do you want to keep it a side thing that you do for fun?
With Na Nin, I want it to grow. I’m working on my own product design, and making it into not just a vintage line but also a brand. I'll have my own product. I definitely won't be selling it myself, but I do want having my own brand to be able to support me at some point. But I’m really happy where I am now. I love teaching. Being around kids all day is wonderful. I'm curious to see what that will bring out of me. I wanna be a facilitator for other people who have creative minds.
Where did the name Na Nin come from?
I taught in South Korea for a year, and when I went there I didn't know Korean. I just decided I'd go teach abroad, and Korea's the place that hired me. I befriended a Korean co-teacher of mine, and she offered to tutor me in Korean if I tutored her in English. One of the first things she wrote was “na nin.” That means “I am.” What she wrote was, “I am very happy because I'm with you.” It just affected me so much, because I was communicating with someone I thought I was never going to communicate with. I made friends with someone who cared about me and wanted to help me. I'm forever thankful for that. Little acts of kindness are something that is very dear to me, and I want to remember I'm supposed to be doing that for other people too. So when I came back [to the United States] I just thought that Na Nin Vintage sounded really cool. I like where it comes from very much. I feel like I made a friend that I'll think about for the rest of my life.
Is there anything else that you want people to know about you or Na Nin?
I just want to say that above anything I'm really thankful for the community and friends I have, the positive feedback that people have given me, the ideas... I think you need to be inspired to inspire, and it’s so important to be around people who are inspiring. It doesn’t have to be artists or a photographer or a fashion designer, but people you are learning something from. It's important to be positive and to push yourself and to do things that you might be scared of doing. I was nervous to put myself out there. Having a blog, posting pictures of myself and my best friend in my clothing, I'm putting myself out there. I’m just as likely to get negative feedback as positive feedback. And I have gotten some, and I appreciate that. I'm willing to respond to that, and to take it for what it is. I think I just want people to know that I'm a grateful person and I expect a lot from myself.
Words by Bryan Woodland
Images by Lauren Stewart, Nick Ghobashi, Rachel Albright, and Kate Jennings