Last Saturday morning, I took the 20 bus from my apartment downtown to Queen City Vintage (QVC) on Elmwood, arriving at 7:30 am. Five people were already in line, three of whom said they’d arrived at 4 am!
It was the big day when QVC opened its doors for the first time in months to reveal the stock of vintage Buffalo Bills items they’ve been hoarding since last season.
This time, they said there were at least 4,000 items to shop, including coats, hats, T-shirts, sweaters, you name it.
Like most Bills fans, the LAST thing I need is more Bills merch. Never have I ever even worn merch for an NFL team (okay, one time for the Saints) before moving to Buffalo, and now, even just one year in, I have damn-near 10 sweatshirts, a few hats, sweatpants…
But there I was, standing in line to buy more! To be fair, it was more about being a part of the collective and supporting a local business that I really love.
But I still walked away with yet ANOTHER sweatshirt (I justified it by remembering that Buffalo winters are approximately six months long).
Aside from my QVC finds, I also bought a separate, unique piece of Bills merch that I already love: a custom-embroidered denim jacket.
You may recall that earlier this summer, I was hunting for the perfect thrifted denim jacket. I found one from TheRealReal (I wrote all about it here), and as soon as I got it, I shipped it off to be embroidered.
If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that buying secondhand is really important to me. My entire closet is secondhand, and although I knew I wanted this custom jacket, I still wanted it to be pre-owned.
I also really love Love For The City (formerly City Threads), a local, female-owned business.
I’m honestly not sure how I started following them online, but I fell in love with their Buffalo merchandise and bought my first piece last December at a pop-up. It’s a cropped football hoodie, and I get compliments every time I wear it!
Since then, I’ve gone to several more pop-ups and bought other items, including hockey merch and socks. Everything is high-quality, cute, and cozy, and the staff is always so kind.
When I saw that they made the embroidered denim (on jeans and jackets), I knew I wanted one!
In the past, Love For The City has featured its embroidered denim at pop-ups; you can purchase a pair of jeans with Go B!lls across the back pockets.
Or, you can drop off or mail in your favorite denim, and they’ll add the embroidery!
You can choose certain elements of the embroidery, including your team (Bills or Sabs) and the fabric and thread used. I wanted mine to be really bold on the back of my jacket, so I selected the red corduroy and red thread.
I mailed in the jacket and got it back a month later with the embroidery! It was also beautifully wrapped in branded tissue paper, which I thought was such a nice touch.
Full transparency, I sent it in kind of close to football season; in the off-season, it looks like the turnaround time is quicker.
So, why did I want this jacket so badly? I mean, it’s a jean jacket.
But it’s really important to me to support businesses doing good things, and typically that means shopping small.
I’m gonna cheer on the Bills this season, much like a lot of Buffalonians, but I’m not going to do it wearing merch that was mass-produced or supports efforts that don’t align with who I am.
I won’t get into the ways the Bills, as an institution, or the NFL have me raising my eyebrows lately, but I can do my small part and support the local good guys this football season with my dollars (and that includes local waitstaff, bartenders, etc.).
Truckloads of Bills merch are out there. But this jacket already had a second life from TheRealReal, and now it’s a custom piece from Love For The City!
I have already considered adding patches or buttons to the front of the jacket; it’ll be an evolving piece every football season.
Even if you’re not a Bills fan, there are all sorts of ways you can support your team this season that are good for your city and the planet.
I’m already thinking about getting a Sabs jacket… a black one with blue embroidery would be so cute!
But until then, GO BILLS!
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