For the past year, sophomore, Caitlyn Jackson has been selling used clothing on Instagram, Caitlyn’s Threads. Ever since quarantine hit back in March, COVID-19 had a silver lining in store for Jackson’s on the rise business that she would have never expected.
“I would have never thought my business would be as big as it is today,” Jackson said. “About a year ago, I started with selling some of my own clothing that I didn’t want anymore to earn some money. Up until quarantine, I stayed at around 2,000 followers but quickly started gaining thousands.”
Jackson hit 15,000 on her account last month and gives all her success to quarantine. During the months of the shut down, small local businesses struggled to make ends meet and many unfortunately ended up having to close their doors for good.
“Due to people quarantining, I was able to reach more people in a shorter amount of time,” Jackson said. “COVID-19 ended up positively impacting the start and success of my business. When stores began to shut down and everyone was stuck inside, my followers began to increase because more people started to shop online.”
With an extravagant amount of time on Jackson’s hands during quarantine, she took a lot of time to truly understand what it takes to make successful sales, how to showcase the clothing, and to efficiently ship packages. With Jackson’s growing businesses, she ran out of her own old clothing to sell and began to turn to thrifting stores.
“To sell up to date, trendy items that I know people with all different styles would appeal to, I have turned to Goodwill and Plato’s Closet,” Jackson said. “Whenever I am coming home from the beach or going to my grandparents, I will try and stop at Goodwill along the way because it is really interesting to see the different types of items that are in different areas that I could use for my businesses.”
With a full school schedule and managing a rapidly growing company it is a bit of a juggling act.
“It hasn’t been as easy as summertime,” Jackson said. “After school I take pictures of the items and usually take pictures of multiple drops at a time. I post in the evening when I am not doing anything and typically package at night. However, I always put school before my business so if I have homework to do I will package during my lunch break.”
Jackson’s motivation to keep thrifting and selling second hand items is her duty so that she is keeping unwanted clothing out of landfills.
“The thing I enjoy most is knowing that I am helping the environment and being a part of customers finding their own confidence when they buy something from me and love it,” Jackson said.
Fifteen thousand followers later, Jackson passion has no plans of stopping on site. Jackson shares what the future of Caitlyn Threads looks like.
“I hope to expand my business onto a website where I will sell bleached, tie dyed, and designed crewnecks, tank tops and t-shirts,” Jackson said. “I will continue to sell regardless of how busy school gets, because I absolutely enjoy everything about it. I hope to sell throughout high school and even find a way to continue in college.”
