LORAIN, Ohio — The feeling of nostalgia is real for those who lived through the late 1900’s, and now there is a mobile store that has just the thing for you.
Relic Clothing 3 was first an idea in 2015-2016. It then became a reality in 2017.
“I just love to kind of bring you back to that feeling that you felt when you were like a teenager or a kid,” Relic Clothing 3 Owner Reinaldo Contreras III said. “I wanted people to be able to buy clothes in a setting that they were used to when they were a kid. I built this to kind of look like your bedroom. You see there's posters hanging up on the wall with tape, there's buttons on the wall.”
Relic Clothing 3 has evolved through three campers.
Contreras III said the first camper was too small, and then the second camper was unfortunately unsalvageable after an accident earlier this year.
“We went to North Carolina for Thrift Con. We went to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Detroit, Michigan. On our way back home from Detroit is when the crash actually happened. We were just driving way too fast down a road that was a huge curve. This curve is known to take people out. There were people stopping on the curve asking me if I was okay, telling me that this is a normal occasion there. It was something that we didn't really take precaution correctly for. We ended up crashing the camper, having to go through the whole real rebuild process.”
Thankfully, with the help of private donations and some elbow grease, a new and improved Relic Clothing 3 camper is now rolling the streets.
“We just had it in our minds and our brain,” said Contreras III’s son, Reign.
The camper is filled with knick-knacks, boomboxes, cassette tapes, first-generation landlines, and retro clothing. The floors are also hand-painted, and Contreras III stitched some vintage-looking rugs himself.
Contreras III told me he had never seen a mobile vintage store decked out in the way he is, so he wanted to create something that was visually aesthetic.
"I've always been into fashion. I've always been into photography and videography," he added.
The clothing piece of this business is where the magic happens.
“A lot of people think that thrifting is the only way we find these clothes. My best stuff actually came from original owners. I’m in people's ears every day constantly. I have Facebook ads up. I have different people that contact me weekly just to sell me clothes. It's more of like a thing that I've built. The longevity behind this thing has been awesome because now we don't have to go to thrift stores and look for a whole hour just to find two or three pieces,” Contreras III explained.
One of Relic Clothing 3's t-shirts even made an appearance during MGK Week this year as Machine Gun Kelly performed with Jelly Roll. A photo was snapped by Chris Goody.
Not only is Contreras III a younger generation small business owner, but he’s also Hispanic and said he prides himself on his culture and making a positive difference in his community.
“We did an international festival here in Lorain the last three years and that's when I go crazy and I deck this place out in all my flags: Puerto Rican, Mexican, and Italian because that is my race. I try to bring a lot of international stuff in here,” he added.
Contreras III said he’d love to be part of the Cleveland Puerto Rican parade in 2025.
“I would love to have this camper in that next year – just driving down the street, representing my culture for real,” he said.
Relic Clothing 3 is taking the next month to focus on continuing to build the business. It will be back on the road in 2025, taking its time machine to new places.
The next stop is Pittsburgh for the Totally Rad Vintage Festival on Jan. 11-12.
