Portadown native Aaron McIldoon has set up the first retro football store and coffee shop in Portadown, Co Armagh - Vintage Kit Co.
Category
đź—ž
NewsTranscript
00:00 This is an extension of a passion project really as far as trading football shirts online
00:08 for a few years. That came off the back of lockdown, unlimited time to yourself, being
00:16 housebound and spending money that probably shouldn't have been online. So the decision
00:21 landed upon me that well, maybe I should start selling these instead of buying them. So this
00:26 is probably not so much an obvious evolution in the business in terms of going from being
00:31 online only entity to high street bricks and mortar coffee shop. Here we are.
00:37 Great. So where did you say the embryo of the idea came you had a passion then originally for?
00:43 In fact, I suppose somebody of my vintage will remember the good old days of football
00:49 as have you on Channel 4, Sundays, Saturdays. Who did you support? Well, I suppose it was
00:57 more the fascination and the exoticness of seeing football shirts that were completely
01:01 alien to me as far as what you were used to seeing in school, your Man United's, your
01:05 Chelsea's, your Rangers, your Liverpool's. Seeing the Italian stuff sort of set my imagination on fire
01:11 really as far as seeing the exotic nature of it. It was all very far flung and glamorous and that
01:17 sort of captivated my attention really early on. So I've had a long term love affair with football shirts.
01:22 All aspects of it, anywhere where you could get your content from. I mean, in terms of
01:28 buying football shirts, wearing football shirts, having an interest in them, reading about them,
01:33 looking at them online. It's just always been a bit of a pet project or a bit of a passion
01:38 that's ultimately been there. In terms of how this has come around, establishing contacts,
01:47 the shirts are sourced from around the world. There's no particular set format as to where
01:54 they come from. It would be from other collectors, people trading, people selling collections.
01:59 It's big business though online, isn't it? There's certainly no escape from it. What sort of stuff are you
02:05 sort of specialised in? Is it just shirts? Is it European? It's global and I suppose by proxy you do tend to end up with more European shirts than anything else.
02:13 Just by way of location and interest. If you do end up dabbling in the more obscure stuff, like the South American stuff or stuff from Asia,
02:22 the market and appetite for it wouldn't be just as strong. Unless it was Maradona's. Well there is that of course.
02:29 And again, that's fairly inescapable in its nature. But with the European stuff there does tend to be more of a recognition and appetite of it, unless you have...
02:38 Have you come across any unique gems in your... I have, yeah. I suppose there's some shirts and you have to draw a line at it too.
02:46 You can't keep them all for yourself. So there's some that you do keep. There's some that you do move on and there's a bit of sweetness to it as far as going,
02:55 "I really, really would like to keep that but by the same token, if there's somebody else who wants it more than I do, we may as well let them have it.
03:01 It's far better for me to stand in their way." So you do come across the odd wee gem that is hard to let go.
03:08 Whether it's really obscure or whether it's something that's in particularly immaculate condition, given that all the shirts are pre-2000s and they're all authentic and genuine.
03:18 I mean I know how hard I was on them whenever I was a cub. There was no particular care given to them. It was just a t-shirt and going out to play football.
03:27 Whereas now, they're more of a treasured item.
03:32 Yeah. I notice you've got a provenance for each of the shirts on your wall. They're all authenticated and original.
03:40 Yeah, I'm again very confident in terms of my own ability to do so. I've handled enough shirts at the time. I'm also buying from trusted sources as well.
03:48 So from that, there is a confidence within. Again, over the course of the last couple of years, having established those contacts globally, there is that degree of nervousness whenever you first start dealing with somebody remote.
04:02 But you have to start somewhere and then with that, the relationships have grown.
04:07 Do they vary in price?
04:09 They do but I suppose again, it's all dependent on the condition, the size as well. It can have an impact on it and then ultimately, whether it's a particularly notable year for the club
04:18 or the nation that the shirt belongs to.
04:20 What's your most expensive?
04:22 At the minute, I have a Bocca Junior shirt which is a sore enough one but it's a late 80s, early 90s shirt that has very much stood the test of time.
04:37 I have some following shirts there from the 80s as well that are absolutely immaculate and they're sore enough too but by the same token, they're coming up on 40 year olds.
04:48 So I know I've certainly wore a lot worse than the shirts have. So yeah, it's all dependent. Something's only worth as much as somebody's willing to pay for it.
04:58 This is where you've been open for how long now?
05:00 This is week four. So still very much in infancy in terms of this and its current format. As far as the online side of things, started trading there October 21.
05:10 So having made the move, I was both keen to stress that it's a coffee outlet first and foremost. The shirts, everything else, it's a unique aspect of this particular coffee outlet.
05:26 So very mindful that there's plenty of others in the town and beyond but certainly think we're doing something a wee bit different as far as everybody else is.
05:34 But the response has been really, really positive. Whether it's people that have a natural interest in the shirts, the coffee, whatever, passing purveyors as far as having a bit of a rubber neck to see what it actually is and then going, "Okay, I'll go for it."
05:50 Have there been a few debates about which team?
05:52 Yeah, well, football in its nature is quite tribal and people do respond differently as far as whether it's a particular team, whether it's a particular country. People do feel passionate about it.
06:06 But as do I, so it's one of those things I can completely understand even for somebody who isn't necessarily a football fan. They can take it for what it is and ultimately say, "Okay, that's..."
06:18 Well, it brings you back, doesn't it?
06:20 It does, yeah.
06:22 What sort of... I mean, have you had anybody coming in asking for a specific item and you have to source it?
06:29 Yeah, we do get requests and I suppose part and parcel of the contact option on the website too. Regularly there would be contact made as far as, "Can you source me X?" and we'll certainly be invested.
06:40 What about Portadown? Remember Bailey, Auckland Avenue?
06:45 Well, again, the tribalism that sort of comes with football. The town, yes, Portadown, a lot of memorabilia there. The last number of Portadown shirts that I've sourced, weirdly, have come from England and they've all went back that direction as well.
07:01 So, it's unique that the town, the shirts, whatever element of it is, still has that draw. It never stops surprising me where the stuff comes from. I mean, I got a Cup Final Glenavon shirt from 1991 from a chap in America.
07:19 Deer knows how it got there. It's not there anymore, but as far as putting the Glenavon, Glen Torn, Linfield stuff in store, I'm going to have to swerve that for now. We'll keep that for online only.
07:34 I think Portadown-centric absolutely would have pride of place as far as the other stuff goes. Well, it certainly would encourage debate, that's for sure.
07:45 Well, I see you've got some special display on today for the Kings Day.
07:52 Yeah, that came off the back of a conversation. I'm very fortunate to work with a lady called Sharon Zumer. She's a really, really positive voice within this funny thing we call the football shirt community online.
08:07 She's really positive, she's really proactive and really creative and she's a great ambassador for the brand. She's an affiliate of Vintage Kitco and conversations struck up last week.
08:16 It's Kings Day here in the Netherlands at the weekend. What about doing something a bit different?
08:21 So, I tried to pull a few bits out of the archive in terms of shirts, anything, nothing other than 2010 for a Dutch-themed display.
08:31 So, again, we change them out every week as far as keeping things interesting.