I’m Emily Stochl and this is Pre-Loved 🎤 an indie media platform about vintage. Become a paid subscriber for secondhand business intel, weekly tips, and curated vintage finds.
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Hey hi hello! Working in vintage media does a funny thing to my sense of time. Always whipping back and forth from forward-looking trend predictions to neck-craning nostalgia. Where does a year go? I lose track! This time last year, though, I felt anxious about my job security. I was in and out of hospitals for treatment of my autoimmune condition, scrambling to knit my own "safety net" by starting this letter.
Then 2025 happened—I became one of the 1 million Americans laid off this year. It feels wrong to say that devastation was the push I needed, but some days I feel it was. Writing here has been a bright spot in my year. The most rewarding job I've ever had.
In 2025, I sent 150 editions of this letter and we became Substack best-sellers. I conducted first-of-its-kind independent research on the secondhand fashion industry and spent weeks reporting at Brimfield with 5,000 of the world's best dealers. After seven years of covering this space, I was finally able to start writing on weekdays instead of weekends.
In case you're curious: Pre-Loved’s most-read letter in 2025 was this scoop about four vintage dealers who found 1,000 Depression-era garments in an Appalachian farmhouse. The most-valued story (brought in the most subscribers) was this first-ever income survey of secondhand sellers, a piece of independent research I’m quite proud to have produced. And the most-shopped letter was this guide to buying vintage winter coats. Because — free yourself! — vintage coats are simply better than new!
So, thank you for this year. Thank you for reading and listening, and to my subscribers who made this possible by funding my reporting, free podcast interviews, and everything else in-between. Your support means everything.
Finally, I’m most proud that I interviewed 50+ amazing vintage fashion professionals this year. I learned so much from these conversations, and am just in awe of the talented people who work in this industry. For today's newsletter—and the final send of 2025—I compiled all of the best advice from those interviews, plus a handful of my own insights. Let's get into it:
20 Things I Learned Interviewing Over 50 Vintage Pros This Year:
