If you’ve been a part of the vintage scene on Instagram, chances are you probably know who TeeJerker is, or have seen their content. The page recently went through a rebrand, now being known as Jerks™ instead of the original TeeJerker name. Like many brands looking to expand, Jerks™ is now moving beyond just tees and is looking to curate an aesthetic for their followers and supporters. We had the chance to speak with Jerks™ owner, Matt Sloane, to hear about the rebrand and to see what direction Jerks™ is headed towards.

Who are you?

My name is Matt Sloane, I’m 30 years old from London and I run Jerks™, formerly known as Teejerker.

When did you start Teejerker?

“It was in late 2016.  I was working a job I hated to make cash to stay in London after university, Teejerker was an exciting little project because I was bored. I remember coming across some of the OG’s like @nevergonnaturndownagain and @varsitylosangeles on Instagram and realising people were living of selling tees. I’ve always bought vintage and backed myself as having a pretty good music knowledge, so why don’t I have a go? I came up with the name Teejerker in about 20 minutes.”

Are you surprised by how Teejerker exploded?

“I was quite lucky. At the time when I started doing this, there were only a couple of sellers with websites – so it didn’t require a ton of work to have some degree some degree of impact in the space. Spending 2k on Ebay and building a shit website was actually a quite high tier store in 2016, so that initial impact didn’t require much work. But consistency is key. I was one of the first to do high tier consistent drops for vintage band tees, 100 tees every few months. But the effort and process to take good photos, keep the best stock flowing through the page and build traction was a lot of work.

I always envisioned building Teejerker to be more of a brand though with a broader product offering. What really surprised me, and still does, is how there’s so few fully fledged ‘brands’ for second hand / used clothing and items. I wanted to be one of the few that actually created a brand around their love for sustainable goods and try and make some degree of a positive contribution to the growth of the used market”.

So was the move to Jerks™ a move to build the brand that you always envisioned?

“We started to notice bigger conversations with brands and collaborative opportunities, but my passion didn’t end with shirts. I found it massively limiting. Some of the most exciting things I’m planning are far beyond just making tees. I knew this was turning into something special and the brand had to adapt accordingly”.

Was it kinda scary changing your name? Teejerker is such a renowned IG?

“Yes, but it was definitely exciting too. It was a bit scary turning away from the account that built us up, but if you want to be one of the key players from a brand recognition point of view you can’t stop at T-shirts”.

So what’s your goal with Jerks™?

“We have a project coming out with a super big brand this summer. We just want to keep growing and look and feel like a proper brand, just one that happens to sell almost entirely used items. I think it’s really important what everyone is doing here in the vintage ‘community’ – despite the challenges of scaling (each item being unique etc.) we need to keep pushing and eat away at the market share of new / fast fashion.

From a Jerks™ brand point of view my goal is to be true to our teams interests and reference points, lean into that and keep building out a brand. I admire brands like Pleasures, Stray Rats and jjjjound, they’re true to their aesthetic, values and influences – and by doing so they find their people and their audiences grow.

I want to do the same only through music, counterculture and the arts, the shit we care about. The thing is if I see a fucking Prozac mug and get excited, I want to share that with someone and sell it, not stop at a specific core product, it just needs to match our ethos – that is the direction I want to go”.  

Talk to me more about how you’re going to create that brand?

“I think theres so much potential for other people within the sustainable space to build these brands through being genuine. Hone in on what you love and good things seems to come from that. From a practical standpoint, I would advise a younger seller/page to find key pages or brands that admire and appreciate. Pinpoint what they are doing well and work out how this could be applied to your own interests, don’t just copy shit.”

The world is getting more nuanced and there’s space for loads of people to evolve and develop vintage brands, but at the end of the day you still need to be really passionate and have love and knowledge for what you are pushing”.

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Huge thank you to Matthew for taking the time to speak with us about Jerks™. They have a website drop scheduled for May 21st! Make sure to follow them on Instagram to not miss any updates!