The story of how FauxyFurr Vintage & Handmade started

People often ask how did FauxyFurr Vintage & Handmade start? Many hands helped shape FFV over the years.

Our roots date back to 2001 when I started buying and selling vintage clothing at the Fremont Sunday Market. Just me, my van, and my 10x10 pop-up tent.

This time spent at the Fremont Sunday Market inspired me to look at living outside corporate America. I loved making, buying, and selling but I wanted more. In 2005 I enrolled into Clothing Design School at Seattle Central Community College.

After college, I was hired full time by a custom upholstery shop and spent my weekends and evenings buying and selling vintage boots on Ebay & Etsy.

In 2012 I was inspired to expand into winter coats and I hired my sister, Jenifer to help me. I was the model and Jenifer was the photographer. As FFV grew in 2012, Jenifer donated her downstairs for coat storage and within a year it was overflowing with coats. Our coat collection stayed here until 2016.

In 2013 my much younger cousin Nikki Knutson was fresh out of college with a communications degree and had a love for videography and photography. Nikki encouraged and helped FFV to embrace social media. We started planning photoshoots and creating fresh content for our new social media accounts. Nikki eventually went on to start her own production company “Nikkis film” and took us on as her first client for brand management. She built our website in 2019 and continues to create our branding content to this day.

In 2015 I was set on renovating a small, old building in my backyard. I felt I was ready to hire part time help and wanted a shop to meet in. I hired my friend Dennis to do the work on the outbuilding in the spring. Towards the end of the renovation, I came home to find Jill there in my back yard. I found Jill mysterious and felt an instant attraction. Jill was there helping her Dad trim out the shop. Without either of us knowing it at that moment, over the next year, Jill would have a positive influence on FFV that would eventually transform the company into what it is today.

Within a few weeks of meeting, Jill called to see if FFV would like to sell our boots at the Winthrop Rhythm and Blues festival. The surprising thing was that I had not thought about selling our vintage boots as a vendor, but I was comfortable with the idea because it was how I started in 2001. I loaded up my cargo van and showed up for the 3 day festival and sold more boots in that one weekend than I would typically sell all month on Etsy. This event inspired me to rethink our business plan.

In January of 2016 Jill and I were having coffee on a Sunday morning after our weekly Kundalini Yoga class when I shared with Jill a recent desire - I think FFV needs a big trailer to vend out of, something that is grand and pre merchandised, making the vending process more efficient ” Jill exclaimed, "What a great idea!" and suggested looking for a tiny house to convert into a pop up shop. That evening I searched Craigs List and found a "tiny house" listing. Within a week I was traveling to Mount Rainer to take a look at our future trailer.

I took out a $3000.00 loan and bought the trailer. I asked it be delivered to my Dads house on Camano Island because I didn’t own a vehicle equipped to tow and I had never towed anything before. My Dad agreed to let me store the trailer at this house. It was there for 4 months.

This is when the magic happened between Jill and I. Jill volunteered to help me renovate the trailer. We would work on it every week for months, piece by piece. I fell in love with Jill, she was beautiful, kind, capable and funny. We worked well together and had fun. During this time Jill had no idea how I was beginning to feel. I kept it to myself.

It took A LOT of people volunteering their time to the project to get the trailer festival ready by that summer. We pulled off a miracle and debuted the trailer half finished inside at the Winthrop & Blues Festival as a couple. Together we learned to hitch up the trailer, tow the trailer, back the trailer and park the trailer, Jill was a real natural.

We towed the trailer to 4 events in 2016 and in October Jill found us a big warehouse to rent in Arlington. We didn’t waste any time moving in the business one van load at a time. We worked so well together and all our work seamed to be four handed work. It was a dream come true for me personally. I was finally with someone who I could build something with. She was the missing link all those years. Jill’s organization complimented my creativity. We became inseparable and unstoppable.

FFV continued to grow in size in 2017 and 2018 and during the summer months we spent almost every weekend towing our trailer to outdoor music events.

In January of 2019 we rebranded our business to VINTAGE & HANDMADE and expanded into a permanent storefront in Arlington, Wa. We returned to our roots and launched an up-cycled boot line. We filled turned out beautiful feather earrings and handmade bolo ties. I took classes in hat making and began producing western hats from scratch and custom hatbands. 2019 was a great year full of expansion.

In 2020 we continued crafting our online presence and digital shopping experience. With the onset of Covid-19 we found our trailer parked all year long, it was the first year we didn’t travel since 2015. It was a welcomed change of pace.

All our Best,

Jack & Jill Cash

To read more about Jill’s personal stories visit www.jillsonsteby.com