REFINE Profile: Frankie Castanea is a Style Icon

By Malorie Lazer

During the first week of classes, I noticed a particularly well-dressed student sitting in front of me with a personality that showed through their style. On the day of our second class, our professor had us introduce ourselves, which is when I first learned about Frankie Castanea’s business. They first described it as “recycling thrifted clothes and branding them as [their] own.” The idea of a thriving full-time college student running their own, flourishing business fully intrigued me.

Castanea’s business is ran through Depop. They buy thrifted clothes in bulk and gives them a modern twist. They likes to relate their style to the clothes they sell. Their Depop audience is mainly teenage/college-aged girls and some attention from younger men, too. Their Depop will sometimes follow trends, but never lose the true aesthetic they’ve adapted.

Castanea only began taking an interest in fashion this past May. They began small and eventually built up a following of over 600 people on Depop. They tried to sell their own clothes before and it didn’t quite go how they expected. But with new-found determination, they began looking at other successful Depop pages for inspiration. After tons of research, they had a clear vision of what they wanted to sell, who their audience was, and how to do it.

Castanea developed their own successful Depop page showcasing their “90s high school burnout meets your badass grandmother’s” style. Their core fashion inspiration: Freaks and Geeks. Castanea developed their own unique sense of style by simply playing around with different articles of clothing. They learned how to gather clothes that typically wouldn’t work together and create a badass outfit. They are all about finding a mix and match of different pieces of clothing and incorporating them all together.

When I sat down with Castanea, I also got the opportunity to learn some of their ideas for thrifting.

“The thrift shops you’ll find the best stuff at are the ones that are catered towards grandmothers,” said Castanea.

Castanea is a firm believer in thrifting strictly at stores that are either nonprofit or donate to a cause. They suggested some shops in Philly like Philly AIDS on South Street, a thrift shop that donates profits to HIV service organizations in the Philly area. Another favorite of theirs is Bryn Mawr Hospital’s Thrift Shop. This store only keeps 50 percent of profits and donates the other half to the hospital. Giving back while searching for cute finds? Sounds like a dream to me.

Castanea isn’t afraid to be open with opinions of theirs, so why not in fashion, too? They looked to other young icons who create statements through their style, like Billie Eilish and Emma Chamberlain.

I sat down with Castanea to learn some firsthand tips on how to balance a personal business and school.

the art of Balancing School and Business:

Master the art of time management. We all catch ourselves procrastinating every so often, but while running a business, it’s important to learn how to beat the habit.
Start a routine. Just like washing your face and brushing your teeth before bed, create a routine for yourself to follow.
Push yourself. Be kind to yourself and don’t push too hard, but that doesn’t mean you can slack off.
Stay organized. Castanea keeps a journal of all their sales, expenses, and net. They also use PayPal, the most productive app for tracking their income.
Know your audience. Allow yourself to find buyers that reflect you and know there are people out there that will buy your product.
Set a budget for yourself. Sometimes it’s tempting to splurge, but learn to balance spending. This helps to make a profit for yourself and stay true to being thrifty.
Put yourself out there. Take chances and don’t be afraid of failure. Think of it more as a learning experience and do the research needed to make another attempt and find success.

Be sure to check out Castanea’s Depop, @secondhandsteals!