My name is Sien. I grew up with second-hand. And I haven't always been proud of that. As a child, I hated wearing second-hand clothes, and I didn't want to show my face in a thrift store. I wanted new stuff. Second-hand felt cheap and dirty. Luckily, I have parents who made me see things differently. That's where the seed for Seens Vintage was planted.

Around puberty, my view of second-hand changed. The shame had not gone away, but I already found the hunt for unique, quality items great. Fortunately, you get older, wiser and less insecure. I continued to thrift a lot.

Phase 1: Hobby in the shed

At the age of ²³ , in 2020, I started a business on Instagram, from my mother's shed aka "MagaSeens". I bought stuff at the thrift store, fixed it up and sold it on Instagram. And man! That gave me energy. Making people happy with something I really liked. That gave me so much more energy than my office job. So I took the plunge and quit my job as Brand Manager.

Phase 2: First business premises

June 2021 I rented my first building. An office building, on the same street on the industrial estate as where we are now. We turned it into an atmospheric showroom. Color on the walls and the typical office-blue carpet we covered with vintage rugs. We made frames for the vintage lamps, and I bought a real 50s counter. Of course we still use that gem.

In addition, I started a webshop. This website. I had already claimed this domain name 1.5 years earlier. Because I already knew then that I would start my own business one day. Not yet how or what. But it was a dream. That is why I paid about ten euros per month for over a year and a half for a website that was not even online and that I did not know what to do with. But it would come in handy one day. You could say: why don't you cancel that? That would have been very logical. But that felt like throwing away my dream. In retrospect, the 200 euros that I spent on this were complete nonsense, which I still fully support.

Phase 3: Collaboration and relocation

After a year in the now attractive office building, Seens moved together with Endelos Vintage (clothing) to another building in the same street. An old meat processing factory. Doesn't sound very appealing, but we saw potential. After we had thoroughly cleaned the former drying cell, we created atmosphere: color on the walls (in addition to all the tiles), vintage lamps, furniture and clothing. A small Vintage Walhalla. Clothing and furniture were mixed together. This way, Seens customers looked at Endelos items and vice versa.

Phase 4: Professionalize

After a year, now in 2023, I felt that change was needed again. It had to be more professional, more stylish. That's why we decided to redecorate and split the clothing and furniture. Now it's November 2023 and that has been realized. A small hobby has grown into a full-fledged company. And not only has the store changed, but a whole lot more. For example, I no longer go to the thrift store, but I buy through a built-up network. I no longer do it all by myself, I have assistants. Every Thursday new items come online in our own webshop and the store is open on Friday and Saturday.

When Seens started, there was no goal. It was just a hobby. We now have a clear vision. I want to convince my own generation and you of beautiful things. That we all start to value quality craftsmanship again.

Seens stands for The Old Norm .

All our products comply with this standard. View our current range here .