APP CULTURE

Finding True Wealth With Poshmark

How Jenna Naschek (and her family) thrive as clothing resellers.

Poshmark: Buy & Sell Fashion

Shop & make money from home

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To make a quarter million dollars selling clothes in the social marketplace app Poshmark, you need a little space. Somewhere to hang, photograph, and box up all those paisley kimonos, graphic tees, thrift-store military jackets, and snakeskin ankle boots.

And maybe, just maybe, a grandma as your street team.

Jenna Naschek works from a suburban Atlanta split-level home that she bought almost two years ago but has been too busy to fill with furniture. On a leafy street where walked dogs seem to pass at precise five-minute intervals, Naschek racks up about 400 transactions every month.

The blend of personal and commercial is integral to her brand. Poke through her bedroom closets and you’ll see clothes with the same style (she calls it “bohemian modern casual”) as the ones she sells in Poshmark under the username Empty Hanger.

“I base my customer on whether it’s something I would want to wear,” she says. “I still sell my own clothing—my closets are always in rotation. My personal stuff sells pretty quickly.”

Naschek’s home office is wall-to-wall clothes.

Most of what she sells comes from thrift stores and estate sales, which she painstakingly mines for hours at least twice a week. She then hangs the clothes on several racks downstairs and photographs them in a makeshift studio in a corner of the same room.

Empty Hanger’s origin story started in 2015 with a pair of Lululemon speed shorts. Naschek had worn them maybe twice. She loved to shop, but her closet was overstuffed with similarly under-worn clothing.

So she turned to Poshmark. Founded in 2011, the app combines high-tech commerce with throwback sociability. Buyers ask questions, bid, and see what others are purchasing. Sellers can give fashion advice, match or bundle pieces, and help with sizing.

She’s not just the seller. She’s also the model.

“I got a rush from selling stuff,” she says. “All of a sudden I’m making X amount of money—while I’m sleeping.”

Naschek already had a traditional career going. She has a degree in fashion merchandising from the University of Georgia, worked in retail management for Nordstrom, did event planning and email marketing for a software company, then was admissions manager at a cosmetology school.

But when she began bringing in more money from Poshmark than from her day job, she made the leap to full-time. Her retail experience helped. But her people skills are even more important.

“It’s doable for the average person,” she says. “I’ve turned a lot of friends on to it. It takes a little time, but it’s not overcomplicated compared with other platforms. You just have to like to find stuff and list stuff, then have the self-motivation and drive to do it.”

So many shades of blue.

It has become a family business. Naschek’s mom occasionally helps source clothes. Her sister has used Empty Hanger to clean out her own closet.

Most notable, however, is Naschek’s grandmother, aka #GrandmaHanger.

Grandma Hanger is a retired New York stockbroker with a citified eye for fashion and a lifelong love for thrifting. She channels Naschek’s taste while rummaging through the city’s thrift outlets, then mails boxes of what she’s culled to Atlanta.

With one of these belts and a little something orange, you’ll look like a star.

The haul and unboxing videos of Grandma Hanger’s finds are among the most popular on Naschek’s social media videos. They’re a testament to viral intimacy: Although Naschek has never shown her grandmother on video, store clerks and other customers have recognized her in Manhattan thrift stores.

They just put two and two together: elderly woman + pre-owned Maroon 5 band tee purchase = #GrandmaHanger.

“People come up to her,” Naschek says, shaking her head in wonder, “and ask, ‘Are you Empty Hanger’s grandma?’”