GARBSTORE X TATSUO HINO X UNIFIED GOODS
The internet may be practical, but it can’t replace just about everything. Physical objects hold nostalgic memories and have the capacity to store significant moments in our lives. When put away in storage, and then, after some time, looked back at, a vintage object — say, a cassette tape or an old band tee — can make us live a past era again. “I just don’t see collecting stopping,” Unified Goods’ co-founder James Goodhead tells us. “It’s funny to me because in the not-so-distant future, nostalgia and memory will primarily be relived through digital mediums, and so the tradition of being passed from hand to hand will die out. We’re truly living the last frontier of physicality as we know it.”
This is where Unified Goods comes in. The shop’s become a purveyor of irreplaceable things, those that give us a nostalgic pang when we see them. And today, it’s partnered with cult London retailer Garbstore for a multipart ‘Selector’s Market’ series showcasing rare goods and clothing spanning from the 1970s to the early 2000s. With highlights ranging from vintage 80s Kraftwerk tour tees, one-of-a-kind Apple collectables, and rare Twin Peaks box sets, the first iteration of the capsule of archive finds was curated by Tatsuo Hino, director of Beams & Co.
We caught up with Unified Goods’ Goodhead to chat about collecting and asked him why and how he does it, and what was Tatsuo moved by from the store’s selection.
Has collecting always been a part of your life?
As long as I can recall, one of my earliest memories related to collecting is when I first experienced Return of the Jedi. I remember wanting every single action figure from the whole trilogy, and can still see the look on my parents’ faces. What’s funny is that 15 years or so after its release, I bought the action figures I didn’t get for Christmas on eBay. Buying your childhood back, we all do it in one form or another, can be an incredible comfort and is a huge part of being a collector. We’re taught by tradition to separate childhood from being an adult, but, to an extent, I think that can be damaging. Life should be embraced as one timeline, one journey.
I’ve found that you worked in luxury fashion prior to cofounding the shop. What made you decide to quit working in that field and launch Unified Goods?
I had spent the entirety of my fashion retail career learning other skills and getting paid for it, playing drums on a till etc. Sometimes, I’d buy vintage stuff from all over the world on my phone during a profit-and-loss meeting. Towards the end of that fashion retail chapter, I’ve worked with Kim Jones at Dior who’s been a significant inspiration. He’s just a massive culture geek, you can feel it, one of the biggest collectors there is out there. And seeing how he channelled his passions into his collections — the Dior x Sorayama and Dior x Pettibon collections, in particular — I just worked out that there was a huge market for original artefacts from these artists and eras, that it was still all super relevant, so quitting was just round the corner for me, really.
At first, how have you amassed a stash of rare archival items to open doors? I’m not asking you to reveal your secrets, but still: where do you shop?
We spent about 8 months or so buying like crazy in advance before we opened our website and store in 2018. I literally poured every last penny of my savings into helping launch this. It’s one of those risks that I’m very grateful to my younger self for taking. As for where we shop, well, we look all over the world, from stores to attics, the street, back alleys, every nook and cranny. It’s all about patience, making connections, and having a willingness to learn and absorb as much culture as possible. If you put in the effort, the rewards will come.
What makes a good archival item in your opinion? While your finds are all unique pieces, what do they have in common?
It’s totally subjective in my opinion, a good archival piece could be, say, a T-shirt worn by Jean-Michel Basquiat, or it could be your grandmother's watch, you know — it doesn’t always have to be specifically rare. If it tells a story, that’s all that matters. Sometimes we’ve sold objects online and I’ve thought, “Wow, it wasn’t just me who felt it then.” I love when that happens. What’s great about what we do now is that we get to relive these warm nostalgic moments and share them with people who had similar emotional attachments. Every physical touch point from a cultural moment is relevant, whether that’s an ex-rental VHS box set, art portfolios, T-shirts, first editions, etc, etc. It can be random stuff you have on hand that ages organically along with you. Something that digital just can’t replicate.
What would be some of your favourite Unified Goods drops?
Well, we did an extensive magazine drop last year called ‘Issues’, which felt really invigorating sourcing-wise. It literally spanned 60 years’ worth of culture, news, tragedy, and triumph. From Hitchcock to 9/11, Charles Manson to Steve Jobs, Madonna to MF DOOM. These were sitting in waiting rooms and God knows where, and it felt like a timely and necessary celebration of the magazine as an art form. That’s how people explored and learnt culture before the internet. Laying all those issues down in the studio felt like a snapshot of the last 60 years, of just everything. It felt pretty emotional, and I had to take a minute to appreciate it. Besides that, we’ve launched a capsule of Aphex Twin vintage products to celebrate Richard D. James’ 50th birthday, which sold out in three minutes. That was pretty wild.
Tell us more about the collaborative effort between your shop, Garbstore, and Tatsuo Hino. What was Tatsuo interested in from your showroom, and how do the items he's picked impacted culture?
We’d been chatting with Garbstore for a while, and we spent a day at the store together with Tatsuo, it was like we’d already known each other for years. Tatsuo and I bonded heavily over Star Wars, Brian Eno, Twin Peaks, and he was even picking out books from our library that he’d worked on 20 years ago, such as Bjork: A Project By. That was a pretty special feeling. It was a nerdy afternoon, put it that way. He also bought a Jurassic Park Laserdisc for his son, as he was such a big fan of the film. It’s moments like those that make it all worthwhile.
The first 'Selector’s Market’ capsule is now available to purchase at Couverture & The Garbstore’s Notting Hill concept store and webstore, with two further capsules slated to drop in April and May respectively.
