The Executive & The Hustler: The Story of Faded Vibes

It started, as many great things do, on a golf course in Wisconsin.

A top-tier FinTech executive with a secret love for thrift store gems got paired with a lifelong hustler who could flip anything from a swimming pool to a luxury putter. Between swings, we—Doug and Dana—discovered a shared, borderline-obsessive passion: the thrill of the hunt. We didn't talk about strokes or birdies; we talked about finding overlooked treasures and the stories they held.

That shared obsession quickly turned into cross-country thrifting adventures. Every city we visited became a new hunting ground. Soon, we’d collected hundreds of unique, perfectly faded t-shirts. The collection outgrew our closets, then our storage units. When we finally bought a house together in Alabama, our first priority wasn't the kitchen—it was the entire second floor we had already mentally designated as the headquarters for our t-shirt empire.

Faded Vibes was born.

Meet Doug: The Executive

For over 20 years, my world was corporate. As a FinTech executive and CTO, my uniform consisted of a rotation of $5,000 suits. The pressure was to never be seen in the same one twice. When COVID hit, that world vanished. I spent three years in the exact same dark grey t-shirt every single day. It was an act of rebellion. I started collecting unique tees from an exclusive golf brand, craving something that wasn't mass-produced. But my real passion was reignited on weekends, combing through thrift stores for hidden gems. My best find? A 1980 Pink Floyd tour shirt I bought for $1 and later sold for $150. I realized the most valuable things weren't the ones with the biggest price tag, but the ones with the best story.

When our collection hit thousands, my CTO brain kicked in. We needed to solve the logistics. I built a custom system that can photograph, measure, size, describe, and list a shirt to our site in under two minutes. That's our engine.

Meet Dana: The Hustler

I’ve been a hustler my entire life. At 12, I was flipping garage sale finds on my parents' eBay account. In college, one of my jobs was reselling thrifted clothes. During the 2020 lockdown, I had bots buying up every swimming pool and deep-freezer in a 100-mile radius and couldn't keep them in stock. Value, to me, has never been about buying what's new; it's about seeing the potential others miss. I was the only person at the country club wearing a $5 thrifted golf shirt, playing with used balls, and driving a 2008 Lexus with 230,000 miles that I put on myself. Why pay a premium for new when something with character and history is right there, waiting to be found?

My expertise is making sure these gems get seen. With a decade in Search Engine Marketing, my job is to make sure that when someone, somewhere, is searching for that obscure tee from a 2002 concert, our page is the first thing they see.

The Faded Vibes Method

Our process is the perfect fusion of our skills. It’s old-school treasure hunting powered by new-school technology.

We're always on the lookout. We could be digging through crates in London or Tokyo, haggling at a flea market in Chattanooga, or exploring the local thrift stores right here in Tuscaloosa. The hunt never stops.

It's our shared belief that what you wear should be a statement of individuality. It should have soul. We built Faded Vibes to help you find those one-of-a-kind pieces that tell a story.

We're so glad you're here. Now, let's find your shirt.

- Doug & Dana