Vermonter brings top streetwear brands to Burlington in new 'luxury' shop

Vermont's first high-end streetwear shop filled with top brands is set to open in the heart of Burlington this weekend.

Located just across Main Street from August First Bakery, the store will bring different limited release brands in a dedicated storefront. 

Owner, Zach Godin of Essex Junction has always been interested in selling products, no matter what they were, he said.

The 21-year-old got his first taste of business selling golf balls on eBay.   

Godin would go out on golf courses late at night and dig through the sand traps and waterways for golf balls he'd clean and bleach by hand only to turn around and sell them again, he said. 

Now he's selling high-end streetwear from brands like Supreme, A Bathing Ape and Kith. 

What's inside the shop? 

Godin's shop is lined with premier branded T-shirts, hats, shoes and other accessories often priced at hundreds of dollars. 

"I don't want everyone in Vermont wearing this stuff," he said. "I'm not trying to convert everyone to this, I'm just trying to serve this niche market." 

Godin gets his hands on limited release products from these streetwear companies and then resells them when demand pushes price higher. 

"It's all about limited release, value spikes, and then resale," he said. "I have this one crewneck that retailed for $700 and I'm not going to put that out for a year." 

Godin's favorite brand is Kith and he has three boxes of limited release cereals Kith made in cooperation with General Mills that he said is hard to come by. 

"You could only buy it in the store in Manhattan and it was limited to one box per person," he said. "Now they are $100 and I was able to cash two other kids for their boxes." 

Aside from high-end brands, Godin is introducing his own clothing line. The first T-shirts will be available opening day on June 15. 

What the heck is streetwear? 

Streetwear is a style of clothing that grew out of skateboard and surfing culture that often goes for high prices online and in reseller shops like Godin's.   

For brands like Supreme, it is a billion dollar industry. A simple plain white T-shirt printed with the brand's name can go for upwards of $900. 

Jeans from Kith can range in price, but currently, retail between $195 to over $200. 

The streetwear companies release a small number of products which drive the price as demands increase, Godin said. 

When streetwear was just becoming popular a couple of years back it wasn't as hard to get product. Now things will sell out seconds after they are released online which where stores like his come into play, Godin said. 

Five years ago Godin started selling and collecting streetwear products. During his time at Champlain College, he would sell things like T-shirts, shoes from his closet. 

"As I got to senior year I was like, 'holy crap' I actually had some clothes and a following," he said. "My goal was to build the social media presence senior year and make the brand after graduation." 

So far in his five years of selling streetwear, his market has been college students and younger kids who have taken a keen interest in the products, Godin said. 

Underground Closet is located at 40 Main Street, in Burlington, VT. 

Contact Sawyer Loftus at 802-660-1860 or sloftus@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @sawyerloftus18.