Dallas fashionistas, get ready for a new style source to stock your closet and decorate your home: Brittany Cobb, creative mastermind behind Flea Style, has just launched an online shop.
The 33-year-old Cobb started Flea Style, originally known as Dallas Flea, in 2009. The upscale, indoor flea market, accessible for a $5 admission fee, offers one-of-a-kind vintage and handmade treasures from local artisans. Cobb curated the vendors personally, and earned a reputation as a purveyor of great style.
In 2015, she expanded the event to Houston. Now, with an online marketplace, fans can shop Flea Style year-round.
“We have a real grasp of what our Flea Style shoppers like in person, but online is a different thing,” Cobb says. “It started with items I personally have collected over the years, with five vendors, before we open the floodgates to all 600 vendors we work with.”
Smart, small, and grassroots growth is part of her strategy for success. This is how she grew her Flea Style from a quirky one-off affair to a biannual event in Dallas and Houston that draws thousands of Texas shoppers.
As a starting point for online sales, Cobb focused on one of her own designs, the gypset wrap skirt, a fashion staple in vintage African textiles and other fabulous fabrics.
Two years ago, she bought a wrap skirt and fell in love with its flattering shape and goes-with-everything style. A former interior designer, Cobb had a huge stash of fabrics in her house from her work and travels. In a flash of inspiration, helped along by a ruinous stain on her wrap skirt, a new idea was born.
“People have said of certain things, ‘I wish there were more of that.’ I played around with that and I came across the wraps on one of my flea-market trips,” she says.
“They’re just so versatile. If you’re into fashion, they’re great to wear; if you’re into home design, you can put them on the end of the bed. They’re little works of art, and they work with any body type, which is really important to us.”
Flea Style vendor Becca Knight, a printmaker and seamstress by trade, sews the wraps for Flea Style, complete with handmade pom-poms and vintage beads to adorn the wrap waistband.
The gypset wrap has been the online shop’s biggest hit so far, selling out twice. (A new batch is in the works and will be on the site by September 1.) Cobb’s also seeing big interest in Moroccan fringe tote bags, ceramics, home goods, and art.
What’s next? Flea Style will open a by-appointment-only office near Love Field for shoppers and custom orders.
“I’m seeing we need to expand this thing big time,” Cobb says. “I want to open up the website to any vendor within our company who wants to be there, letting them put up a curated mix of their items.
“It will really be a representation of our shows: fashion, home decor, lighting, art — really, anything handmade, vintage, or one-of-a-kind that further supports shopping small and local.”
Colorful Moroccan tote bag, $49.
