Chicago Fire FC (Kit Hunt Pt.1) - Wicker Park

Wicker Park has some of Chicago’s best vintage shops. In June, I organized a vintage market for my non-profit group, the Wicker Park Committee. While recruiting vendors for that event, I was fortunate to connect with so many people in the neighborhood who contribute to the independent business ecosystem—and I learned that many of them also have some incredible footy kits. 

My personal goal was to track down a nice used Fire kit that I could wear to the U.S. Open Cup match I was attending in Minneapolis, as a new member of the Bridgeport Pilsen Firm. The first part of this video takes you through Primarie’s and Bodega Vintage—two of the businesses I worked with for my market, and two great friendships that came out of the process—along with my friends at Urban Jungle, and finally Wanna Vintage, another fantastic spot that houses multiple vendors under its umbrella. 

I’ve come to see “umbrella” as the perfect way to describe a lot of these places. For example, the kits on display at Primarie’s come from Chris Thrift’s collection—an independent seller who can shift inventory from an event to a studio, and then pop back up in a shop like Primarie’s, which also doubles as an incubator for smaller vintage fashion collections. 

Bodega Vintage and Wanna Vintage run a similar model, serving as home bases for many of the resellers you may have seen this summer at street festivals or markets like the one I organized. A couple of folks laughed when I suggested they form a union—but in some ways, they already have one. 

So please take a second to check out the interesting and rare footy kits I found in the first part of my hunt. I apologize for the lateness of this drop - it’s been a busy summer - but maybe that just means everyone’s had more time to re-up their inventory!