Image via Brandon Mahler
Nostalgia is a powerful thing. And it can be triggered in a variety of ways. For a lot of people, clothing is the trigger. A promotional cap for Loews Theaters can elicit memories of their first trip to the theater. A T-shirt with the Napster logo on the chest can take one back to their time as a teenager burning CDs in the late ‘90s. Someone may spot their favorite sports team’s logo on a T-shirt that just so happens to be the same one a family member wore around them growing up.
Nostalgia is why Bijan Shahvali, the owner of New York’s Intramural Shop, loves vintage clothing. Shahvali has doubled down on his passion in recent years. What began as an Instagram page where he would display some of his favorite finds has grown into a brick-and-mortar space in New York’s Lower East Side neighborhood, Leisure Centre, which is shared with close friend and fellow vintage seller Frank Carson. Shahvali’s catalog mainly consists of graphic T-shirts, hoodies, and other trinkets that nod to pop culture moments throughout history. Sometimes it’s a retro poster of Jerry Seinfeld encouraging you to floss. Other times it’s a Whole Foods T-shirt covered in sea creatures. There’s no limit to what you may see pop up next on Intramural’s feed, as long as it channels a feeling or can provide some sort of history lesson.
“I think at the root of it, uncovering gems has always been fun and that’s very inherent in vintage,” Shahvali tells Complex over Zoom. “It’s fun to do storytelling through vintage, finding the throughlines or connections between eras, or designers, or artists throughout time is always fun to me.”
This niche is what connected him with popular film distribution company A24. More specifically, a paperweight. Shahvali says A24’s creative director Zoe Beyer reached out to him after coming across a vintage HBO paperweight he posted back in November 2020. The relationship has been fruitful since. The company has released three curated capsules with Shahvali over the past three months, the final being a 40-piece assortment that hit its web store earlier this afternoon with prices ranging from $35-$165. It sold out in less than 10 minutes.
The drops have represented various aspects of film history—a Blockbuster duffel bag, a T-shirt from the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, and Silence of the Lambs pin have all been available. Some highlights from the most recent drop include an MGM logo crewneck, Speed promo T-shirt, and a cross promotional T-shirt from Apple to promote 1996’s Mission: Impossible. Shahvali, who worked alongside Beyer to piece together each capsule, said that while each drop had no specific theme to it. The goal was to not make things too “gimmicky.” For example, he wouldn’t include anything from the 1993 film Free Willy.
“We wanted it to be cohesive, sort of avoiding the ironic or kitschy stuff. Cause in my mind, when you avoid that, it makes it a little more wearable. A piece could be like 40 years old, 30 years old, but it’s wearable in 2022,” Shahvali tells Complex. “The overall goal is to appreciate the craft of the promo or the merch stuff that we’re celebrating. For example, we decided like we’re not gonna put any Free Willy, but like Anaconda is something we’re gonna try and find. Free Willy feels a little schticky in my mind. I think that was like the sort of headline. Let’s respect and appreciate and celebrate the culture and not have it be gimmicky.”
We caught up with Shahvali ahead of the third release to discuss his process for sourcing vintage, his relationship with A24, his goals for the future of Intramural Shop, and more.
(This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.)
How did you first get into vintage clothing?
I think it’s a mix of different things. I think of it as an accumulation of stuff I was into throughout my life. Like, I was always into going to the garage sales and thrift stores and just digging to find something cool. That was always a part of it. So, there’s that layer, the hunt for finding a gem, which is the fun part. But then I think you sort of get into different things.You start to learn about art. You start learning about different music. And there’s an aspect of nostalgia that I’m at now. I love finding things that remind me of stuff that was very influential to me or stuff I was very into that sort of made me who I am today. I know in 10 years I’m gonna be into some other stuff. The stuff I’m into now, I’ll probably be searching for in 10 years and get stoked on it.
So, I think at the root of it, uncovering gems has always been fun and that’s very inherent in vintage. It’s fun to do storytelling through vintage, finding the through-lines or connections between eras, or designers, or artists throughout time is always fun to me.
You’re initially from LA. Was the Rose Bowl or any of that big for you at all growing up?
Yeah. I mean, so I didn’t start going to those until I was older. Growing up I would go to thrift stores like the Salvation Army and Goodwill or local charity shops in between classes at school. I went to part of my undergrad in LA. So, in between classes to kill time I would go and just kind of just search around. Then, definitely. I started to go to Rose Bowl, a lot of estate sales, garage sales. I would travel a lot with my family. I would always see if there was a thrift store nearby and go check it out cause I was always curious what people in other neighborhoods or other towns have in their thrift stores. What does it tell about the area?
At what point do you end up in New York?
I moved there about eight years ago.
Would you say around the time you moved to New York is when you started to consider this more like a job than a hobby?
Uh, no. I had another job that was completely different than this. So, it was still very much a hobby. I was very much still drawn to it, very inspired by what Procell was doing. That was definitely a big inspiration. When you’re just doing it as a hobby, there is some trading and commerce involved. It wasn’t until a couple years ago that I was like, you know, I wanna try it, try to do it a little more seriously. Little by little, it sort of grew. It got more and more traction over the years, which is cool. It’s great that people are into this stuff I’m curating and putting together.
Can you talk about Intramural for anyone that may be unfamiliar?
That started a couple years ago, 2019 or 2020. The name sort of sounds very much like a sports thing. When I first started, I was very much focused on finding everyday objects, stuff that inspired us. When I look at vintage, I’m like, ‘oh, this is wearable pieces of things that inspire us.’ I really like the idea of finding inspiration in the every day or having that be a part of your life. I came up with the name cause it was sort of the Latin translation, ‘within walls.’ It was very much, at first, built around sourcing things for you to have around the home. Intramural has this playfulness of like amateur leagues, of people just playing for fun. I want to have a sort of playfulness to it too.
And then Leisure Centre is the brick and mortar aspect of that?
Yeah. So, that’s a partnership with myself and another vintage seller, Frank Carson, who goes by Yobs Sport.
Have you enjoyed that aspect of it? Did you always want your own brick and mortar space?
I enjoy it a lot. Being able to engage with people in person is way different than over the internet or on a website or Instagram. There’s something to be said for being able to sort of communicate why you think this design is special. One of the things I enjoy a lot about having the brick and mortar is you get to sort of get a sense, you build relationships with people and start to have like regulars. Like, ‘oh, I know that you’re, you’re into this thing.’So when I find it, I can be like, ‘hey, I found this. I thought of you.’ So, there’s more of that. There’s a very special connection that you can make with your audience and your customer in a retail space. I think the retail space also helps to show the complete vision.
When it comes to vintage stuff, I feel like seeing it in a storefront and being able to like, touch it and see it in person, it’s a whole different dynamic than scrolling through a website or an Instagram. Every piece is a little bit different. So it definitely is a whole different experience.
Yeah. I think there’s something to be said about seeing things and feeling things and trying things on in person. I would say that that’s a distinction for all fashion, but I think vintage has a unique thing that other current or contemporary fashion stores don’t have. When someone goes to a vintage store, everything is one of one and, for the most part, you know that each time you go there you’re gonna see something different.
I feel like it’s like a museum almost.
Yeah, totally. I think the goal is, I want people to feel that way. Even if you don’t buy that shirt, it resonates with you. Not to sound too hokey, but that’s part of why we do what we do. That means a lot to hear that as a vintage seller. Having the brick and mortar, you get to hear those stories from the customers. Like, we had this one shirt that was from this Scholastic book fair. That whole week it was on there like five different people would be like, ‘I had this shirt.’ It’s really cool to hear other people’s stories about the stuff that you have.
Are you able to talk about your process a little bit? Is there a game plan you stick to when it comes to sourcing and finding new things?
Like a writer, a vintage seller sometimes must protect his sources. In my mind, there’s no secrets sourcing it. It’s a matter of putting in the time. It takes a while to find stuff. Going to a thrift store, an estate sale, a garage sale, you might find nothing a lot of times. I’m always looking for certain things I want to reference in the curation. So, that’s sort of in the back of my head. So, it’s more about putting in the time. You sort of build a network over time, of sellers that you can reach out to.
How much time do you think you’re spending sourcing product weekly at this point?
So, at the beginning of the pandemic, when things were a little more scary for lack of a better term, in person was a little harder. As things got a little more opened up, we started to do a little more in person. But yeah, it’s hard to say how much time I spend. I just feel like I’m constantly sourcing. If I’m not doing it in person, I might be just like looking online, or an idea will pop in my head or I’m like, ‘oh, I wonder if there’s a vintage [item] of this.’ When I wake up, I’ll do some searches online, whether it’s seeing if there’s a garage sale or seeing if there’s an estate sale or searching online auctions. Before I go to sleep, I do same thing. So, I feel like I’m just always doing it.
For A24, you’re mainly sourcing old movie promo merch and things related to that. Do you go through, I guess I’ll call it phases? Is one month you’re heavily into anything from the ‘90s and the next month could be like old New York City-related stuff?
Great question. I try not to do phases. I try not to think of things as phases. I try to be open just cause if I’m only looking for this then I’m gonna miss out on that. Instead of like ‘this month I’m looking for this,’ it’s maybe each month or every couple months I realize a new thing that there’s vintage of and I add that to my mental search list of things that I would want.
So like with A24, how it started was the creative director found this HBO paperweight I had posted and was like, ‘oh, that’s cool.’ We just sort of talked and got excited about this niche of film culture and the products and the craft that goes into this. Studio promos, the film shirts, the title shirts, theater, merch, video store merch. And so with A24, we sort of sat down and we talked more and more. We sort of created this clear vision of what would fit in a vintage capsule, wanting to respect the craft of this vintage niche and also try to avoid the sort of ironic stuff, the kitschy stuff. I think that really helped make it cohesive.
Was there any rhyme or reason for what was included in each of the three drops or was it just more random?
In terms of one and two and three, it wasn’t like, ‘this should go in this one. This should go in two and not one.’ I think there was a vision in terms of having a good assortment and curation that sort of touches on these different aspects of film culture. So, you know, having a balance of stuff for the actual film and then stuff that’s maybe behind the scenes stuff, having a good ratio of all of those. It’s been very exciting seeing the response, this sort of shared nostalgia that resonates with people.
Through the drops you’ve done with A24, your Instagram account, and interacting with people at the storefront, is there a certain category you see people gravitate towards more than other things?
I would say like ‘90s. For me, I’m in my 30s. So, reliving my teenage years of the ‘90s and early 2000s is fun for me. For example, I think people really like seeing New York Times merch from the ‘80s, from before they were born. I think taking stuff that’s part of our day to day now, but also like seeing what it looked like back then, I think that that is interesting.
Is there a particular item that you found digging before that’s especially memorable for you?
This Interview Magazine beach towel. Found it a few years back and have yet to find or see another one. Another one of my favorite items I found was this Waterford crystal figure of a Yankees fitted.
Speaking specifically to A24 drops you’ve been doing, are you given any sort of parameters from A24? Is it just solely them trusting your expertise?
It was sort of a collaborative process with me and the creative director. We wanted it to be cohesive, sort of avoiding the like ironic or kitschy stuff. Cause in my mind, when you avoid that, it makes it a little more wearable. A piece could be like 40 years old, 30 years old, but it’s wearable in 2022. The overall is to appreciate the craft of the promo or the merch stuff that we’re celebrating. For example, we decided like we’re not gonna put any Free Willy, but like Anaconda is something we’re gonna try and find. Free Willy feels a little schticky in my mind. I think that was like the sort of headline. Let’s respect and appreciate and celebrate the culture and not have it be gimmicky.
Working with A24, you must be, to some extent, a fan of A24 and its movies. Do you have a favorite?
Ooh, that’s a really good question. This is tough, but I think I would go with Moonlight as my favorite.
Do you have a personal favorite item that is gonna be released in the upcoming drop with A24?
The Clueless hat, Pedro Almodovar Swatch from 1994, and the 1982 New York Film Festival shirt.
Unrelated to A24, do you have a favorite item that you can recall finding?
I really like this Napster shirt I found very recently from like 2001. That’s like a piece of culture for many of us who were on Napster exploring different types of music through there. Another is from this local public radio, KCRW, based outta Santa Monica. When my dad would drive me or pick me up from school, he would always be listening to it. And the graphics are really crazy. When I found that, it really took me back to when I was a kid. Stuff like that means a lot to me.
Do you have a personal like grail item?
The all time grail is the Air Seinfelds by Nike. I probably wouldn’t even wear them because they’re so old and would fall apart. Growing up, I loved Seinfeld, still love Seinfeld. As I got older, I got into Nike. So like that sort of double checks off boxes for me. Also like no one has it. That’s what makes it a true grail. I’ve sort of given up, but I’m hoping one day someone will come up, DM me and say, ‘I have a pair.’
This is the final drop you’re doing with A24, at least for the time being. Do you have hopes for the future of that partnership? Would you be interested in doing original designs for them at some point or something?
I mean, it’s been incredible working with them. So, I definitely would love to work with them more. We haven’t talked about any sort of original designs or anything like that. That sounds great as well. I’d love to do that.
Do you have any goals for the future of Intramural and the Leisure Centre?
I think with Intramural, I just wanna keep finding and showing people things that they appreciate and resonate with, stuff that makes and tap into their nostalgia. It’s fun to see a shared nostalgia and find different parts of culture that can be represented in vintage.
What’s one of your favorite things in New York City right now?
One of my favorite bites in the city right now is Shy’s Burgers and Frys. Best burger in the city!