Five Fits With: Vintage Expert Frank Carson
If you’ve shopped for vintage in New York City, you’re probably familiar with the Lower East Side’s Leisure Centre. Owner and vintage expert Frank Carson has spent almost two decades honing his craft. He keeps the racks stocked with interesting finds from many eras, and, to sweeten the deal, hosts guest sales by other vintage curators as well as closet sales from industry insiders. The shop is a mainstay for those in the know—and a natural outgrowth of Carson’s personal history.
“I grew up in East London in Shoreditch,” he says. “It’s a town where what you wear is extremely material to how you are viewed, and how dangerous things are, really. If you were to wear something crazy, you might get run up on.” Eventually, Carson discovered that he was interested clothing beyond the realm of self-preservation, thanks in large part to trips to NYC throughout his childhood and adolescence. “In New York, I could dress however I wanted,” he says. “I was discovering all these things that weren't like brands and styles I had seen before.”
After graduating from college, Carson moved to the city with just a couple of suitcases full of possessions. He shopped at vintage and thrift stores to fill out his wardrobe and it didn’t take long until “I found myself having racks and racks of shit, because there's so much good stuff to be found here,” he says. “After a few years, I decided that I needed to sell some stuff.” That led to stints at flea markets around Brooklyn and, during the peak of the pandemic when leases were flexible, a storefront at 48 Hester Street, where Leisure Centre now resides.
Below, Frank and I discuss what makes Leisure Centre different, viewing vintage garments like wine, test-driving your own stock before selling it, and plenty more.
Fit One
What makes Leisure Centre unique? Obviously, there's a ton of vintage out there.
The way that I would characterize it is, it comes from an irascible, unquenchable thirst for discovery. I've been picking vintage for nearly 20 years, and I'm always looking to find something new. It's just trying to offer something that's familiar but will surprise you a little bit. It’s also quite a broad selection. Things might be as old as 1940s or as new as 2010, but it's like looking at vintage wine, in that it's not the age of it. A good vintage is a remarkable moment in time. When that is translated through a piece of clothing, that's what makes it interesting.
Was there a moment you first became interested in clothing or style?
I always had an opinion. When I was maybe three or four, we'd go to the seaside with my cousins, and I'd be very jealous of my female cousin who got to wear a one-piece bathing suit. I was like, "That's not fair." So I made my mom get me a whole suit. I remember being in school, my mom made me wear sensible shoes by Clarks, not fun ones like Wallabies, because they didn't have the support that I was supposed to have. I got myself some Reebok Classics, and I put them in my little cubby at school and I would change when I got in there. I was always just trying to look fly. I remember early in high school, either on the way to school or after it, I'd go to thrift stores. I was quite obsessed with finding designer clothes and mixing that into what I was wearing.
Fit Two
Do you have a favorite find of all time?
I had hit some absolute humdingers when I was in high school because I would go to Kings Road in Chelsea, which is a really posh neighborhood. There were maybe five or six thrift stores down that one strip, and there was a white Jil Sander dress shirt that I found, so I thought I was the absolute bollocks. I got an Issey Miyake chore coat from the thrift store. There was a thrift store at the bus stop I would take to go to school and somehow it was open early enough that I could go before school. It was not a super well-to-do neighborhood, but there were definitely some stylish people around there. I would find some very cool stuff in there.
Does getting a bargain for a piece have a factor in how much you appreciate it?
A hundred percent. Without a doubt. And I still can't get away from shopping like that. It has to be a deal or it doesn't turn me on at all. Because if you have enough money, you can buy anything you want. I like being in a situation where you have to put in a little bit of work. I don't like seeing something outside and then trying to track it down. It’s more fun for me to just dig through shit and find something that I wasn't expecting, which is what I'm trying to do a little bit in here.
Fit Three
How do you separate buying for yourself versus buying for a Leisure Centre?
That is one of the delights of running a vintage store; there's no depreciation. You can wear and wash something and it's just as good as it was when you found it. I will definitely test-drive a few items before they make it to the shelves, and I think that's a healthy approach.
Are you on the hunt for anything in particular at the moment?
I've never seriously owned or worn a leather jacket. That's something that's like a good pair of glasses. I think it's very particular. I feel like it's something that requires a level of maturity, perhaps. I don't know. I have one which I sold that I wouldn't mind having, which I'm sure I could find again if I really wanted to.
What was it?
It was a buffalo hide Levi's Type III jacket from the ‘90s with a quilted lining.
Fit Four
How have you honed your personal style over the course of your journey?
It’s been trying to look older, and then younger, and maybe more my age, ultimately. Before I was old enough to drink in a pub, it was crucial to dress in a way that would fool someone into thinking you were older than you were. I looked young. I continued that to achieve a bit more gravitas. Also, I had an Americana obsession before I moved to the States. I was dressing much like a mid-century railway worker—flannels and chore jackets and selvedge and shit. When I came here, I continued on that way for a little bit. I also found myself in a place where that stuff was so abundant, so I could really mess with it even more. I hit a certain point, maybe when I started feeling a little bit older, and also maybe homesick, that I started dressing like I would have when I was a teenager. I was dressing like a ‘90s rude boy. I'm honestly a bit too busy to care all that much, but I always do care. Before I go out, I'll try on almost everything in my closet. But I'm dressing a bit more reactively to what I have around me now.
Fit Five
Do you have any tips for readers who would like to be more conscious and get into vintage clothes, but don't know where to start?
I would start by copying people as literally as you want. Look at somebody's style that you like, taking all of it, or just researching specific things that might work for you. Maybe make an amalgamation of various people. The best way to start anything is just synthesize something literally, until you have a mastery of the genre, and you can start exploring it.
If you had to wear one outfit for the rest of your life, what would it consist of?
A pair of cargo pants. I didn't wear them in this round, but I have a pair of 18 East ones. They’re paisley, super comfortable. I do like patterned pants. I definitely enjoy that. One shoe, it's an Air Max 95. Let's go with the white Comme des Garçons pair, because they already look dirty. Then a black, faded Pat Metheny T-shirt or something pretentious like that. Probably a wide wale jumbo cord, like this overshirt I'm wearing right now, Stone Island '94. I want to put a hoodie underneath that. A Hanes PrintPro hoodie. Perhaps with nothing on it at all. I could be very comfortable in that. I don't think I would look good enough to get into any clubs or anything, but fuck it.
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