The Basement and eBay headed to Epping Forest with Louis and friends to explore the great outdoors.
One of the UK’s most prolific names on the collector and resale market, Louis Holsgrove is a man revered for good taste and even better curation.
Having been in the game for almost a decade, Louis is always on the lookout for the rarest finds and best value pre-owned items to flip through his store, Holsales. His most recent venture, ‘The Library’, invites collectors and stylists to explore an authentic array of pieces as a source of inspiration for design and styling work, with the likes of Travis Scott, Feid, and fakemink all fanatics for his fabrics.
Equipped with an unbeatable collection of rare pieces and a true love of all things gorp, it was only right we tapped in with Louis when eBay asked us to bring together a selection of our community for a day out in the wilderness.
Decked out in a sturdy selection of eBay finds, we caught up with Louis in Epping Forest to explore the great outdoors and find out more about his life’s work, which has been dedicated to sourcing some of the maddest clothing in the game.
Geoff Owusu: For people who don’t know you or who aren’t familiar with your work, introduce yourself to the world.
Louis Holsgrove: I’m Louis Holsgrove, I’m based in South London. I run Holsales, and I also run my own brand, Standard Format.
Holsales is a vintage archive selling platform that also has an in-store location in London, housing a range of sportswear and technical goods, as well as items within the gorpcore space.
I also run Standard Format, which is essentially my own take on what I love and have collected over the last ten years in my archive. It takes elements from all the things I enjoy and maps them out into a new, forward-thinking brand.
G: Talk us through how you got started – how did you build up your archive and start a brand?
L: Starting Holsales was pretty mad. I feel like it’s kind of how most of the scene or people that are a bit older in the scene are now. I was just going to Supreme, like, way back when, camping out at drops meeting like-minded people… I got into this position where it was like you were so fixated on a brand and almost like the hustle and the hobby that came with it, it almost didn’t feel like clothing.
It went from being focused on this one statement brand to becoming less obsessive and wondering what else exists out there. That’s when I ended up finding the likes of Stone Island, C.P. Company, Prada, all of the rare Nike stuff that I collect, and so on.
G: When did you decide to make this the career path that you wanted to go down?
L: Obviously, while you’re at uni, most people either have a weekend job or they’re living off their student loan. I was at Central Saint Martins, but still lucky enough to be living back home because my parents are based in London.
I was in a fortunate position where I could work, as well as go to uni on the weekends, but it literally meant I’d earn £60 from my Saturday job. I would take that £60 and spend it on Thursday every week at Supreme.
It basically became: go into Supreme, buy a product… then there would be an army of people outside, throwing money at you like “I’ll give you £200 for this”. I then started being like, if I buy one thing and it makes me £200… what if I then buy two things in the next week and it makes me £400? That’s how I started to learn that there’s money in clothes.
G: Was there one specific piece that got you into it?
L: Yeah, there was one piece and I was like, it kind of blew my mind a bit, as I think it was the 2012 or 2013 Stone Island heat reactive. It was a blue colour. When it got hot, it went like a really bright blue. And then when it got cold, it turned dark navy.
That was my first introduction to heat-reactive material that I hadn’t seen before. Supreme had some technical elements, but not like advanced technical materials. And as soon as I got that, I was like, damn, I’m in the wrong game and switched paths instantly. I was studying at CSM, but I realised I didn’t really care about anything other than clothes.
G: What were you studying at University?
L:. I was studying sculpture. I was making 3D illusions…
G: It’s all making sense. Even with the brand, you can see the architectural inspiration in your pieces and how you cut things…
L: People would have seen it as well. I did an illusion for The Basement Air Max 90 back in 2019, and it was one of those things where I was trying to bridge the gap between, I love making this stuff, but I also care about clothes way more than the art now. And that was kind of one of those jobs where I styled the shoot and didn’t really know what I was doing at the time.
That was kind of the pinpoint where it was like, damn, this is like a career. And I’d like to think that was when I actually realised that there was like a path for me to go down.
G: I know you can’t disclose all your sources, but for the average person who wants to start out collecting, where would you say they should get their pieces?
L: So when I first started, it was predominantly eBay stuff, on a real one. I’ve got other sources now, but if you’re looking for stuff, you have to be like a dog in the woods hunting for a rabbit – that’s what I was like with eBay. You’ve got to be on it constantly, and then one day, that one piece you’ve been looking for for ages will come up. It’s hunt until you find – that’s the game.
G: Doom scrolling… but being deliberate with it…
L: Yep, until your eyes hurt, and then go again the next day. But when you find that one piece you’ve been looking for and the notification goes off, securing something that a few others have been looking for, and you beat them to it? That’s definitely the most satisfying thing abotu it.
L: People might have known me years back when I went to Supreme drops. The Supreme box logo was on everything I wore. Then you had the likes of Stüssy, the little logos… Most of the time, I was very logo-driven, just normal streetwear, and then once I started getting a bit more budget and could afford the bigger pieces after reselling the Supreme stuff.
You literally had to go with a camp chair and camp all night. I remember being in the queue, and then Jagger came out and was like, “I’m really sorry it’s sold out.” We had been standing still for so long, my knees seized up. That’s how committed I was to it. My fashion taste was really weird. I’ve branched out and become so obsessive, just wanting to take this the furthest I can now.
G: How long have you been shopping and building out your archive through eBay?
L: Too long! It’s crazy… I was on eBay when kids were obsessed with, like, Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokémon. I used to go on eBay and look for that stuff, from a research perspective. But then I was also interested in clothes, say a rapper that I would listen to, or someone at school would be like:, ‘Have you heard of this brand?’
Instead of researching in books or word-of-mouth to find it, I looked on eBay. And that was my favourite sort of tool for finding stuff. Then I used to make little wish lists of things I’d love to own and my grails… I still do it now.
G: You’ve got some mad steppers on today. Where did you get your creps from?
L: These are actually from eBay, too. I was very sceptical that these were going to come crumbled because they’re so old – they’re the Nike ACG Air Mowabb, from 2005. As you can see, they’re in pretty crazy condition, for a pair produced twenty years ago. So I just put it in to buy them. And then using the eBay Guarantee, it’s as if, for whatever reason, there was an issue with the item… I would still get my money back. It’s good for peace of mind.
G: When you’re in the market for trainers, are there any other rare sneakers in your archive right now that were sourced similarly?
L: Yeah, there are definitely a few, like, older ACG pairs, for sure. And I’m a sucker for ACG – there’s an ACG boot, it’s called the Gimli boot. But they only made it back in 1999. I’ve actually bought like two pairs of those in the past through eBay’s Guarantee, which is kind of mad.
G: You stock a lot of gorpcore in your collection. Has functionality always been something you’ve been drawn to?
L: Since running the shop, and just been interested in, like digging deeper. It’s kind of the thing of, I find a product that I really like, and then when you look into the brand’s deep enough, they always have a sportswear collection, which is what I’m most interested in.
Personally when you’re talking about a product, if it’s got something about it that’s functional – instead of just being like, oh, this was designed by so-and-so – you can talk about like the material and then be like, “Oh, did you know this pocket was for a Nokia, like back in 2003?”
It’s the little things like that when you’re wearing it, it almost feels like you’re wearing history, as well as just a cool piece. I think that’s why I’m so interested in the more functional side of stuff now.
G: How’s it been having the community come out with you today?
L: It’s nice to just see people actually outside of the city as well. I feel like in our industry, everything is always so city-oriented – so to take the community out to Epping Forest and get them in stuff that is supposed to be worn outdoors has been cool.
G: You’re coming off your second drop for your brand, you’re doing a lot right now. What’s next, man?
L: I’ve got quite a lot of stuff that I’m working on. I’ve got some samples that I’m really excited about. It’s stuff that’s gonna come in at a later date. Keep it locked to Standard Format!
Interview: Geoff Owusu
Images: Sam Nicklin & Cam Butterworth
