Vampire Freaks is a gothic brand, specializing in apparel, accessories, houseware, and more. Cultivating the beauty of all things dark and unusual, this brand has stood the test of time, once primarily existing as a social networking site. 25 years and counting. This is Vampire Freaks.
On that note, join us in welcoming the co-owners of Vampire Freaks to the blog! Introducing Jet and Sierra 🖤
Jet: "I grew up as a struggling teen in a shady part of Brooklyn in the 90s. I was born to an immigrant family grappling with divorce, and we didn't have much. The goth scene, and vampire stories especially, were an early escape for me. I would get a fake id to get into the goth clubs when I was 16. It was a fascinating experience, and I felt like I had found a place where I belonged—in the shadows of the goth clubs where the spooky people were very accepting, intellectual, and treated you like family. I struggled with bullying and depression as a kid, and thereby was really drawn to the darker side of things. The VampireFreaks brand was merely a natural progression of exploring my interests in the strange & unusual side of life."
1. When did VF officially launch?
"VampireFreaks.com launched in late 1999. It started off as a personal website project with some picture galleries of my goth friends, along with some website animations / games I had created, and the first VampireFreaks message board. There were not many goth websites back then. I slowly improved the site, and added more content, and the messageboard got pretty popular over time. Due to the site's increasing popularity, the web hosting fees started getting pretty expensive, which started costing a couple hundred dollars a month, but not generating any revenue. In order to pay for the hosting fees, in 2001 I launched our online clothing store, which would feature some VampireFreaks branded t-shirts, stickers, and clothes from brands such as Lip Service, Tripp NYC, and UFO jeans. In 2004, we launched the VampireFreaks social network, which exploded in popularity over the years, reaching 7 million users. In 2020, we retired the social networking site after 14 years, and moved to a real warehouse to focus on the online store. By shifting our focus to the online store, our business thankfully flourished. VampireFreaks is still a small family business run by a tight crew that is more like family than employees, co-operated by my wife, and warehoused in the beautiful Poconos Mountains of Pennsylvania. I really have been blessed, and I feel so grateful everyday."
2. Which pieces were a part of the first drop?
"One of our first designs was the Serial Freak T-shirt, which we still have in our online store."
3. Were other brand names considered before Vampire Freaks? If so, what were they?
"The name 'VampireFreaks' actually came to me during my fascination with graffiti as a teenager. I had a couple high school friends who were into graffiti culture and they would come up with 'tags' or things they would graffiti on walls, and they would practice their graffiti by scribbling it in notebooks in school. I would scribble 'VampireFreaks' in my notebook in different styles in high school. It sounds cheesy, but I just thought it was a cool name. Later, I went off to college for computer science where I learned computer programming and started experimenting with creating websites. I bought the domain name 'VampireFreaks.com' and just started tinkering on the site as a personal project."
4. Tell us a fun fact about the brand!
"VampireFreaks also hosts club nights and concerts, including America's biggest goth convention and festival, Dark Force Fest! My wife and I design most of our t-shirts, and we work with a small batch of designers for other products such as housewares, plushies, umbrellas, accessories, and more. Although, being a family business, my wife and I also take part in designing these items as well."
5. Are all VF designs done in house? What is the production process?
"We work with a few designers to bring our designs to life. Most of the designs start out as ideas from myself and my wife. We send the ideas / inspo to one of our designers and it's generally a collaborative process. We'll get some rough drafts, and then I'll edit the drafts in photoshop and it will go through a few edits before going to the final version. In terms of production, we print all of our t-shirts and hoodies at our warehouse in PA. Our plush toys and housewares and accessories get manufactured overseas in small batches and also go through an editing process where we receive samples and edit them over time."
6. What’s your preference: Pencil/gel or liquid eyeliner?
"I'm too lazy to sharpen pencils haha. I prefer liquid, or I've always been a fan of the mechanical pencil eyeliner where you just twist it to make the eyeliner come out. Honestly, my wife and I are both pretty bad at makeup haha. We've gotta up our game! My wife says that Curst Kosmetics has inspired her to try new things, and fall in love more with the medium. Go, Curst!
7. What’s your preference: Lipstick or a liquid lip?
"Lipstick—gotta go with the classic."
8. If someone wanted to model or create with Vampire Freaks, how/where should they contact you?
"Influencers DM us directly on instagram at @vampirefreaks. Business inquiries can be sent to store@vampirefreaks.com."
9. If a brand wanted to have products featured on Vampire Freaks, how/where should they contact you?
"You can always email us at: store@vampirefreaks.com."
10. What can people expect to see next from Vampire Freaks?
"We're constantly coming out with new items! We do new product drops on our website every week, often releasing new items every day. We come out with about 4-5 new hoodie / t-shirt designs per month, and we're working on some new pants, dresses, housewares, plushies, and more!"
11. If you could recommend only one of your offerings, which would you choose?
"I personally love the 'Splitzokitty Plush Toy'. It's a half black and white skeleton cat inspired by our cat. It's super weird and cute, and we love it!"
Additionally:
"Thanks so much for featuring us! We're really honored. One more thing to add is to acknowledge that we couldn't do what we do without our awesome crew. We're a small team at VampireFreaks, so everyone does a lot of different tasks, and puts a lot of love into their work. I think running a small business is one of the most meaningful things I've done in my life, as I get the opportunity to employ really fantastic people. We in turn try to support as many other small businesses as we can by carrying their brands, and hopefully expanding their reach. I hope what people get out of this interview is to remember to, if you can, always do what you love, and never forget that you wouldn't be where you are without the help of people along the way.
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