USU student-owned business brought to campus

*Audio clip is the voice of Thrift Jam Co. owners Logan James and Ellie Cram.

Logan James and Ellie Cram, business partners and Utah State University students, started their business Thrift Jam Co. in March 2020. 

In the early stages of Thrift Jam, James and Cram mostly sold thrifted vintage clothing. As they have continued developing their brand, they have moved into selling what James referred to as “true vintage type of items.” 

They said their brand focuses on sustainable and trendy fashion. 

To follow suit with their sustainability goals, they’ve also started selling reworked pieces that transform older items into modern, fashionable items. 

For example, they’ve reworked old Carhartt pants into trendy tote bags.  

“We’re kind of moving towards where we’re still being sustainable and using old items, but making it fashionable,” James said. 

Cram said Thrift Jam is the most popular with the university and high school demographic, ranging from 16-24. 

“We peeked into high school-aged kids, which is interesting. I wasn’t expecting that. That kind of came from Ellie sort of hitting the TikToks really hard, and the high schoolers showed up to all of our events,” James said. 

According to Cram, 100% of their advertising is done through social media.

Both James and Cram are business students with entrepreneurship minors. Because of this, James views running Thrift Jam as hands-on-education. 

James said many people told Thrift Jam they would do anything they could to help them succeed in their business. Cram said their entrepreneurship professors have helped support their business goals. 

One of these goals was pursuing their vision of transforming a school bus into the home of their vintage store. This vision became a reality as James and Cram successfully bought and renovated a school bus this past summer. 

“We just kind of went for it and got the bus. Turning it around was easier than expected, honestly,” Cram said. “Logan did most of it. It was honestly really fun.”

The Thrift Jam bus was completed from start to finish in three weeks. James said his previous experience in construction helped a lot with the remodel. 

Cram also said they have the goal of scaling the business by continuing to turn around more buses and make Thrift Jam more of a chain.

Ultimately, they think a bus for every state would be ideal. Targeting universities within different states is where they hope to start. 

Another goal they mentioned was to expand their business online. James said they have had issues with websites in the past. 

“It’s a big process, but we are getting it figured out, and we should have a website functional and good to go within the next couple of weeks,” James said. 

Currently, James said Thrift Jam has had success selling on campus through events run by groups like the Business Council.

Logan and Cram said they can be found selling every Wednesday outside of the University Inn on campus from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Additionally, their Instagram account @thriftjamco posts all of their events.

-Kate.Stewart@usu.edu

Featured photo by Claire Ott