High Schooler Built a $6M Vintage Army Surplus Brand
Where does the idea start?
Back in high school, Logan ran a vintage photo aesthetic account and tried screen-printing T-shirts in his parents’ basement. Sales were bleak—sometimes just one order a week. So he pivoted and began sharing outdoor and hunting content with a historical twist, and soon found himself diving into quirky military stories—like flipping through a U.S. infantry handbook.
That angle clicked. He drew in a growing crowd of collectors and history buffs, which soon opened doors to wholesale connections and private deals for old stock—things like old uniforms, field manuals, and other vintage gear.
What used to be a niche hobby for veterans and older enthusiasts has become content gold on short video platforms. Each time Logan puts on a jacket from the Normandy landings or a rare British regiment, he breaks down the details like an expert. The audience loves it. Today, American Pipedream has 554K followers on Instagram, 519K on TikTok, and over 75K in monthly organic site traffic—all powered by storytelling around “old” gear with new relevance.
Breaking into their own line
From day one in 2021, Logan and Aiden wanted AP to make its own clothes, not just resell military surplus stock. Logan even had a notebook sketch of a camo work jacket. Back then AP was just two people with no design or manufacturing experience. After making some money from old military gear and moving into a small warehouse, they gave it a shot. The first sample was a disaster—crooked collar, boxy cut, awkward pockets, a broken waistline. Months of revisions only burned cash, and the supplier stopped caring.
They switched suppliers. Through contacts he made selling military surplus, Stephen Brents, who had produced for Supreme, introduced them to reliable designers and factories. That solved the fit and construction problems. Now AP sells more than old stock. Their site features T-shirts, jackets, pants, and even packs.
Loop of surplus supply, storytelling, and in-house products
AP’s success isn’t just about reselling old military gear. They built a unique loop. On the supply side, they source and sell vintage military gear, rare items with cultural value, which also gave them the know-how to launch their own line. Their jackets, pants, and packs are inspired by military design but cut and built for everyday wear.
On the demand side, content drives growth. Every rare camo comes with a story. Every jacket gets broken down to stitching and details. This storytelling turns niche gear into mainstream traffic, pulling in an audience already passionate about military history and functional vintage style.
The clever part is they use the same storytelling to market their new products. It makes the jump from old military stock to their own clothing line seamless. In other words, AP isn’t just selling clothes. They’re selling an experience that blends history, function, and design—a model that works and keeps scaling inside a niche.
The Retro Cassette Player Thriving on Amazon
A $30 cassette recorder sold more than 300 units on Amazon in just one month. On paper, the format should’ve been dead decades ago. But in reality, this niche refuses to die and is making a steady comeback.
More than nostalgia: real uses keep it alive
Behind that $30 cassette tape player is a thriving niche paired with real use cases. In 2023, the U.S. sold around 436,000 cassette albums, flat with 2022 but several times higher than a decade ago. From top pop stars to underground indie bands, cassette editions have become a standard part of the merch lineup. Add the cultural push from hits like Stranger Things and Guardians of the Galaxy, and suddenly tapes are not only collectibles but also affordable gifts and conversation pieces.
Beyond the retro buzz driven by music and film, what really sustains demand is how the cassette player solves everyday needs. Older generations use it to record family stories; families digitize old tapes to preserve memories; musicians cut quick demos; and enthusiasts see it as an affordable entry point into cassette culture.
Profitable? yes. easy? not quite.
Now let’s talk margins. Cassette players with extras like MP3 conversion or FM radio retail for $30–40 on Amazon, while factory costs average just $9–15. Ad spend isn’t heavy either—the main keyword cassette player has a PPC bid of about $0.62, and most traffic still comes from organic search. In the past week, overall category traffic jumped 22%+, with nearly 65% from organic sources—a sign of genuine demand not propped up by ads.
But the barriers are real:
- High return rate (≈9%): with reviews citing unstable quality and mono playback.
- Low share of new products: out of 100 samples, only 5 were true new entries, taking just 1.1% of sales.
- High brand concentration: while no single SKU dominates, established sellers control most of the shelf space, leaving little room for newcomers.
In short, there’s real demand and margin here—but this isn’t a free-for-all market. The opportunity lies in solving quality issues and creating differentiation. Do that, and there’s still room to win.
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