The Essential List 24. Kate Lindello’s Winter Staples
The founder of Noihsaf Bazaar shares her everyday wool coat, a body oil with a great scent, an ultra warm scarf, and her own process for finding treasures on the resale site.
Today, I’m excited to feature Kate Lindello, the founder of Noihsaf Bazaar, a community of buyers and sellers that love independent designers, makers, and small shops. Noihsaf (pro-nounced “Noise - hoff”) is the word “fashion” spelled backwards. Kate founded Noihsaf in 2013 because she found it difficult to find the brands and more obscure designers she loved on larger resale sites. Kate lives in Duluth, Minnesota — so she knows a thing or two about winter dressing — and I was eager to find out her go-to essentials that may help carry us all through this final month slog of winter.
First, Kate shares her the essentials that help her get through long, snowy, midwest winters. Then I share our Q&A about how she grew Noishaf from an instagram-based marketplace to a thriving resale platform, her own methods for finding treasures on Noishaf, and some of the independent brands she’s excited about.
synch-tec Hats I have quite the collection of hats—from fleece to wool. Synch-Tec offers a two for one situation as it can either be a hat OR a buff. Charlie is based in Minnesota and drops new prints every few weeks.
Canopy Humidifier It’s currently -10 outside and our heat is at 70 which means it's dry AF in our house. I invested in a Canopy humidifier for our bedside and have zero regrets. I keep that baby full and have it running all night. Bonus: the filters are sent to your house, so you don’t have to worry about adding them to your shopping list.
Shop Scarf’s Wool Cloud What’s the saying? The bigger the scarf, the closer to God? Shop Scarf’s Wool Cloud comes in all the best colors, is ultra warm, and not itchy in the slightest. It comes in bright hues that are all hand dyed in Martha’s studio. Her cotton socks are great too!
Revision Lip Replenisher I was gifted this after a facial from the dermatology office I go to, and was immediately hooked. I know “sticky” isn’t normally used as a good description for lip products, but in this case I love the feeling. It feels dense and like slugging your lips. I often put on chapstick and put this on top before bed or before going outside for long periods.
Classic Wool Coat by 7115 by Szeki I love a good coat once the temperatures take a dip. My favorite everyday winter coat is by 7115 by Szeki. Their classic wool coat fits nicely over bulky sweaters and the cut is modern and chic.
Olio E Osso’s Bel Corpo Body Oil is my favorite body oil to use after a shower (or sauna!). I don’t wear perfume much, but I am asked the scent I am wearing whenever I put it on. It’s not overbearing, but lingers in the best way.
Tell me about your background and how you ended up starting Noihsaf Bazaar
I think my interest in fashion came from wanting to be different. Growing up in a small Minnesota town, I was an angsty, counterculture-leaning teen, and fashion was my way of expressing that. I loved vintage shopping, digging through bins, and even stealing my brother’s clothes.
I was also very online—hanging out in band chat rooms, reading magazines, and shopping on eBay. In high school, I got really into social justice and went to college as a pre-law student, studying political and environmental science. I wanted to be an environmental attorney and worked on political campaigns and nonprofits, but by the time I graduated, I was burned out and no longer wanted to go to law school.
Around that time, Etsy started allowing vintage, and I was one of the first vintage sellers on the platform. No one in northern Minnesota had even heard of Etsy, but there were so many great estate sales, and I built a thriving shop. I was also one of the only sellers taking professional photos, which led me to realize how much I loved styling. That eventually turned into a photo styling business, and I started working with brands like Anthropologie, Blu Dot, and even Hollywood set designers sourcing items for shows like Mad Men.
At first, it was just friends logging in to list things, but as it grew, I had to manage it myself—people would email me what they wanted to sell, and I’d post it for them. And then it just kept growing.
I later took a job at Loll Designs, a startup making modern, recycled plastic furniture. I styled their photoshoots and eventually ran their social media. Then I had my daughter, Helen, and thought I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom—but quickly realized I didn’t. I went back into styling, but after struggling with postpartum depression, I started the Instagram handle @noihsaf.bazaar just to sell things from my closet and photoshoots.
At the time, sites like The RealReal and Poshmark were still new, and I hated their user experience. I had a strong network from my blogging days (back in the Blogger era), so when I started selling, friends quickly took notice. They started asking if they could post their stuff too. At first, it was just friends logging in to list things, but as it grew, I had to manage it myself—people would email me what they wanted to sell, and I’d post it for them.
And then it just kept growing. That’s basically how Noihsaf started.
How did you connect with a developer to build out a proper website?
I started Noihsaf in 2013, and for the first 10 years, it was just me and friends manually copying and pasting listings on Instagram. It ran on the honor system—if something sold, people would PayPal us $2.80. That worked for years, but by 2019, Instagram’s algorithm changed, we had login issues, and I started thinking, Maybe it’s time to move on—or build our own platform.
Friends and family encouraged me, pointing out that Noihsaf had a real following and was making money. We even got a New York Times write-up. I knew nothing about web development, so I reached out to AfterAll Studio, a branding agency in Portland. I had worked with them on a Planned Parenthood cookbook, and Joanna, the owner, was already a Noihsaf buyer and seller. Since AfterAll worked closely with developers, Joanna put out feelers, and I started interviewing people—even though I had no idea what to ask. Most responses were like, Oh, you want to build an Etsy? Good luck—that’ll cost a fortune.
I started exploring startup culture—pitching to investors, meeting with VCs, and doing competitions—but I hated it. I didn’t want to sell myself in 30 seconds to people who didn’t understand my business.
Through friends, I eventually met Cody Peterson of Human Shapes. He had just finished a big project and was looking for something more creative. He and his partner were already familiar with Noihsaf, which made everything easier. Cody gave me a rough estimate for development, and AfterAll quoted me for branding.
I started exploring startup culture—pitching to investors, meeting with VCs, and doing competitions—but I hated it. I didn’t want to sell myself in 30 seconds to people who didn’t understand my business. I got pretty far in one competition but realized I didn’t want to work with the kinds of investors who were interested.
During that time, I was introduced to Erin Patinkin, who co-founded the NYC bakery Ovenly and had startup experience. She encouraged me to skip traditional funding and start with a friends and family round. She also had a podcast, Start to Sale, where she interviewed Ari Weinzweig of Zingerman’s, who wrote The Anarchist’s Guide to Business. His philosophy about building a business that stays true to its vision really resonated with me.
That gave me the confidence to move forward. I hosted a dinner, invited friends and family who had expressed interest in Noihsaf, and raised the amount Cody had quoted—right before January 2020. Then Covid hit, and everything shut down. Cody started building the site that month, and we launched in February 2022. It took two years, and we’re still improving it.
What are some of the most popular brands on Noihsaf? Do you see trends with new brands, or does it stay pretty steady?
It changes, but there are definitely brands that consistently sell well and that we’re known for. What originally put us on the map was Ace & Jig. The Instagram days were wild, and Ace & Jig was the most popular brand to the point where a lot of our users were like, Oh my gosh, there’s so much Ace & Jig. So, we ended up making a separate Instagram account just for Ace & Jig sales because people who weren’t into it were getting overwhelmed.
That’s no longer the case, though. Ace & Jig still does well, but now it’s more brands like Rudy Jude, Ilana Kohn, babaà, and ARQ (which no longer exists, but the sell-through rate on our site is still really high). Some newer brands that have done really well in the last year are Lindquist Object (the purses), Caron Callahan, James Street, and Ulla Johnson.
We don’t accept fast fashion, but we do allow some well-made basics. Madewell is probably one of the more mainstream brands we take—it still goes through a curation process, but it sells well.
That said, our bread and butter is definitely the more independent brands. Our top five ranked by most sold are Rudy Jude, babaà, Doen, Ace & Jig, and Jesse Kamm.
Are there any small, independent brands you love that you think deserve more attention?
I love discovering new-to-me brands that come in, and we try to update our brand page to include these independent designers. A few smaller brands that are on my radar lately include ZANKOV, Lutz Huelle, Jemma Clare Swatek, Laurs Kemp, and Gnuhr.
I wear a ton of Rachel Comey. Her denim is the best. I own so many pairs — I’m actually wearing them right now with a Mozh Mozh sweater.
What’s your method for browsing Noihsaf?
You can follow brands on the site, so when I go to my Following page, I see updates from the brands and sellers I follow—I check that a lot. There are also certain repeat sellers I’ve bought from, so I’ll check their shops—especially if they’re my size or have the same shoe size. There’s a lot of really good vintage that gets listed, and certain sellers have a very similar aesthetic to mine, so I always check in on what they have. And of course, I’m always scanning the feed daily. We have curators, but I still like to go through everything and we have a weekly meeting to review what’s coming in.
We have a really fun filter on our website where you can create your own size profiles. So, I can put in my waist measurements and clothing sizes and search by those. I even have different profiles set up—like summer and winter, depending on how my size fluctuates. I also have profiles for my daughter (she’s 12) and my husband, so I can easily search for their sizes, too.
How does the kids' category do? I feel like kids' resale makes so much sense, but there isn’t a lot out there.
The kids' category is definitely picking up—especially since Kidizen shut down. They were actually Minnesota-based and one of the only other independent resale marketplaces I knew of that focused exclusively on kids. Since they closed, we’ve seen an uptick in users.
Vintage kids’ clothing does really well on Noihsaf, and the category has really exploded in the last few months. I think that’s because more moms are selling their kids' stuff, but also because a lot of them are now creating their own vintage shops specifically for kids—and they’re doing really well.
Another surprise has been kids' books. There’s one seller on Noihsaf who sells so many vintage kids’ books—really random, old ones—and they move fast.
There are definitely some sellers where this is their full-time job. They have resale shops and post things for sale every day. We’ve also started working with some consignment shops that have brick-and-mortar locations but are now selling on Noihsaf as well.
What’s the last thing you bought that you feel really good about, and how did you find it?
I got something for Christmas that I’m obsessed with, but I didn’t buy it myself.
It’s actually from Noihsaf—my husband bought it for me. It’s a vintage Benetton purse, and it’s the perfect bag. It makes me so happy because it can go from day to evening. I’ll send you a picture, but it’s this basket-woven nylon, so it’s super durable. It’s circular with these cute little handles, so you can use it as a small evening bag, but it also has a crossbody strap. Since it’s nylon, it just works for everything. Plus, it has this really nice leather bottom and little detailed clips—it’s just so cute.
We actually just launched a feature on Noihsaf called Collections, where you can save items into your own curated lists. I have one called Prezzies—it’s basically a wishlist for birthdays or holidays. When my husband asks what I want, I just send him my Noihsaf favorites. So, he found the bag through that—it’s a win-win!
Thank you, Kate! Noihsaf Bazaar is so fun and impressive, and I love your dedication to small, independent brands.
Subscribe to Noihsaf’s newsletter and follow @noihsaf.bazaar on Instagram for more from Kate.
Let us know if you have any questions for Kate in the comments and if you have your own winter essentials, I’d love to hear!
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100% agree on the Revision Lip Replenisher
Noihsaf Bazaar sounds amazzzzzing