Real Ones Vintage
1613 E. 3rd St., Suite D
Nick Jordan is 35 years old—old enough to remember a time before being habitually online was a pathological condition. His shop, Real Ones Vintage, might have started as an online business, launched while touring with his former band, but it’s recently landed in the offline world as the newest arrival in the Studio Row district.
The interior of the store is bright, colorful, and carpeted with the same astroturf you might encounter on a mini golf course. Omnipresent mood lighting and graffiti on the walls add to the casual, playful DIY ambience. In one corner, a Real Ones commercial runs on a loop on one of three CRT televisions in the shop. A vintage couch gives people a place to sit and hang out if the mood strikes.
Jordan is exactly the type of person who makes you want to sit and hang out: friendly, easygoing, and full of an optimistic energy. He likes being on the ground floor of a growing district, with neighbors like Tulsa Guitar Co., Cody Mayo Studios, a coffee shop run by the owners of 918Maples, and of course The Church Studio. "It's cool for me to be a part of something that's upcoming. You feel like you're helping create it," Jordan says.
Jordan started out as a screenprinter—the name Real Ones started out as his own brand for his original designs that he screenprinted onto thrifted clothes—and the store definitely carries more vintage T-shirts than any other clothing item. One particularly popular new item is a T-shirt from the almost-fever-dream of a sitcom from 1991 called Dinosaurs, which featured dinosaur puppets and tackled issues such as gay rights, censorship, and corporate crime. Lots of people have been asking about that shirt, Jordan says, a nostalgia piece from a show many thought they had imagined as kids.
But I wouldn’t write Real Ones off as simply a T-shirt shop. It also specializes in a variety of late ‘90s and early aughts selections for any gender. Jordan notes that he and his customers are less interested in perfection or preservation than in originality, quality, and creativity. The vintage jeans run the gamut from baggy Levis to “mom jeans,” aka high-waisted Ropers without back pockets. A bright yellow wool sweater from the ‘50s wears its moth-eaten holes with pride.
According to Jordan, younger generations are sick of fast fashion offerings and have a desire for quality, even if an item’s age means it may have some damage. “Seeing Gen Z and younger kids get excited because something’s 100 percent cotton is crazy, but it's also awesome,” he says.
Among Tulsa’s vintage shops, Real Ones definitely has its own niche, carefully curated by Jordan and his business partner Allison Edwards, who he met while thrifting. Jordan notes that their partnership is what gives the store its particular balance, as some T-shirt-focused stores can feel super dude-heavy.
Jordan proudly points out the different models (many of whom are also friends) in that Real Ones commercial, explaining how they had decided to dress opposite to what their normal styles would be, in fits ranging from punk to prep and everything in between. Walking through the shop, I find myself getting into this mindset myself as I admire some vintage plaid wool shirts from the ‘60s, a black Carhartt jacket, and a pale pink lace dress, not to mention an affordable selection of leather boots.
Real Ones feels like a welcoming space for anyone and everyone, and Jordan emphasizes that that’s by design. He keeps his prices reasonable, his goal being a variety of merchandise steadily moving through the store, rather than trying to eke out every potential penny. There’s even a shelf of $5 items for those on a budget.
It’s an approach that seems to be drawing a crowd. Although it’s discreetly tucked away behind Ruth’s Chicken, Real Ones gets lots of walk-in customers. Even on a Monday, the one day a week when the shop is closed to the public, customers come by, eager to explore. If he’s there, Jordan welcomes them inside and invites them to shop away, never giving it a second thought.
The store’s social media is as colorful and well-curated as the store itself, but with a purpose: in his words, “to pull people out of that doomscroll into a real life, actual fun situation.” To that end, Jordan looks forward to hosting community events at Real Ones in the future—as soon as business slows down enough for him to have a spare minute to plan them.
