Jun 16, 2022

A growing number of New Yorkers have seen — and own — some of the vintage goods that Kevin Fallon sells on his Instagram account (34,000 followers) and from the storefront he operates on Bogart Street, both called Fantasy Explosion.

Think of his platform/business as a love letter to the city. On Fantasy Explosion, scrollers come face-to-face with a vast variety of T-shirts, hats, totes, sweaters, mugs and the occasional odd object (a USPS balaclava, for example) that mostly directly relate to New York institutions and ideas. It’s Zizmorecore to the core. Or, as he told GQ, “My favorite stuff is from businesses that had no place making any clothes in the first place.”

Fallon, who grew up in Rhode Island, has repeatedly addressed the importance of vintage finds in connection to one’s memories. “Originally, I was finding things that were important to me because I’d been there,” he told The New York Times. “‘I had a sandwich at this place,’ [for example]. But that feeling for me started turning into, ‘Whoa, what does this mean to other people?’”