FashioNation Keeps Marching to Its Own Drummer at New Location

Not many independent stores can boast a 37-year history. With fashion trends coming and going and rents constantly rising, the struggle is real. But almost forty years ago, Paul and Pam Italiano tapped into a mix that proved to have longevity: punk, goth and alternative music fashions.

The business got its start in 1987, when both Pam and Paul were working at King Soopers. Pam had a side hustle of making clothes and selling them in local boutiques, and Paul was a nightclub DJ. When a grocery worker strike booted them out of their day jobs, the two decided to set out on their own, using their knowledge of the local music scene to tap into what that audience wanted. "We had 1,000 bucks and 40 pieces of clothing," recalls Paul.

That proved to be a fortuitous leap of faith. They opened a store at 613 East 13th Avenue called FashioNation, pulling the name from a fictitious magazine featured in an old Batman TV episode. After selling only Pam's designs for the first five years, they started supplementing their inventory with other brands that catered to alternative music fans and regularly held fashion shows at the Rock Island nightclub.

It was a time when music and fashion collided. The looks were extreme and created for shock value: jet-black and multi-color dyed hair, heavy black eyeliner, mini skirts, fishnet stockings, bondage accents, rubber, vinyl and leather textures, "Doc" Martens combat boots, and lots and lots of black clothing.

Those who hung around in the '80s music scene — and likely endured the wrath of parents for their rebellious punk and goth looks — would never have guessed those wild fashions would still be around decades later, when the Italianos are parents of adult children themselves and FashioNation is about to open its next iteration in a building they bought at 1745 South Broadway, just two blocks away from their last store.

"Our customers are still our customers. Now they come in with their kids," says Paul. "They listen to the same music, and their kids listen to it, plus the new stuff, like our kids do."

Pam and Paul's daughters — Sydney, 25, and Mia, 21 — are now preparing the store for the next generation. They not only listen to their parents' punk and goth soundtrack, but they're involved in the current rave and festival scene and are bringing a new era of colorful, sparkling maximalist clothing and energy into the store for that audience. The two took over the store's social media pages and started posting photos and video clips of themselves going to concerts in different outfits from the store — and their following blew up.

"Sydney went in the basement one day and made this cute little compilation of the store. By the time she walked upstairs, it had 16,000 views," recalls Pam. "We gained 20,000 followers in a week."

"We have people coming in who are on layovers at the airport. They do livestreams of the store on their phones, and you can hear their followers screaming in the background. It's definitely put us on the map," says Paul. "We're getting people from all different cities, and you can tell because they're so excited. There aren't any stores like this where you get the experience of a cool store and being helped by people who really live the lifestyle, not some kid just punching the clock."

The new store will have many photo opportunities; it practically looks like a selfie museum, with walls featuring Beetlejuice stripes, glitter, spiderwebs and skull brocade wallpaper; buckets of black and pink paint; chandeliers and crown molding. The decor is so professional that they could have brought in an interior designer to get the look. But the Italiano family took on the eight-month renovation themselves, following their fun-loving taste. And it's documented on their TikTok feed.

Keeping the store going in its previous locations wasn't without its challenges. They survived the pandemic thanks to their fan base purchasing gift cards to keep them afloat. Before that, FashioNation had to weather the changing demographic around their first location in Capitol Hill; after 27 years, it was no longer drawing their target audience.

"We had these Chad types coming in, trying on hats and taking pictures like it was a costume shop and thinking that was really funny," recalls Paul. "The kids weren't coming. They just weren't going into downtown anymore. We had our old customers but weren't getting another batch of seventeen-year-olds. We almost closed the store."

They took a chance and moved to a storefront they rented at 1594 South Broadway, and the kids started to come back. They remained in that location for ten years, and then the landlord sold the building. The new owners raised the rent so high that it was more economical for Pam and Paul to buy a building than to pay rent.

Now, they can decorate however they want, and also tout the luxury of air conditioning and five dressing rooms. "We used to have an hour-long wait for the dressing rooms on Saturday. Not anymore!" Paul notes.

At the new store, the family plans to continue FashioNation's traditions of documenting a shopper's first combat boot purchase and inviting cool bands coming to town to stop by the store and autograph a pair of old boots and get fitted for new ones. "We encourage people to bring in their worn-out Doc Martens, and we'll recycle them by having bands sign them to add to the wall collection," explains Paul.

Today, Pam still makes clothes for their baby line, Babysitter's Nightmare, and for their daughters, who will take over the store one day. Sydney and Mia are both excited at the prospect; they say they love being a part of so many people's special days and helping them pick out outfits for it.

But Pam and Paul aren't ready to hang it up just yet.

"We're here because it's fun," says Paul. "That's the best part of the job, just hanging out with everybody and seeing the people come through, listening to cool music and helping someone get their first pair of Docs. Those are red-letter days."

FashioNation will reopen at 1745 South Broadway on Saturday, August 31. Standard hours will be Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Learn more here.