At this West Chester shop, vintage Eagles gear is flying off the shelves

A little more than a dozen Eagles starter jackets and bomber coats hang in the shadows of the late afternoon sun streaming through Jawn Supply’s floor-to-ceiling windows.

Two vintage Birds shirts — one, a 1990 Philly’s Legend sweatshirt by Tight End Sportswear featuring caricatures of Eagles of yesteryear like Chuck Bednark (1949-1962), Steve Van Buren (1944-1951), and Bob Brown (1964-1968), are folded into floppy squares.

At this West Chester boutique specializing in premium vintage athletic gear in every shade of Eagles green, the selection was dope in quality but paltry in quantity.

“You just wait,” said Ben Rowe, owner of the 2-year old shop, his crystal blue eyes twinkling under a Specialties Script corduroy Eagles cap circa 1988, the height of the Birds' Leprechaun green era. “We were planning to drop around 100 pieces Saturday morning, but it’s looking more like 200. This is our biggest drop ever.”

Rowe forecasts shoppers will start lining up hours before Jawn Supply opens at 10 a.m. as if they are getting free tickets to Sunday’s playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams, not laying down hundreds of dollars for vintage sports gear.

Here is why:

Jawn Supply has earned the stamp of approval from popular Eagles players, including running back Saquon Barkley, placekicker Jake Elliott, defensive end Brandon Graham, and safety Reed Blankenship. They’ve all visited the store.

Its zippy Instagram videos showcasing puffy coats ($200 to $500), sweatshirts ($100 to $200), and T’s ($60 to $100) rack up thousands of likes daily. The storage room overflows with specialty items, including the soft green pinstriped zip-up sweater Eagles coach Buddy Ryan famously wore on the field in the 1980s and 1990s.

And the merchandise keeps pouring in.

As Rowe, 27, explained how he started selling ’90s grunge T-shirts, plaid button-ups, and denim jackets on eBay in the 2010s, Joe Amoroso walked in with two Eagles hooded coats, one gray vest, and a leather NASCAR jacket.

Rowe assessed Amoroso’s haul in seconds. The NASCAR piece and vest were too recent. “They look to be about 15 years old,” Rowe said. “I’ll accept the early aughts, but I really love the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s.”

Rowe offered Amoroso $125 for a Pro Player and $150 for a Starter. Both brands were midnight green.

“These belonged to my twin brother and I when we were in the eighth grade,” Amoroso, 37, said. The brothers got the jackets around 2001. Rowe sent Amoroso $275 through Venmo and the two men eased into a chat about their infant sons. Their parting words: Go Birds!

What was the difference between the Pro Player and the Starter? “The Starter was reversible,” Rowe said. “It’s like two jackets in one and it had more graphics on it. You can tell it’s Eagles from every angle.”

Phillies, Sixers, and Flyers vintage pieces are for sale at Jawn Supply, too, as well as plaid shirts, webbed cords, and graphic T’s. Jawn Supply has a ’90s vibe. Think gangster rap meets grunge.

Rowe can look at T-shirt‘s stitching along the sleeve and tell what decade it was produced in. He can tell what decade the Eagles logo was designed in based on the size of the bird’s talons. He knows the difference between 1970s Kelly green and today’s brighter one. Names of manufacturers — Specialties Script, Trench, Salem Sportswear, and Logo Athletics — roll off his tongue.

“I’m a sports guy and a vintage guy,” Rowe said. “But a big time Eagles guy.”

Whether vintage, designer, or straight from the Lincoln Financial Field Pro Shop, there was a time when fashion and branded sports gear did not cross. It wasn’t until the last decade that fans — and casual spectators — started craving unique team-centered T’s, hoodies, and sweats that expressed their personalities as much as their love of the team.

Stores like South Fellini, Shibe, Urban Exchange Project, and now Jawn Supply are helping Philly lean into its true fashion personality: a little gritty, a little edgy, and very sporty.

“I opened this store for people like me,” Rowe said. “It’s my curation, my style, my fashion sense.”

Rowe grew up in Media with his father, Greg Rowe, an executive for Essex Foods in Malvern; his mother, Kim, who makes and sells upcycled furniture; and his two brothers.

He started thrifting when he was a teenager. When he was a high school senior, he bought a Grateful Dead T-shirt for $1. He Googled it. It was worth $125. Those margins spoke to him.

Rowe went to Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts and majored in business. In the summers, he worked landscaping and construction gigs, all the while thrifting. When he realized he could earn as much cash reselling clothes online than he could doing manual labor, he focused his time, energy, and social media presence on his resale hustle.

After college, Rowe sold vintage clothing at an antiques store in Downingtown. In February 2023, he leased the space at 40 S. High Street and opened Jawn Supply, 900-square-feet of airy, sunlit space — perfect for shooting promotional social media videos that drive his business. He named the store as an ode to all things Philadelphia and its surrounding burbs.

“West Chester is 45 minutes outside of Philly,” Rowe said. “But we are a hub for Philly sports fans from all over the world.”