The challenge: Brooke Pickel, founder of Blonde Bandit, had difficulties standing out in a crowded vintage resale market and struggled with time-consuming manual photo editing processes.
Our solution: Brooke discovered Photoroom, which significantly streamlined her photo editing process. With tools like AI Backgrounds, AI Image Generator, and marketplace-specific templates for Depop, eBay, and Poshmark, she was able to create professional and visually appealing content quickly and efficiently.
Results: Since adopting Photoroom, Blonde Bandit has seen increased social media and marketplace views, likes, and sales. The platform has helped Brooke maintain a clean and professional visual identity across all selling platforms, resulting in more engagement and growth for her business.
When Brooke Pickel started modeling at just 15 years old, she had no idea what she wanted to do long-term (as most teenagers don’t!), but one thing she was always sure of was her deep love of fashion. It had been a part of her life ever since she could remember and she couldn’t imagine a life without it.
After graduating high school, Brooke took a break from the runway and studied graphic design at Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas—graduating in 2020. Then, between 2019 and 2020, entrepreneurship began to call her name and she started reselling vintage clothes online both on her own website and on popular resell marketplaces like Depop, eBay, and Poshmark. As her new venture quickly started to take shape and take off, the perfect name came to Brooke (who is blonde!) and Blonde Bandit Vintage was born.
Today, in addition to reselling largely Y2K/early 2000s-inspired garments, Blonde Bandit also carries its own vintage line of originally produced clothing. As a team of only two—Brooke and her partner Myer, have a lot on their plates and sometimes struggle to reach their target in a saturated market. Fortunately, Photoroom has helped them stand out from the crowd and ultimately sell more.
Discovering Photoroom and never looking back
“A few years ago, I was taking a break from listing some vintage t-shirts on eBay when I came across an ad for Photoroom on YouTube,” Brooke says. “It was another reseller talking about how he uses Photoroom to boost the quality of his creative brand assets and I was like—wait—that sounds AWESOME.”
Brooke immediately headed to the App Store, downloaded Photoroom, tested out the fan-favorite instant Background Remover tool, and she was hooked.
“The first time I tried Photoroom, I thought—WOW—that’s so easy and so clean. I’m paying for a subscription right now. And I’ve never looked back.”
Before discovering Photoroom—Brooke, an experienced graphic designer—would take a product photo with her phone, airdrop it to her laptop, open it up in Photoshop, and start the tedious task of removing the background by outlining it, tracing it, and cutting it. And she’d have to do this very manual process every single time.
“As a graphic designer, I’ve used a lot of other apps and design software, but there has never been a tool as accurate as Photoroom, hands down. That’s why I’ve been so blown away since the beginning. I think the Background Remover tool and how well and quickly it works really sets Photoroom apart.” - Brooke Pickel, Founder, Blonde Bandit Vintage
W hether she’s producing content to share on social media, interacting with her followers, promoting her Instagram page, or building her listings on popular resale marketplaces, Brooke uses Photoroom almost every day as a key step in her marketing and sales processes. And she loves how easy it is to create creative assets for specific platforms like Depop, eBay, or Poshmark with Photoroom’s platform-specific templates.
Unlocking creativity: Brooke's favorite Photoroom features for her reseller business
From pop-up collateral and business cards to social media promotions and marketplace listings, Brooke finds herself continually discovering new, fun ways to elevate her brand and unleash more of her creativity using Photoroom’s wide range of photo editing and design features.
“I really love the look of torn paper, tape, and overlaid items. With Photoroom, I can cut things, remove them and then just continue to duplicate, and it's something that’s been doing really well whenever I have a Depop or website drop of new items. And when I have 20 plus items to list at once, the Batch Edit capability really comes in handy, too. It’s amazing.”
Brooke also loves Photoroom’s editing features and the fact that she can transform images right in the app without having to pull out her laptop or transfer files from one device to another.
“I’m usually editing all my photos inside of Photoroom, because everything I need is right there." - Brooke Pickel, Founder, Blonde Bandit Vintage
Most recently, Brooke has found herself using Photoroom’s AI Image Generator more and more and incorporating that imagery into her work with Blonde Bandit. “I really like that capability, because usually, when you’re doing that kind of thing, you’d have to be on a laptop or a device with more power. But being able to generate AI imagery right on my phone—whether it be a new background for an existing image or putting in a prompt for something totally new—is just so easy and convenient since I don’t always have my laptop when I get a great idea that I want to execute on before I forget.” And the ability to overlay text on those images is the cherry on top.
A clear difference: How Photoroom has helped Blonde Bandit level up
“As a business, Photoroom has definitely impacted us [Blonde Bandit] in a really positive way. It’s helped me streamline all of my content and creative assets and enabled me to move so much faster, which helps me keep up with the super fast pace of social media and stay on my A game.”
More than creating significant efficiencies and boosting her overall operation, Brooke says Photoroom has helped her sell more.
“Photoroom has helped keep all of my selling platforms really clean and professional across the board. I like to use a white background with a lot of my listings and when I’d take the photos myself, sometimes the lighting was off or the white looked a little yellow, but with Photoroom, I get a perfect white background every time. So just from a visual perspective, Photoroom has produced more views, more likes, and more sales for our brand.”
What’s next for Blonde Bandit and how Photoroom will continue to play a key role
In just a few years, Brooke and Blonde Bandit have made quite a name for themselves in the fashion and reseller communities of the southeastern U.S., but this is just the beginning. In the coming months and years, Brooke hopes to expand her pop-ups to bigger cities in the east and eventually take them west as well. One day, she even hopes to have a physical storefront in addition to selling online.
According to Brooke, Photoroom has been and will continue to be a big part of all the magic behind Blonde Bandit. “I’m excited to see how this and other technology is going to enable the growth of our brand. We really want to build something that is all-inclusive and all-encompassing, but is also boundary-breaking and new and original.”
"If you’re any kind of maker, reseller, or small business, and you’re thinking about trying Photoroom, just do it. Photoroom inspires creativity and saves you so much time. And it’s so simple; it’s easy for anyone to use, even if you consider yourself somewhat technology-challenged. It’s well worth the subscription.”
- Brooke Pickel, Founder, Blonde Bandit Vintage.
Try Photoroom yourself today! Available on Android, iOS, or the Web.
And be sure to check out Blonde Bandit on Instagram and Facebook to stay up-to-date on all of the cool things this fun, fast-growing brand is up to.
