Meet the S.F. vintage dealer supplying Drake, Lil Yachty, and the NBA’s best-dressed

Conventional wisdom says fashion trends circle back in 20-year cycles. But in the age of social media, they move at hyperspeed. Crocs are booming, Casio watches are back, and baggy jeans have gone so far we’re seeing a resurgence in JNCOs.

Rudolph “Bong” Sigua has been ahead of these shifts for decades. The 43-year-old owner of Valencia Street boutique Big Time Vintage has become a go-to tastemaker for brands, like Levi’s and The North Face, that increasingly look to the past for inspiration. (As for his own brand, “Bong” is a common nickname in the Filipino American community, not a reference to cannabis.)

But it’s Sigua’s enormous, under-the-radar, by-appointment-only warehouse in the Bayview that has won him celebrity acclaim. An inconspicuous presence along the industrial corridor of auto-body shops and overpasses, the studio houses wall-to-wall racks of clothes that draw an A-list clientele, including Drake, Lil Yachty, Tyler, the Creator, and a bevy of NBA players. 

“He’s good at what he does, bruh,” said Jalen Williams, a forward for the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team widely called the league’s most fashionable. Sigua stocks everything Williams is looking for, from Carhartt and Pelle Pelle jackets to hard-to-find Louis Vuitton items. “He has a lane for everybody.”

At the NBA All-Star game in February at Chase Center, Williams made waves with his pregame outfit, which featured a custom pair of Chrome Hearts grills and a hard-to-miss fur vest. The latter was courtesy of Sigua. 

Over the last decade, the energetic Sigua — who has a penchant for baggy jeans and unique snapbacks — turned his hobby into a side hustle, and now, an indispensable shop for debonair dudes with money to burn. His inventory of clothing and accessories is both timeless and of the moment. He can wax poetic on the origins of trends hailing from Japan or the rural Midwest. He can spot from three racks away the stitching patterns that indicate a certain decade. He knows denim like a river knows its banks.

The collection that celebrities fly from around the world to see started just a few blocks from Sigua’s Valencia Street shop. He grew up in the Excelsior, where nothing mattered to style-conscious teens more than getting their hands on a satin Starter jacket. In the late 1980s and early ’90s, those shimmering jackets, emblazoned with the colors and logos of professional sports franchises, cost north of $100. They were so pricey, in fact, that it was not uncommon to get jumped (or even killed) for your piece. Sigua’s brother was mugged for his. So the future vintage hound never got one.

“My mom was like, ‘We’re not buying that, because people will beat you up for it,’” Sigua said. 

But the love for clothes never left him. Sports apparel — everything from jerseys to brand collabs with teams — became his lifeblood. He spent long hours digging through Bay Area flea markets, stopping at as many thrift stores as he could.

Sigua launched an eBay shop, Catch + Release, in the early 2000s, paying his rent while ensuring a steady cycle of inventory. As the business grew, Sigua realized that pieces he was selling were going straight to the design offices of Ralph Lauren, Levi’s, and several high-profile brands from around the country “that I can’t really talk about,” Sigua said.

Word spread about his growing collection, which in 2020, Sigua moved into his warehouse space to house his growing collection of clothing. Soon a friend introduced Sigua to Gary Payton II, a guard for the Golden State Warriors. Payton asked if he could pay a visit and bring a friend, Jordan Poole, at the time a Warriors shooting guard.

Less than a year after opening the warehouse, the floodgates opened, with celebrities routinely making a pilgrimage to Sigua’s warehouse. Immediately after his 2023 Outside Lands performance, Lil Yachty went straight to the warehouse and spent nearly five hours looking through clothes. It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

“Lil Yachty is probably my biggest customer,” Sigua said, noting that he shipped a staggering 18 boxes of clothing to the Atlanta rapper in January alone.

On that first visit, Lil Yachty bought an oversize white tee with “Mac Dre” printed on the front for $300. It was a gift for a friend, Toronto rapper Drake. Days later, Drake wore it at his sold-out show at the Chase Center, stopping to pay respects to the East Bay rapper, taking off his denim jacket in a dramatic reveal. 

The next day, Drake stopped by Sigua’s warehouse. He now shops primarily by texting Sigua, who flashed me a shot of a group chat with the rapper and his stylist. In it are photos of Fubu jerseys and camo jackets, with heart reactions and a two-word message from Drake: “Need that.”

Williams, the Oklahoma City Thunder forward, said he has vintage seller contacts around the country, but Sigua remains his No. 1. “I know if I ask him for some shit or something close to what I’m looking for, he usually can find it,” Williams said, adding that he introduced several teammates to Sigua. Whenever the Thunder come to the Bay for a game, a group of players stops by the warehouse. 

As Sigua reflects on the last decade’s successes and celebrities’ overwhelming attraction to his warehouse, his brick-and-mortar shop in the Mission is also leaning forward. Less than six months in, the store is extremely popular, even among the long list of second-hand stores in the neighborhood. This is partly because of the pricing, often well below the going rates on his eBay store. 

“I want people to find a good deal,” Sigua said, holding a red plaid L.L. Bean jacket priced at $119. 

The amount of clothing in his warehouse and store is dizzying. Still, one item defines Big Time Vintage. The same Starter jackets he once hustled to get his hands on are now stacked in his warehouse and lined along the racks of his shop. They’re ready for the next generation to obsess over — just like he once did.