Conversations with Kara Hartz

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kara Hartz.

Hi Kara, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I was born a thrifter. While other kids were dragged through Dillard’s, I begged my parents to take me to Savers in Boulder. I’ve always hacked up my clothes—cutting, sewing, ripping—to make something no one else had.

I came up in the punk scene, haunting shows in Denver and Fort Collins, dreaming of dressing the musicians who lit up the stage. In 2003, I became a hairstylist and spent the next 20 years working in salons across the country. By 2020, my partner Matt Schliske—a badass fly fisherman and bamboo rod maker—and I were living in Charleston, SC, grinding through the rat race. But it wasn’t for us. So we split and moved to the weird little town of Thermopolis, Wyoming, to build a quieter, freer life.

Small-town salons didn’t inspire me, so I went back to what lit my fire: fashion. Not mall fashion—real fashion. I started ripping apart old Wrangler jackets, dyeing them with RIT, and patching them up with band tees I scored from my friend Chip Guthrie of Wounded Heart Press in Fort Collins. Trash to treasure. That’s when Trash Cat was born in 2023.

Since then, I’ve made jackets for artists like Suzi Moon, Ryan Charles, and Chuck Ragan. A year in, this killer tattoo artist from Argentina—Emanuel Colucci—hit me up on Facebook. He offered to collab and hand-drew my logo and designs. I bought a heat press on sale and dove into the world of transfers.

Now, I’m onto silk screening—ready to bleach, shred, and dye used clothes with my own images. One-of-a-kind. No fast fashion. No landfill waste. Just raw, wearable art.

Someday, I’ll have a brick-and-mortar shop—music blasting, dogs roaming, and clothes that scream rebellion.

Trash Cat ain’t for everyone. But if you know, you know.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It wasn’t smooth—nothing ever is with a Scorpio like me. That first year in Thermopolis? Total soul excavation. I took time off and spiraled deep into my wretched little core. It was isolating, disorienting, and honestly terrifying. For 20 years, I was a hairstylist. That identity ran deep. Letting it go—along with a bunch of other outdated versions of myself—was a full-on ego death.

But slowly, piece by piece, I started making again. Reconstructing clothes I actually wanted to wear brought me back to life. It’s one of the realest, most healing things I’ve ever done for myself.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I bring clothing back from the dead—ripping, dyeing, patching, and rebuilding pieces that deserve a second life. Trash Cat exists to give people a way out of fast fashion hell. Each one-of-a-kind piece holds my creative chaos, a reminder that mindless consumption isn’t the vibe.

I also make skull art—faux animal skulls collaged with torn-up vintage mags, layered in paint, and sometimes covered in a blasphemous amount of spikes. It’s gritty. It’s weird. It’s beautiful. Art for your body and your walls.

What I’m most proud of? Being part of your space—whether it’s what you wear or what you hang—and pulling myself out of a dark place to make it happen.

What makes you happy?
Living life on my own terms in a place as magical as Thermopolis is the real joy. Simplicity. Essentialism. Sun on my skin, dogs by my side, music loud, trees swaying like they’re putting on a show just for me—that’s the medicine.

Doesn’t take much to make me happy anymore.

The freedom of running my own small business hits different. And the discipline it took to build it? That makes me proud as hell.

Pricing:

• Shirts 45.00
• Sweatshirts or hoodies 55.00
• Custom jackets 180-400
• Skull art 200-500

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.trashcat.shop
• Instagram: Trash_cat307
• Facebook: Kara Hartz