Man Transforms Nostalgic 90s Bedding Sets into Iconic $500 Jackets — and the Finished Products Go Viral (Exclusive)

The '90s are back.

A landscape company manager-turned-designer is going viral on TikTok for upcycling nostalgic bedsheets and comforters into stylish hoodies, jackets and more.

Keenan Holcombe, 35, was managing a landscape company in Calgary, Alberta, that was abruptly shut down mid-pandemic, when he had an idea.

"My mom was getting rid of her sewing machine and asked if I wanted it. I said, 'yes,' took it, and started making some things — a wallet, a hoodie that wasn’t the greatest," he tells PEOPLE.

While sewing began as a hobby for Holcombe, it quickly transitioned into a money-making endeavor when his friends began requesting he make them things, too.

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"All of a sudden, my friends were like, 'Hey, could you make me something?' " he says. "So I made a deal with myself: if I can make as much money as I was making in the landscaping business in the first month of selling clothes online, I'll stick with it."

One month later, he had made even more than at his previous job.

The beginnings of his business — called Rye Dylan Reworks — entailed, he admits, "lots of trial and error."

"I had sewing lessons in high school. I think I made a hacky sack," he recalls with a laugh. "But I hadn't really done it in 10, 15 years. So, I watched a couple of YouTube videos and went from there.

His first projects entailed turning something old into something new.

A t-shirt gifted to him from his girlfriend that later shrunk in the dryer became a wallet, and blankets he found at local thrift stores were reimagined into hoodies and jackets.

"That's when I got addicted to thrifting," he says. "I like the aspect of taking something somebody threw away and turning it into something other people will cherish."

Those items now range from toques and balaclavas that retail for $15 to sleeping bag jackets that retail for $500. But all his products have one thing in common: they reuse materials most buyers are familiar with from their childhoods, like an Aladdin sleeping bag, reimagined as a stylish puffer jacket.

A millennial himself. Holcombe says he is most drawn to blankets and tees with characters from the shows and movies he grew up with, like Pokémon, Dragonball Z and Rugrats.

He does, however, have one item on his thrifting wishlist.

"Something I’ve been looking for a lot — that is ridiculously expensive online — is vintage Goosebumps bedding or sleeping bags," he says. "On eBay, those go for $400-$500 for a bed sheet."

The real draw for Holcombe, he says, is less about value and more about nostalgia.

"It’s cool seeing materials I had when I was a kid and being able to turn it into something entirely new," he tells PEOPLE. "It's a way to take a piece of your childhood and wear it."