All Things Vintage: The Future of Vintage?
Because clothing from the 90s and earlier decades is becoming increasingly rare, a question is haunting the vintage community: What clothing that is not yet vintage will have vintage value* in ten years?
To find out, we interviewed well-known vintage sellers, analyzed past hypes, and we'll tell you which future vintage treasures you'd (maybe) rather pick up now!
* "Vintage" is by definition any piece of clothing that is at least 20 years old. By "value" we mean both the monetary value, i.e. how much money a piece of clothing brings, and the personal value.
Grails will be Grails… or maybe not?
There is no question that vintage clothing, which is already sought after and hotly contested, will still be valuable in ten years. But even here there are ups and downs - notable examples from the recent past are snapback caps or Tommy Hilfiger Gear from the 90s: They are still popular, but their hype from the years 2010-2015 has shrunk healthily from horrendous prices to an affordable level (again).
Snapback Caps: A Streetwear Staple
And today's classics definitely get more rare every single year: Out of clothing donations, only 60% go into the second hand market. That makes 40% that don't make it into our market (25% get recycled/ 15% get destroyed).
AnniethingVintage from Düsseldorf also insists on the increasing value of current classics: According to the vintage seller, "Starter jackets, Nike pieces [and] band shirts should definitely be kept safe" because they will no longer be affordable in ten years.
Starter Jacket @ Double Double Vintage
The fact that said Starter jackets, for example, are in constant demand suggests what current clothing might also increase in value: High-quality pieces, for which one also takes more money in the hand, because one has also longer something of it (and personal memories are attached to it).
Quality over Quantity
Luke from RelicsVtg in Frankfurt also believes that quality has a golden (vintage) future: "I'm not one hundred percent sure what will be hot in ten years. But I believe that the absolute prerequisite will be that it is high quality. So anything that's fast fashion won't be."
The past also shows this: mass-produced and poorly manufactured clothing existed even before the year 2000. But of course people don't look for 'that one cheap brand from their youth', where every piece of clothing was already broken after half a year - or in the case of current fast fashion products, disintegrates even faster (and probably doesn't even survive ten years).
"Clothing that is already valuable and expensive will not lose value" believes Noah aka Advintage Hotdogs, who with 26 years of vintage store experience has seen many trends come and go. The Hamburg native cites the brand Best Company as an example of high-quality brands that will prevail in the long run: "Three years ago, I still had to explain to everyone that this is cool shit. But now the younger ones have discovered it for themselves." Quality seems to be on the rise again.
Outdoor Wear Acronym (2018)
Even more niche (and thus inevitably increasingly rare) is Vince of Ishincroyable: the vintage affiniciado suspects that "small European heritage brands from the outdoor sector" will be in high demand in ten years. Why? "Because they did an insane amount right in the 2000s," but are currently still under the radar of many. We're also sending sportswear into the race (DryFit!), which, just like outdoor clothing, has been teeming with innovations in materials and designs over the last 20 years. Which of these will stand the test of time can currently only be vaguely compared with previous vintage trends - simply because, for example, climbing fashion has only been around since the 80s. Exciting!
Believe the Hype!
Every era brings forth its own phenomena: musicians, films, political currents, color combinations, technology, and so on. Mix all this with a formative phase in life and you have a healthy dose of nostalgia with a lot of 'oh, remember that? To recognize now, which (pop-)cultural topics will be remembered later, needs a good power of observation. All the better if you know people in the field:
"Everything that has to do with Elon Musk and Tesla" is what Germany's first Vintage YouTuber Philips.Finds puts under 'Future Classics'. Style-defining brands such as Acapulco Gold and 10Deep will soon be high on the list according to VielGoodz - in other words, brands whose designs are iconic of a certain era. And cap specialist David from Vintage Cap Kid is keeping an eye on gaming shirts, whose target group has long outgrown the subculture: "I also think that things don't even necessarily have to be 20 years old or older to get that vintage value" - which wouldn't come as a surprise, given the ever-faster changing trends.
NFT: Nice Fashionable Token?
While we were on the subject of "gaming shirts": Not only shirts with video game (motifs) could become even more popular in the future, but also shirts in video games. Because clothing is also playing an increasingly important role in the gaming world. "For kids, the skin they wear in Fortnite is just as important as their clothes in real life. Both reflect who they are," Evelyn Mora from Helsinki Fashion Week already predicted last year.
Same thing in the metaverse: The personally created avatars can attend fashion shows and buy digital outfits - and even though they can't naturally fade like real-life clothes, etc., they could be considered (digital) vintage at some point due to exclusivity and a long enough time.
And what do you think?
Here are all the exciting answers from our vintage community: