From cars to watches, handbags and furniture, vintage has resurged in recent years as savvy consumers search for second-hand gems in favour of mass produced new products. There’s been a noticeable change in consumer attitudes towards wearing and utilising secondhand goods. Why has this occurred?
People are tiring of never-ending mass consumerism- every year, a new iPhone; every month, a new model of car; every day, new fashion trends. In today’s throwaway culture, it seems that there’s no longevity to purchases anymore. There’s a yearning for familiarity in the fast-paced, detached, technology-dominated world that we live in. And purchasing vintage items represents a form of stability within our rapidly changing environment, helping consumers to reconnect with a simpler time.
Consumers are adopting new attitudes — focussing more on the intrinsic value of something, whilst increasingly viewing the concept of fast fashion as vulgar. Vintage is about looking forward through the window of the past, and the history and stories associated with vintage items have the ability to capture the essences of past eras through the stories interwoven within garments, crafted into furniture and manufactured into cars.
As society has grown more environmentally conscious, buying vintage is an ideal confluence of creativity with sustainability. A 1960s Carl Hansen chair crafted from oak offers a timeless elegance, the quality of which stands the tests of time. In this way, buying vintage can be seen as a reaction against mass-produced fast fashion absurdity of consumerism which sees ten million items of furniture thrown away each year.
Vintage pieces are also a novel way to express individuality and creativity. Choosing to treat your home to a statement mid-century Carl Malmsten Samsas Armchair rather than the standard IKEA fare — boring Billy bookcases and mundane Malm furniture — is seen as an expression that you care about design.
People invariably assert their individuality through the things that they purchase and consume — so what does buying vintage say about you? That you care about style, and that you care about sustainability. It is hard to keep your originality in societies dominated by mass produced items, but people are increasingly embracing vintage as a way to develop a signature style. Whether it’s through clothing, timepieces or furniture — artfully chosen vintage items are authentic conversation pieces that can represent the values that you care about.
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