When Time Meets Creativity Exclusivity is Guaranteed

As Instagram, Facebook and other social media make it impossible to protect fashion designs from ardent manufacturers who stall the catwalks to reproduce outfits before the lights are turned off, an invisible hand seems to be guiding consumers’ tastes towards exclusivity. And we are seeing the vintage clothing services to go in 10 years from a US 2.000m to US 4,300m in America. Growing sales by the about 26,000 vintage outlets that exist in the US are propelled by two different kind of winds.

On the one hand, the upper crust of US women want to be different and to enjoy exclusivity. And those aspirations lead them to search in the closet of time for their apparel. These ladies have pump up the price of vintage clothing several hundred dollars. For example, an Hermes vest coat with matching handbag owned by Maria Felix the Mexican movie actress was recently auctioned for $19,200 in spite of the fact that the ensemble was expected to fetch at most $2,500 by the offering vintage store. Mondrian inspired Yves Saint Laurent mini dresses could be sold today for $20,000. Auction houses like Christies and Sothebys had place a price tag of about US 6,000 for the splashy outfit.

The second head wind blowing over the vintage clothing industry is the presence in the market place of  the ubiquitous millennials. These demographics will never spend $20,000 for a vintage dress but would rather buy, as they have dubbed vintage, pre used clothes as means to protect the environment. And while millennials are not  as large a cohort as baby boomers, they are the largest consumer group in the work place given that  baby boomers are retiring  by hundreds of  thousands every year or  crossing the skies in search of the flower power universe. These are the people behind the 18% of US consumers that indicate to pollsters that they acquire their apparel at thrift shops.

And as global warming debate heats up, millennials are more likely to recycle everything. Books; CDs. electronic equipment and even cars are some of the consumer products that  will experience a revival in their second hand segment. Internet Clothing apparel providers such as Zulily are already buying used clothes to manufacture their dresses, taking away swaths of material; embroidered applications; lace details and taffeta under skirts to create a vintage sensation that is causing furor among young professionals.

They are experiencing through clothing one of their favorite undertakings: traveling through time!! This gives them a sense of belonging to history which is their favorite pastime while upholding their political standards. And that should prove to be the spring of support to vintage clothing for years to come !!!