Will Vintage Clothing Always Be Available?

[happyfilmluvguy]

It's been seventy years since the suit you're wearing was first made. You could be the second, the third, or even the twentieth owner of it by now. What will happen to it when it's out of your posession?

That dress you wore, now 58 years old. The lady had been eyeing it from the shop window like you had on ebay. Now it's yours, and you wear it with pride. But the dress has lived longer than it's original owner. Will it with you?

Old clothes are expensive right now. $300+ for something in perfect condition and even not, still worth quite an amount. How long before they are all bought out? How long before they are so torn up that they are tossed in the garbage by someone else who doesn't know what they have or it's value, or doesn't decide to fix it? That is if it is fixable.

That is to say I don't think old clothing will be forgotten. I think there are some places and people that will simply preserve it without knowing, meaning forget it like an old chest in the attic. Waiting for another curious cat to discover it's expert creation and may even wear it.

My question is will vintage clothing always be around, for others to aquire, to observe, and to learn from?

 

[herringbonekid]

how much clothing have you seen from the 1880s ?
or even earlier... the 1830s ? the 1790s ?
very little i'd imagine. it exists in imagery....in film costume and museums and illustrations, but basically it gets so fragile or worn out that it is thrown away.nothing lasts forever.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Seventy years from now there'll still be vintage clothing -- but it'll all be cargo shorts and velour track suits.

 

[Fletch]

Stock up now, kids!

 

[Feraud]

The pickings look slim right now if one goes by numbers alone.
I am reminded of this thread by Senator Jack.
Of the 4400 members of the Lounge, about 60 voted and 64% have at least one vintage suit.
Is the usable stock all dried up?

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

Seventy years from now there'll still be vintage clothing -- but it'll all be cargo shorts and velour track suits.

HaHa! You're so right!
But I'm wearing a cute velvet sweat suit right now, although I'm not leaving the house and just sitting around. If I were to go out I think I'd put a little effort into it and at least put on a real pair of shoes instead of my ratty old Bean slippers!
I've often thought about this question and it saddens me to think that one day that perfect swing dress will no longer be in existence. But now that I'm finally learning to sew, at least attempting to, I hope that I will make closets full of dresses from vintage patterns, so I'll have plenty to pass on to future generations. There's got to be some hope that a later generation will have the desire to wear such beautiful things. I guess my glass is half full, but given the trends of today, I don't really want to think about what styles will be like 70 years from now People will probably just not bother with clothes at all and walk around naked.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Unfortunately, I think vintage clothing (1900-1950s) will be extremely scarce in the next 70 years and will probably only be on display in a museum. Fabric only lasts so long. Even what we're wearing today will probably be scarce and in demand. LOL. I can't imagine it!

But on the bright side, with all of this new-found appreciation for the early 20th Century, a lot of those clothes will probably last a lot longer than they were intended to.

 

[CharlieH.]

Well, at least we'll still have tailors.... unless the de-evolution of fashion sends them on the way of the dodo (perish the thought!).

 

[Clara Noir]

since patterns have survived, and people do sew themselves, I'd say at least women's clothing reproductions will survive, which without background knowledge may as well be vintage. Does any one know the difference between a 1620s dress and a 1670s one? No?
In centuries to come it will be lumped under "mid-late 20th century".

Most of us will be dead. Let's just make the most of it now

 

[Jay]

No. We're polishing brass on the Titanic; it's all going down. But we'll look good while doing it. Let's just hope we inspire future generations.

 

[Phil]

It will always be available, but it won't be the same. Vintage is just a term of age, not style. Technically, clothes from the 60's can be considered vintage.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

This is one of the reasons i like "collectors" so much. (Actually, this is pretty much the only thing i like about 'em.) You know who i mean: The people who hoard and pack things away carefully and store things in moth-free environments. Though they may never ever look at the things again, they are preserving them. Whereas I, and many others here, are simply destroying the 1930s clothes we own. Every time one wears a vintage piece, it is being worn out just a little bit more.

1930s-40s vintage will be around when i die, because of collectors, hoarders, pack-rats, whatever you want to call 'em.

bk

 

[Sefton]

Hopefully there will always be obsessive (I mean perfectionist) enthusiasts of the "golden era" styles around to make reproductions that are as accurate as possible that can be worn in place of the real thing. The quality original source materials seem to be impossible to recreate with complete fidelity, but since future generations won't have access to the originals they probably won't notice the difference...

 

[green papaya]

for actual use / wearing, Id rather have brand new reproductions of the originals

as long as sombody can make authentic reproductions, I would be happy

 

[Rosie]

I thought of this a while back, here is my take on it:

I have more than a few items that are 40, 50 and in some cases, about 70 years old. The items I have are in REALLY good condition. When I wear my clothing, I wear it, I don't roll on the floor in it, play rugby and try my BEST not to drop things i.e. food and drink on it. I also take care in cleaning and storing it. Therefore, my "old" clothing will more than likely continue to look good for years to come and may (dare I say) outlive me. One of two things will happen:

1) When I die, whoever is left who knows me will throw all of my items into the trash, where it will of course be destroyed. Or

2) My items will be sold off via eBay, or whatever is popular at the time.

Since I am not the only person in the world who purchases and wears vintage clothing, I assume others will do the same. Therefore, there may be vintage in the future. It may be even more rare and more expensive, but it will be around.

 

[Lady Day]

Youll see a shift toward high end repo. Something made from an authentic vintage pattern, from a fabric that was made from that era, or one that is close to that era, and it will be done by hand and custom fit to you, for about the same price. Fitting sessions will come back, and people will know the true meaning of a fine fine piece of clothing.

Ah the rise of the tailor

LD

 

[lindylady]

Now there's something to look forward to

 

[Pilgrim]

Will there always be vintage clothing?

Of course. I'm convinced that if we have a worldwide war and 5,000 years from now the survivors conduct archaeological digs, the only things they find that will still be intact will be polyester leisure suits and shirts from the 1970's.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

An amazing fact: so much 1900s-1940s German clothing is still around (mostly overcoats, frock coats, leather coats, suits and tuxedos), that it's being exported monthly to developing countries around the world. Tons of it arrives in Chile, and I used to have a field day buying vintage frock coats, fur-lined overcoats, horsehide long coats, loden coats, double-breasted suits, etc.


You'd think that WWII and its millions of homeless German refugees would have consumed the stuff. Apparently, it's been sitting in sanitized warehouses for the past six decades. The condition of these vintage pieces is usually excellent. We're not even talking moth holes. What gives?


.

 

[Fletch]

And is there a way to intercept the stuff before it leaves Germany? Or would one need to be a high volume wholesaler with massive warehouse space to fill?