I love vintage clothes and jewelry. Always have, always will. My greatest finds were at garage sales and estate sales. The trick is to get there early. Well everyone else knows that trick too. Sometimes it's gets crazy and you really need to tune into yourself and ask for patience and resolve as you sift through to find the treasures.
Ok so you were lucky enough to find a couple of items that could possibly be vintage , but if you're like me and you searching so you can resell, then you need to know if what you found is true vintage and if it is salable, not only salable but profitable for you as well.
So what do we do if we find something that looks interesting but we know nothing about it. There are clues to vintage. If you found a dress that is lined, chances are it was made after he 70's. Prior to the 70's women wore slips so chances are the garments were unlined.
Another hint of a vintage garment would be if it has zippers. If it does and it's metal there's a good chance you're holding vintage. Later on zippers were made of plastic. Another clue is in women's blouses, many times you will find a half zipper in the back. The placement will also suggest if an item is vintage.
Labels are another give away to vintage. Vintage clothing will have labels that are sewn in and and there may be a blue union label which would indicate that he garment is back to about 1980. After that, many garments were outsourced in Asia for cheaper labor.
I recently took a class at the Fashion Institute of Technology on Vintage Clothing and Vintage Shopping. The greatest bit of knowledge that I gained from that class was learning about the Vintage Fashion Guild website. You can join for free and you can read here labels. So for instance I recently purchased a dress from R & K Originals. I didn't know much about the brand so I went to their website and searched the name. There were many variations of the label and the logo. I matched the label to the era that this particular dress was made. Otherwise I would not have had a clue. If you subscribe, which I do not as of yet, there are more in-depth resources. One of the more informative pages include a timeline beginning in 1800 with a brief description of women's clothing from that period to present. There are also many uTube videos that you can also watch that will tell you which silhouettes were popular in which era. There are tons of fashion books also where you can educate yourself. So the next time you are vintage shopping and you find something that you feel is a treasure you will have some clue if it truly is or if it's just something that you personally like. What happens with me is if I don't think it's a profitable resale but I love it and it's my size then I own it. You don't make much money with this philosophy, but you do build a very eclectic and interesting wardrobe for yourself.
Here are some photos of items I have picked up here and there that are for sale in my Etsy and Poshmark closet.
Next week we will discuss some great places in the city to shop for yourself personally and where to shop if it's for resale.
Ok so you were lucky enough to find a couple of items that could possibly be vintage , but if you're like me and you searching so you can resell, then you need to know if what you found is true vintage and if it is salable, not only salable but profitable for you as well.
So what do we do if we find something that looks interesting but we know nothing about it. There are clues to vintage. If you found a dress that is lined, chances are it was made after he 70's. Prior to the 70's women wore slips so chances are the garments were unlined.
Another hint of a vintage garment would be if it has zippers. If it does and it's metal there's a good chance you're holding vintage. Later on zippers were made of plastic. Another clue is in women's blouses, many times you will find a half zipper in the back. The placement will also suggest if an item is vintage.
Labels are another give away to vintage. Vintage clothing will have labels that are sewn in and and there may be a blue union label which would indicate that he garment is back to about 1980. After that, many garments were outsourced in Asia for cheaper labor.
I recently took a class at the Fashion Institute of Technology on Vintage Clothing and Vintage Shopping. The greatest bit of knowledge that I gained from that class was learning about the Vintage Fashion Guild website. You can join for free and you can read here labels. So for instance I recently purchased a dress from R & K Originals. I didn't know much about the brand so I went to their website and searched the name. There were many variations of the label and the logo. I matched the label to the era that this particular dress was made. Otherwise I would not have had a clue. If you subscribe, which I do not as of yet, there are more in-depth resources. One of the more informative pages include a timeline beginning in 1800 with a brief description of women's clothing from that period to present. There are also many uTube videos that you can also watch that will tell you which silhouettes were popular in which era. There are tons of fashion books also where you can educate yourself. So the next time you are vintage shopping and you find something that you feel is a treasure you will have some clue if it truly is or if it's just something that you personally like. What happens with me is if I don't think it's a profitable resale but I love it and it's my size then I own it. You don't make much money with this philosophy, but you do build a very eclectic and interesting wardrobe for yourself.
Here are some photos of items I have picked up here and there that are for sale in my Etsy and Poshmark closet.
Next week we will discuss some great places in the city to shop for yourself personally and where to shop if it's for resale.
Comments
Post a Comment