Vintage/Resale

 

There is no single agreed upon definition for the word "vintage" when it comes to clothing, but generally speaking it refers to an item that is decades old (more than 20 years old).  If the item is more recent than that, the word "resale" applies.  Here at Viridian Strange we do not differentiate between vintage and resale within our collections, but if it is clear which decade an item was manufactured in, we will put that in the product title.  So why should you purchase vintage/resale?  Other than a lot of it being simply amazing, there are many excellent reasons. But the best reason is to cut down on fast fashion.

So what is fast fashion?

It is a term used to describe clothing designs that move quickly from the catwalk to stores to take advantage of trends. The collections are often based on styles presented at Fashion Week runway shows or worn by celebrities.  Fast fashion allows mainstream consumers to purchase the latest trends at a cheaper price.  

So why is fast fashion bad?

These companies that produce fast fashion tend to steal from designers which can have an especially harmful impact on smaller independent designers.  Fast fashion is all about doing things as quickly and cheaply as possible, so as you can imagine, that does not mesh well with good environmental and labor policies.  These companies are reckless about pollution and waste.  They are using low cost materials and not providing good working conditions and livable wages. Since fast fashion focuses on “quick and cheap” they are made with poor quality fabrics which we tend to see as disposable (It is said that an average person will toss out 70 pounds of textiles yearly).

All of this is why it's great to visit online or local vintage/resale shops and give a previously loved garment another life. Instead of buying a new cheap disposable black dress for an event, try looking for a second-hand black dress that has demonstrated its superior quality by surviving the test of time.