Successful rummages for vintage clothes seem to be few and far between these days. Charity shop rails are full of old St Michael, C&A and shoulder-padded sequinned pieces, all priced higher than non-clothing cast-offs.
Online stores such as Asos Marketplace throw up vintage items that I, in my late twenties, can remember the first time round - and didn't much like then. And finding genuine vintage pieces on eBay requires you to decipher 'the code' to avoid mistaking a Primark copy for a 1960s original.
The increased demand for vintage pieces in recent years has resulted in higher prices for the raw goods. Judy Berger has been running Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair since 2005, and has recently noticed a "surge" in buyers from the far east and the Netherlands, where vintage is scarce, coming to Britain to buy in bulk. This, she predicts, will push prices up even further.
But with fierce competition from other sellers, many vintage traders are being forced to swallow the rising costs rather than pass them on to customers who could choose to cut out the middleman.
"Everyone is after vintage now," says Audrey Taylor, one half of the Kate & Aud vintage boutique. "There was a time not too long ago when you could buy great vintage bits from charity shops, eBay and car boot sales, but now everyone is selling it online or buying for themselves and you can't get bargains any more."
If sourcing cheap vintage to sell on at a profit is becoming more of a challenge, what type of business will survive? Lynnette Peck Bateman, a magazine and brand consultant who owns an online vintage fashion boutique, believes that, as in any business, carving out a niche is key.
"You need to know exactly who your customer is rather than selling random pieces from different eras at lots of different prices," she says. "My customers follow trends and want vintage that looks current and has an edge, so you won't see long white gloves from the 1920s or aprons from the 1950s that no one will wear."
While fashion trends come and go quicker than you can say "Anna Wintour is styling out that banana print", vintage business owners aren't worried that the styles of the past will fall out of favour.
"There will always be people who like individual and interesting pieces," Bateman says. "In the future I think the price of quality pieces, such as designer items or one-offs, will rise, and the cheaper, more commonplace pieces will fall as more comes on to the market."
Indeed, the mass production of current fashions that fill shops for just a few weeks at a time means that there will be no shortage of items for people to hoard or sell on in the future - although their durability may be in doubt.
For now, 90s production techniques are being given a run for their money as the grunge trend sees fashion fans scour secondhand shops for velvet bodies, chunky boots and oversized jumpers. Personally I'm a 60s and 70s girl at heart, but I'm not immune to the allure of the slouchy hide-all-sins top - particularly as financial uncertainty has me choosing more wearable everyday pieces, as well as the odd investment buy, to become that picky customer Bateman described.
How do you feel about 90s style now being 'vintage'? And has your second-hand shopping experience changed over the years? Is it now harder to find those must-tell-everyone bargains, has vintage familiarity bred contempt, or are you thrilled that there are more places to shop for unique pieces?
• Jo-ann Fortune is the editor of vintagebrighton.com
We at Urban Village, came across this interesting article, above, " Is vintage clothing passé?" on the Guardian, by Jo- Ann Fortune and thought we would share it to you all.
As you all may be aware that the demand for vintage in the recent years has increased immensely, which ultimately means higher priced are charged as there are less vintage clothing to go around. Everyone is after vintage, from charity shops to Ebay and Asos Marketplace. Individuals are also buying and selling individually online to make some profits, this puts a strain on bargaining. Hence, the reason to higher priced vintage goods.
A major problem that wasn't mentioned is the fact that many Eastern Europe countries such as Poland, Ukraine and Russia are taking many unsorted rags direct from the UK, unfortunately, this does include our beloved vintage peices that we all crave for. These clothing are not appreciated and sold as classic vintage peices, but instead they are turned into industrial wiper rags.
Bulks of vintage peices are disappearing due to this.
We hope that this will come to a natural end as is the normal way! Although this has been happening for many years now and we are only just starting to feel the long term effect of the process.
Blog by Frankie Johns.
