Vintage?

[Aerol]

With all the talk of vintage hats a question comes to mind: How old is vintage?

Are we talking 1940s, or will the '70s do? Does it vary by maker? By country? Simply by age (25+ years, for example)?

 

[J. M. Stovall]

I know this has been discussed in depth recently, I'll try and find the thread.

 

[J. M. Stovall]

Here it is!


http://www.thefedoralounge.net/showthread.php?t=6835

 

[nightandthecity]

In Britain (and i imagine the US) the first specialist vintage shops (as opposed to "second hand) opened in the late 60s and early 70s, and the clientele was heavily student/alternative/late teens/twenties.

At that time "vintage" meant anything from the mid-50s and earlier, so it was really starting from about 15 years before. Whilst you could still find Victorian and Edwardian gear back then, most of the stock tended to be 1930s-50s i.e. from around 20-40 years before.

Whilst us old codgers have stuck with that idea of vintage (mid 20th century) the trade has had to move with the times, so nowadays it tends to mean anything from before 1990, typically 1960s-80s...basically the same time scale, but updated.This time scale might seem ridiculously recent to us middle agers, but of course when you're 18, twenty years is more than your lifetime and thus millenia ago.

 

[Aerol]

Thanks

Thanks for the link. I must have missed it when it was new.

So all the discussion of "vintage" really the discussion of old vs. new?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I prefer the word "experienced", as in "experienced clothing". It doesn't work for deadstock, though.

 

[Twitch]

The "1990s vintage..." seen in Ebay ads is a riot. A 10 year old car isn't vintage so neither are clothing and hats!:eusa_doh:

 

[Kaleponi Craig]

1982 Bordeaux - vintage
1982 fedora - NOT vintage

I think I would compare it with cars. I really don't think a car that was made after 1970 would be considered vintage. Same with hats...KC

 

[Hemingway Jones]

1982 Bordeaux - vintage
1982 fedora - NOT vintage

Well, KC, unless that Fedora is a Herbert Johnson with the original Raiders block! That, my friend, would be vintage.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Well, KC, unless that Fedora is a Herbert Johnson with the original Raiders block! That, my friend, would be vintage.

It's not the years, Hemingway -- it's the mileage.

 

[Kaleponi Craig]

Well, KC, unless that Fedora is a Herbert Johnson with the original Raiders block! That, my friend, would be vintage.

Hemingway, that is indeed the ONE exception!...KC