Why Do People Buy Vintage?
In the last five years or so, vintage has certainly come in leaps and bounds in terms of its popularity, but people have always had an interest in the past. You can admire the contents of museums, but one of the things that makes vintage so appealing is its affordability and the ease in which you can procure it.
Vintage is a term that can be attributed to items produced from the 1920s to the 1980s. Some people may wonder why anyone would want to surround themselves with old, pre-owned things, but the sense of history carried by vintage items makes them more valuable to some than any new product available in stores. You can pick up an item and wonder how many tables it graced, how many eyes admired it and the significance it held to its previous owners.
People often like having vintage items around their homes as they serve as a reminder of the past; a much simpler past unaffected by the growing grip that technology has on the world. After the Second World War, social needs were met with day trips to the seaside and tea parties. There was a strong sense of community as food and resources were largely sourced locally. Now we live in an age where people are somehow more connected, and yet more isolated than ever.
Technology has contributed towards the creation of a global market where products are mass-produced cheaply and purchased with the click of a button. Consumers want cheap products, and manufactures and retailers are happy to capitalise on this. But this practice isn’t sustainable. Vintage products may have been expensive to buy when first produced, but they were built to last. That’s why there are so many intact vintage items still in circulation. This durability makes vintage items great investment pieces; especially wooden furniture and ceramics.
Buying mass-produced products also makes it harder to express your individual taste and identity. Thousands of people across the globe decorate their homes with the same soulless objects from IKEA. Whereas many vintage decorations are completely unique, and there is a huge variety of objects to be found online and at markets. Decorating possibilities are endless.
So why do people buy vintage? It’s often unique, well-made and longer-lasting than contemporary products. Many items are very collectable and can increase in value as time passes. But vintage homewares can also remind people of days gone by. A period we remember fondly, despite never having experienced it ourselves.
