How modern companies are profiting in the resurgence of vintage trends.
As the saying goes, “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure”. Vintage is once again in fashion as companies look to take advantage of the renewed taste for the products of yesteryear.
Why the preference for the old all of a sudden? It could be explained by a turn towards more sustainable fashion. According to ThredUp ($TDUP), a listed online thrift store, around 36b items of clothing are thrown away in the U.S. every year. A shocking 95% of these items could likely be reused. With sustainability fully in fashion, companies like ThredUp are filling the demand for second hand clothes. In fact, the company expects the resale market to reach US$47b by 2025.
One of the most globally recognisable jeans is the Levi’s 501 ($LEVI). First produced in the 1870s, the iconic jean can be credited with popularising a staple of fashion. This is likely why Levi’s clothing of the past are worth serious money. In 2014 a pair of vintage 501s from the 1950s sold for over US$5,000.
The obsession with old Levi’s jeans is not news to the company. In fact, they actively exploit the market’s demand by slightly modernising old designs and selling the ‘new’ versions. For example, you can currently purchase the 1993 and 1980’s 501 from Levi’s website. As the company says, “all the vintage-fit magic. Zero thrift store digging”.
Not to sound like a broken record (one and only record joke), but vintage extends beyond just clothes, with records and old games also receiving the vintage treatment. For instance, an unopened, sticker sealed 1985 Super Mario Bros sold for US$2m in August 2021 ($NTDOY).
Then there is vinyl. In the first half of 2021, vinyl outsold digital album sales by 6.3m copies. In fact, the 19.2m vinyl albums sold in the first half of 2021 was a 400,000 increase compared to all of 2019’s sales, according to Forbes.
Vinyl sales are not only coming from back alley, niche shops. Mighty Ape, the company Kogan.com ($KGN) purchased for $122m back in 2020, has 6,039 different vinyl albums for sale.
Staying within the vintage theme, our latest line of merch puts a market spin on some of your market favourites. Warren. Cathie. Whitney. Michael. These are CEOs who inspire us to think bigger, invest smarter and lead the charge. So naturally we decided to immortalise them in vintage T-shirts. Take a look below, or follow us on Instagram @hellostake to learn how to get your hands on this one-time-only collection.
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