What Does Vintage Mean?

Ah yes, the age old question amongst collectors and aficionados of all things old (except people). Ask 10 collectors and you may get 6-8 different responses or variations . As our staff at HLJ at Home have been collectors of various things for over a combined 140 years, we have been privy to this inquiry many times. Unfortunately, there are no set collector guidelines or rules that indicate the true definition of the words "vintage" or "retro".

But let's see if we can clarify a few things here...or possibly confuse you even more (sorry about that).

What does the word "vintage" mean?

This is not to be confused with the vintage of a wine (for you grape lovers out there). We get asked this many times and have always said that it is a loose term that could be construed in so many ways. The word origin could come from the Latin word "vinum" but it is more closely associated with the old French word "vendange" which translates directly to "vintage". This is not to be confused with the French word "vendage" which roughly translates to "harvest" (another one for you wine drinkers out there). Other collector pundits have stated that the word means "of age", which is quite the wide scope and definitely up for interpretation. We will stay away from that one.

From a collector's point of view, to stamp the word vintage on an item, it has to be 20 years old or older. But some collectors have increased that timeframe to 40 years or older (but less than 100 years...we will get to that in a future blog post but can tell you that for an item to be considered antique, it must have been manufactured 100+ years ago).

So yes, you are correct to surmise that "vintage" is not an exact term and has so many applications and interpretations.

Why Vintage?

The use of the word vintage gives a degree of age and/or history to specific items. It allows collectors to categorize an item that they have into a certain timeframe of existence.

When asked about this term, we have always said that 5-10 year old items may not be considered vintage, but do they have a vintage look? If they look vintage, are they vintage? In the collectors realm, no, they are not vintage.

 What is Vintage Clothing?

A whole 'nother ball of wax. Yes, the term vintage can be transferred amongst many things including housewares, dinner plates, collectables or memorabilia. But with clothing, we learned that it is a tad different. You see, there are some manufacturers of clothing and accessories that currently produce vintage clothing. Huh? Well, in some clothing circles, vintage is not only about age, it is about style. So a vintage sweater, for instance, can not only be produced 20 years ago, it can actually be produced today. Confused? Join the club. You see, in the clothing industry, although age is a factor to collectors, it is not a factor to some current designers or manufacturers. So when researching or buying vintage clothing, be wary of the exact age of an item. You may be buying a vintage piece of clothing, but consider the source. And always ask questions if you have any doubts as to the age or legitimacy of an item.

So what is vintage? 

As we continue to be exposed to the true meaning of the word vintage, we have tried to narrow it down for simplicity reasons. What seems to be the industry norm, "vintage" items encompass the age timeframe between 20 and 99 years old as it seems to be the accepted standard amongst collectors and sellers alike. It seems as though that is a very wide spectrum of time, but where would we draw the line and how many terms and date ranges would we need to remember? Until there is a collector's union (like that will ever happen), we have to go with the consensus on this collectible term.

In future posts, we will try and shed some light on the various terms used in collecting. We will try and tap into some experiences that we have had and some feedback that we have received. You see, the best source of information is experience; and not only our experience, but the experience of others.

We are always open to feedback and comments on our blog posts or on any of our products and would love to hear your opinion on this or any other topic. Just send us a  note or comment on this post. Please be kind as any language or comments that are deemed inappropriate will be deleted.

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Now go get some vintage on!