The Art of Trading Up

May 13, 2025

I’m kind of obsessed with the concept of ‘trading up’ at the moment. It’s one of many reasons that drives my love for curating pre-loved clothing.


With more (and better) targeted advertising on social media, the convenience of shopping from our devices, and personal spending being so visible - we’re consuming more new clothing than we ever thought possible. There is more than enough clothing out in the world to last us eons.


That’s where the idea of ‘trading up’ comes in!


For us ‘trading up’ means instead of buying a new winter coat from a fast fashion retailer for $150, you could ‘trade up’ by finding a vintage, or pre-loved designer coat for, let’s say, $200. And with trends being so cyclical, it’s *almost always* possible to find the vintage version of something on your wish list - or you might even be able to find the exact item secondhand before needing to buy it new.


Let me tell you why I think it’s worth the hunt:



  • Oftentimes you’ll see a better fabric composition (depending on which era the piece is from). For example on a vintage coat, if you look at the care label, you’re likely to find really high wool count (or counterpart blends). And we see this with the majority of vintage coats coming through our store

  • ️Vintage is built differently, it’s made to last (I mean, those pieces have made it 20+ years to make it to this point!)

  • When shopping vintage, you’re scoring something that’s unique to your closet (maybe only a handful people will also have this item - if any!)

  • You’ve saved yourself money in the long run. Vintage (and designer items) are going to offer you a better return on investment in multiple ways. Well made items = low cost per wear!

  • Fast fashion items depreciate rapidly due to their low cost and limited durability. They are often designed to be discarded after a short period of wear, leading to a significant decrease in value and a high volume of textile waste. Whereas designer items and vintage are generally going to hold, or even increase, their value! So if you ever decide to part with that item - there’s your return on investment


Thanks for reading, see you next time (or in-store).


Rosie XX