Sunday, November 21, 2010

Why Buy Vintage this Holiday Season?

1. You may have noticed they just don't build things like they used to.....
It is in the best interest of the company manufacturing something to have it fall apart or break down as soon as it possibly can. The economy is driven by consumers constantly purchasing new merchandise. If you only have to buy something once, and have it last your lifetime - in what way does this benefit the manufacturer?
When your parents or grandparents purchased a piece a furniture, it was built to last for generations. You bought well, once, and passed it on to the next generation. You could repair it, you could refinish it, you could repaint it, you could re cover it...all because it was built well and made of solid materials.
2. Vintage has a positive environmental impact
Have you ever tried to glue a laminated, "pressed wood" modern chair back together when if falls apart after 2 years of ownership? It's kind of hard to do when it's put together with staples and formed of sawdust impregnated with glue. It was never intended to last for any duration. It was intended to fall apart and not to be repaired. Where does this broken chair end up? In a landfill. How many of these broken chairs will you have to replace in a lifetime?
Buy an antique, and you only have to buy it once. By buying vintage or previously owned goods you are practicing essential environmental stewardship. When you shop vintage you are buying something that has already been manufactured and are therefore not further contributing to manufacturing processes that have a negative impact on our world.
3. Classics never go out of style
We see this over and over again. Good style and good quality are recycled into modern decor over and over and over again. Good borrowed style of a bygone era may be available in cheap, modern, mass produced decor - but it will never be a classic, an investment, or an item of quality. It can be only what it is - a cheap imitation that's going to end up in a landfill one day. Buy a quality classic and it will be the "bones" of your household decor.
4. Chances are none of your friends are going to have the same one
Buying Vintage is buying unique. The processes of time dictate that the more time that passes, the harder it is going to be to find another one like the item you have. If you buy something old you are buying something that tells people you are an individual. You have a style of of your own. That your purchasing decision was well thought out.

Whether you shop at thrift stores, garage sales, consignment shops, collectibles stores, antiques shops, or flea markets - by shopping Vintage you are doing something valuable.

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