Vintage: Get what you really, really want this holiday season with secondhand gifts
But first, you have to know what's out there. On why the media should show more vintage and secondhand
This year, I’ve noticed a strange trend popping up on my TikTok For You page. People ask the masses what they want for the holidays, because the original poster “forgets” what’s on their wish list, or hasn’t made one yet.
People don’t know what they want, so they crowd-source a list. Could anything feel less personal and special than that?
Every year, shoppers in the U.S. spend US$9.1 billion on unwanted gifts, according to a 2023 survey of more than 2,000 Americans by financial website Finder.
Rather than receive a bunch of stuff you don’t want — how about getting one or two items that you do want?
The kind of gift that makes you smile every time you see it. The kind of gift where you can tell the giver knows you. The kind of gift that’s...well, vintage.
Maybe it’s a mint-condition comic book from 1996 because you are a Marvel person, or a stylish stole since you’re going through a glam phase, or a 1980s Swatch watch to keep time when your kids are swimming, or a ceramic kitten because you lost your dear cat recently. Those kinds of gifts.
More than three-quarters of people are open to giving and receiving a secondhand gift, according to a 2023 study by online buy-sell marketplace OfferUp. But when I think about who’s in my own life, I don’t think quite as many people actually do.
I have a theory: we don’t see enough secondhand and vintage in our day-to-day lives to know what’s out there. Social media is a long-scroll of product reviews, Shein hauls and the newest, hottest thing.
If the mainstream media and online influencers showed their audiences more vintage and secondhand regularly throughout the year, it would be more normalized around the holiday season.
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Tastemakers can, over time, actually change public taste. It’ll take more than an antique cabinet in a home renovation TV show or one thrifted outfit in a 200-page September issue to influence the kinds of things we desire, but it’s possible.
We all want the newest, hottest thing because we are shown the newest, hottest thing, over and over. Brick by brick, as the TikTokers say. And brick by brick, those new, hot things are used, discarded and dumped.
I, for one, am tired of being on that wheel (or scroll, if you’d rather). I like items that feel one of one. I like when someone comes over and says “Where did you get that?” and I can tell them exactly where it’s from, who I sourced it from, and why it’s special.
The trouble with one of one is you can’t just get everything you want. Sometimes you’ve gotta act quickly to get it. Sometimes you’ve gotta wait ’til you find another.
But the wait is worth it.
It’s my hope that our 60-page 2024 Vintage Gift Guide will bring more visibility to the incredible selection of vintage and secondhand products out there and get you thinking about gifting not-new.
There are more than 230 products featured in this digital magazine from 31 participating Vintage Sellers Community members (p. 27). Products do sell out, so if a shop doesn’t have what you’re looking for, ask if they have similar.
And if you’re looking for more sellers to choose from, check our Shop Secondhand Directory to link directly out to an-ever growing list of nearly 3,000 shops and services across Canada and the U.S. Shop small, shop local, shop secondhand — and let’s see more of the “newest,” hottest things that need to be re-homed, please.
Happy hunting!
A version of this article originally appeared in the digital edition of our 2024 Vintage Gift Guide.
