What’s the difference between Thrift and Vintage?

Every once in a while, when you go to thrift stores you may stumble upon items that are just amazing. They may be items that are from many years before your time, or they may remind you of your childhood.

The words Thrift and Vintage get thrown around together a lot, but they actually mean two very different things. Thrift is going to mostly refer to an item that is sold at less than its original price, whereas vintage is going to imply that the items is at least 20 years old. You can find a vintage item at a thrift store, and you can also find thrifty buys at a vintage store.

Thrift vs Vintage

The word thrift typically describes the price of the item, whereas vintage usually describes the age of an item. For example, a sweater from last year’s retail line would be considered thrift if you buy it from a resale shop and pay less than the original price of the sweater.

Now the fun part about vintage is that there seems to be three different guidelines for how old an item has to be in order to be vintage.

3 guidelines for vintage:

• More than 20 years old – Most recently clothing from the 90s- 2000s has been stated as vintage on popular sites like Ebay, Etsy, and Depop. Examples would be JNCO jeans and concert tees for NYSC or Backstreet Boys.
• More than 50 years old – This is usually applied to furniture or a style of home decor. Examples of this would be an enamel topped dining room tables from the 1950s or shag style carpet from the 1960s & 1970s.
• Less than 100 years old – We are currently in 2022, so this would be anything made after 1923 would still be less than 100 years old. Examples would be metal lunch boxes from the 1930s.

As you can see there is a very wide range of time that something may be considered vintage. For most people vintage is really more nostalgia based or it represents items that were used before their time. For example, kids today may think of a wall phone from the 70s or 80s to be vintage because it was a common object back then that is rarely if ever used anymore.

Vintage vs Antique

So, if vintage is more than 20 years old and less than 100 years old, what about the really old stuff? Typically, anything over 100 years old is considered an antique so that would be anything made or manufactured before 1922.

These items are more rare because they have latest over 100 years, but just because it is rare doesn’t mean it has a large value. Certain antiques that are well preserved and cared for may be worth a lot of money, but other 100 year old items may not be worth that much.

Some very rare antiques hold a lot of value and are sought after by many, so companies have actually started reproducing these items. A reproduction is a brand-new item that is done in a vintage or antique style so that more people can have a piece. Reproductions have very little value, and some true antique lovers consider these reproductions to be knock offs or counterfeits of the real thing.

A good example of this is tin metal signs, these became very popular and started to sell for a lot of money. Signs with vintage advertising for Coca-Cola and other beverages became very valuable, and it also caused a lot of reproductions to be made and sold at a much cheaper price.

Vintage vs Retro

Vintage is used a lot to describe clothing and especially if it is a designer label like Chanel or Christian Dior. It is very stylish for celebrities to wear vintage clothing of major designers.

If you like the looks of a certain decade, and you mimic the style with vintage pieces or newer pieces, your wardrobe will probably be called retro. Some popular decades that have seen a lot of attention would be clothing that mimics the hippie style of the 70s, and most recently the grunge style of the 90-2000s.

Retro doesn’t only apply to clothing; it can also apply to home furnishings and interior design. You may see that white subway tiles are making a comeback in kitchens and in bathrooms. This is a retro design inspired by homes made around 1920s. Another retro style that newer homes try to mimic is the craftsman style home with coffered ceilings, intricate woodwork, and focal point fireplaces.

Buying Thrift and Vintage Items

Nowadays I shop thrift stores to get more value for less money. The items that I buy are typically clothing, purses, and small appliances. Now before I had children, I used to love going to thrift stores just to go on a hunt for vintage items.

At one time, my entire kitchen and dining room was completely decorated with vintage items from the 1940s and 1950s. I love the old advertising pictures that appeared in TIME magazine, so I had them framed to hang on my walls. I also scouted many stores and auction houses for the perfect Hoosier cabinet.

Once I got married, and space became more of a premium, I have since stopped buying vintage items. We are going through a decluttering phase because I had so much stuff that I accumulated over the years. Getting into thrift shopping and hunting for vintage can not only be a fun hobby but it can also get out of hand really quick.

My parents have a love for older items and have many collections like vintage Halloween noise makers, depression era glassware, and antique kitchen gadgets. I followed in their footsteps and started my own collections of salt & pepper shakers and teapots.

As I get older, I realized that all the fun that I had going on hunts for these collections was really just about spending time out and about with my family. I truly think my collections are cool and very conversation worthy, but I have decided that our small house is just not big enough to do these collections justice.

Maybe later on if we get more space, or our kids are older and less likely to destroy a vintage item, then I will start another collection! I think the challenge of finding items for your collection is just really fun, but this time I will also make sure that my spending is within our budget.

Sometimes the chase to find items, can make us spend more than we had intended. If you give yourself a budget for these loved items, you can enjoy them without going broke!

To find out more helpful information, check out “What is the Difference between Thrift and Consignment Stores?” and “Flea Market or Thrift Store?“