Men's Vintage--an opportunity?

MyVintageCocktail

MyVintageCocktail

VFG Member
Men\'s Vintage--an opportunity?

I was thrifting this a.m. and came across the most beautiful men's suits--some modern, some vintage--which got me to thinking.... Could not this current economy be a great opportunity for those selling men's vintage wear? Quality men's suits and overcoats, jackets, etc., are SO expensive....

I have quite a stash of men's vintage wear, and am going to "open" a men's department on my web site. Though I've never done a lot with men's vintage, I've always been interested in it and have sold a number of coats and suits. At very nice prices. It seems that men's fashions are a bit more classic & timeless than women's and any man who is in the least bit adventurous wouldn't balk at wearing a great vintage piece of apparel. Personally, I adore vintage neckties--so much more interesting, and often of higher quality, than today's cookie-cutter looks.

What do you think? Do you sell men's vintage? Have you been planning to? Do you buy it? In addition to selling it, I buy the assorted item for my DH, figuring if he doesn't like it or it doesn't fit, I can always sell it!
 
i love buying vintage menswear and try to add it to my store as often as possible.. but DH steals so much of it and now my oldest son has begun to root around in my stuff.. he snatched a pair of army boots in his size from my closet just this week. 13 and likes vintage! I like that
 
I have a menswear dept on the site. I've sold a few pieces, need to add more and work with it more than I do. Problem here is that almost every LOL (little old lady) I've done an estate buy from had buried her first hubby already, and got rid of his stuff, and several were on number 2 and had his stuff still. In that case it's usually bad 70s poly suits. I'm not sure if that's funny or not, but I know it makes my hub nervous! :scratchchin:
 


MEN DRESS UP...part of Avalon's menswear...Back wall is double-racked and is all suits, 1920s-80s. Rounder of short sleeve shirts, another of LS shirts and dress shirts, tux shirts. Double rack of men's pants...YAY KK. Not seen...the men's window, a couple of racks of NOS men's shoes. The tall glass armoire of old fedoras.



Back of menswear...double racked wall of vintage tuxes, tailcoats, fancy tux jackets...hiding in corner>misc jackets and sweaters, leather, a rounder of cashmere topcoats, a feature rack of designer name coats.

The center island has a 6 foot case of vintage men's wristwatches and cufflinks/jewelry, 2 small cases of rotating oddments...old glasses, flight helmets, tophats, ???? as well as antiques and ladies jewelry.

The other two walls and floor space is lady's wear...

Since we opened downtown in 1984, a third to half of the space has been menswear.
 
Maryalice, I'm jealous! Your shop looks amazing....

We sell about a third to half menswear. Sadly, my shop is little so I don't have the luxury of putting as much out as I'd like. My goal is to one day open a separate mens wear shop. There are plenty of chaps who want nice clothes and they don't have any issues with it being second hand, unlike some women.

I find them to be mostly quite lovely as customers: straight forward, know their size, don't care if you tell them a bigger size, appreciate good service and buy when you show them what they're looking for. Downside is that they don't shop as much as women, so you have to grab them when you can.

If I had a choice, I'd just do menswear, I enjoy dressing men up more too. The other night I did three men and three women for the opening of the French Film Festival - they all wore '30s. The women all looked very glamourous and beautiful, but it was the men I was most proud of (and being Frenchmen, they knew how to wear clothes with panache! Ooh, la la)

Nicole
 
Mary Alice!! You've just shamed me into shaping my store up!(darn you)
Anne, I have a room dedicated to men. I do well with it but don't get the traffic I could, cause i don't advertise. Maye if it ever looks like Mary Alice's I would.
 
Maryalice, wow--I want to shop menswear at your store! Fabulous--great-looking displays and great-looking merchandise!

I can see why you sell a lot of men's vintage--what discriminating gentleman wouldn't want to shop in your store?
 
I wish I could FIND more menswear!

The men in my area DO shop - they're often more dedicated than the women at coming in frequently to check for new stuff.

We recently moved to a larger location - and the idea was to increase our menswear to approx 1/3 of the store. However, one of the difficulties has been how to differentiate the men's section.
Although avid shoppers - they're not always the most... ummmm... observant!
We've had men walk INTO the men's section and ask if we had anything for men.
:puzzled:
Currently, the men's section is the left- 1/3 of the store, back to the dressing rooms.
However, I'm finding it difficult to maintain the "separation" between departments.

It's my daily dilemma!
 
I'm just so stunned over Mary Alice's mens' wear section... it's lovely and looks like such a great selection. For someone at the opposite end of the planet (a seasonal small-time seller of vintage) I have enjoyed selling transactions with men - they appreciate the article, quick pay, etc.
 
Very nice and organized, Mary Alice! I used to have about 4 racks dedicated to men's clothing when I had my B&M, would have liked more but just could not find enough interesting stuff. I could never keep the great white cotton shirts in stock, both sexes would buy those up, they sold like hot cakes and so did the cashmere coats!
 
Agreed that is a FANTASTIC mens wear selectin - best I've ever seen and I say for sure there is a shortage of men's wear (well we know where it's all at now don't we ;) jk), I think it would go but I'm new and I don't know much, just based on the lack of it I see around I figure it must sell.
 
Quality men's suits and overcoats, jackets, etc., are SO expensive....
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That's always been a big draw for me - I am so well dressed when I wear vintage~ and save so much.

Sadly, the men (and daughter) in my life don't enjoy vintage so much so when we go out together I always look overdressed :embaressed:
 
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