As a vintage expert, Julien Sanders works with creatives from luxury houses to fast fashion. Each season, the creative teams come to him to be inspired by the fashion archives in his Paris showroom. In an interview with FashionUnited, he shares his view of the flourishing second-hand market and gives insights into his job.
What exactly are you doing?
This year is the tenth anniversary of my work in vintage. I don’t just run one business, but several, always related to vintage and the history of fashion. I started out selling vintage clothing and gradually that led me to other projects. In Paris, I have a showroom in the 11th arrondissement, where I mainly receive designers and organize events for private individuals – since the beginning of April I also have a boutique in Les Puces de Saint-Ouen, the famous Parisian flea market. Occasionally auction houses consult me for auctions and appraisal of garments, for example in the case of estates.
I also publish a magazine called Griffé. The idea is to start from the brands to tell a different story of fashion while creating a publication that is also a tool. That means that you can pick them up again in ten or 15 years. And finally, I have a podcast, Le Fil, where I meet people who worked in fashion between the 1950s and early 2000s.
Have you noticed an evolution or change in the requests coming to you from creatives?
I see no difference. There are designers who come one season and not the next. I have two or three luxury brands that come regularly, but not many. Actually it varies when there is a change in creative leadership. The requests depend on the DNA of the house and the artistic direction. For example, there are brands that I work with that are totally opposed to 2000s fashion, they are not interested in it.
Do you conduct specific research for the brands you contact?
I don’t do this anymore because it’s too time consuming. But five years ago, when I came to Paris, I did a lot of research, mainly for accessories, shoes and leather goods for luxury brands that gave me a brief. The lead creatives asked me to look for inspirational pieces. It really was a personalized service. I stopped doing that because other businesses were developing and because the pandemic came along and things slowed down a bit. Today they come, have their briefing and rummage through the archive. I don’t make a selection as they also like to search.
Is there a lively change in your archive?
The selection changes quickly because I sell a lot. I’m very eclectic, not tied to a decade. I have colleagues who only do 70s or 80s, for example. I have a little bit of everything and can have fun with anything. Our business model is different. They, in turn, develop a brand image, whether it’s on a minimalist wave, a 70’s pop wave, or, I’m thinking Judith [Prigent] by Moujik, which only Saint Laurent makes. I use a different strategy. I buy pieces because they interest me. We’re basically sticking with design pieces or very well made pieces from the 50s or 60s. I’m not trying to develop a brand image.
Speaking of brands, which names are selling particularly well today?
There are several. Of course there is Saint Laurent because the silhouette is hyper timeless. Saint Laurent pieces sell very well with private individuals and also with creative people. There’s a certain timelessness to them that’s quite amazing. He invented a look and a style, not pieces. On the other hand, at the moment, for example, there are Muglers. Since the exhibition, the brand has made a comeback, whereas in the past it was very complicated to sell Mugler pieces to private individuals. The creative people bought them back then, too, because they were looking for the cut and the details.
All leather goods from Chanel, Hermès, Louis Vuitton and so on also sell very well with private individuals. But that’s not what I do. I sell a lot of Saint Laurent and Mugler. I know that Gaultier also sells very well, especially very iconic things like mesh tops or fitted pieces.
It also really depends on the clientele. For example, Americans like Saint Laurent, of course – everyone loves Saint Laurent – but also pieces by Alaïa, very form-fitting things, like Mugler. I distinguish between two types of clientele, the French woman is very Saint Laurent focused and buys a lot of pieces from the 70’s: blazers, high-waisted pants, frilly blouses, while the American woman is very sexy. That’s a little cartoonish, but it’s true. Americans are also very Gaultier-oriented. And they have purchasing power that is higher than that of the French.
Has the price of the items you sold increased?
yes they are I used to be able to sell a Mugler jacket for 200 euros because I bought them at low prices, but now I can’t offer them for less than 350 euros because it’s no longer possible to find them at cheap prices, it’s exploded. The same goes for Gaultier. Saint Laurent is becoming more and more expensive, but that is also due to demand: the more people want this brand, the higher the prices go. At Saint Laurent there are several labels, several lines, not everything is worth money.
“A lot of people sell online and that drives prices up because they can find customers directly on platforms like Vinted. At least that’s how they imagine it.”
In general, prices have also gone up because we all feel like we have a treasure in our attic. This is also because vintage is in fashion and everyone is interested in it. The thing is, people sell things a lot more expensive too. Everything is negotiable, but you can rarely negotiate 50 percent.
There is also the fact that a lot of people are selling through the internet and that drives up the prices because you can find customers directly on platforms like Vinted. At least that’s the idea. It’s not always the reality. A garment still needs to be tried on. What sells very well online to private individuals are so-called iconic pieces: pieces that rank highly, where people know their size, because few people will pay 260 euros for a black Yves Saint Laurent blazer without trying it on first to have or to know the size.
Are you also looking for Vinted?
Yes, I’m active everywhere. I often hear from my colleagues that it’s getting harder and harder to find something, but I don’t get the impression. I started ten years ago before Vinted existed, so from the start I had to think about where to find clothes.
What is your profit margin on the pieces you sell?
My margin is like ready-to-wear: 2.8. If I buy something for 50 euros, I sell it for 140 euros. I earn 90 euros, but that’s not the profit, I have to report it to the tax office, and I also have costs, for example when I organize events. And then I don’t necessarily sell the piece right away, sometimes it sits for six or seven months before I sell it.
However, this can vary. If an item is in high demand, that also means I have to buy it at a higher price unless the person doesn’t know it’s in high demand. And you have to remember that sometimes people just want to get rid of it and that’s a real relief for them. Secondly, the fact that a piece is wanted does not mean that it will be sold immediately. A part for 500 euros does not go away immediately. And that also means that if I buy something for 200 euros, I take a bigger risk than if I buy something for 2 euros. There are many factors.
How do you see your company developing?
Today I have been working alone for ten years and share the premises with other vendors when I do events. There are two of us in the showroom, but we are two different personalities. My goal is to keep the vintage business going but have someone run it so I can focus on my other two projects: the magazine and the podcast. At the moment I’m juggling all of these things, but the idea is to employ sales people on a short-term basis. That doesn’t mean I won’t go hunting anymore, because that’s what I love the most.
How do you see fashion brands developing their own second-hand platform?
I can’t judge that. The goal is to sell. However, I find it looks like greenwashing as their business plan is not based on circular economy. But it’s like many brands that upcycle without being circular. They don’t think about what happens to the product when it’s thrown away. So I think it’s all about image and collecting data. Because it is of course interesting to see what the customers buy, which works well as a second-hand piece. For example, if you know that this pink sweater works well as a vintage piece, then it might be interesting to revise it. The main task of brands is to sell new collections. That’s how I see it. That’s neither good nor bad, it’s just that the rhetoric doesn’t correspond to reality.
At Women’s Fall/Winter ’23 Fashion Week, many brands referenced their heritage. How do you interpret this?
I think they are simply responding to the market. We have a vintage trend and this trend does not only affect people who have an ecological approach, but everyone. Of course, when everyone starts wearing vintage blazers from the 1970s, what’s on the street is also brought to the runway. So if a customer who doesn’t feel like buying vintage because that’s not her thing sees that everyone is wearing a jacket from the 70’s, of course she will want a jacket from the 70’s too. Because of this, brands are starting to design collections that look like vintage.
If vintage is a trend, does that mean it’s likely to go away?
I do not believe that. That doesn’t worry me. I believe that second-hand cannot disappear because there is such a strong environmental awareness, at least in Europe. But there will be a counter-trend, that’s mechanical, once there’s a move, there’s a counter-move. At the moment it’s too bad to say, “No, vintage is terrible, you shouldn’t wear that”. I don’t know what’s going to develop next to it, but I think there will be a backlash to this trend, which doesn’t mean it will weaken vintage.
Vintage also corresponds to a zeitgeist that states that “everything was better in the old days”. As long as there is that nostalgic “everything was better before” thing, people will continue to buy second-hand.
Finally, can you explain to us again the difference between vintage and second-hand?
Second hand is everything that is contemporary. And vintage is when something is 20 years old or more. So in 2023 everything that is from before 2003 is vintage. The term ‘vintage’ emerged in the mid ’70s and gained prominence in the early ’80s. I think what’s on the vintage market today are pieces from the ’60s, before that it’s more ‘antique’ or ‘retro’. But there are also things from the beginning of the last century, such as high-waisted pants, that you can still wear today because, like a shirt, they are a wardrobe basic.
This article was published on FashionUnited.fr. Translation and editing: Barbara Russ