5 Best Vintage Clothes on Etsy for Travel

We’re trying to shop smarter this year, keeping in mind the negative effects of fast fashion. In the process, the vintage market has caught our eye when it comes to investing in unique pieces. As consumers, we have buying power, so we’ve been tracking where our money is going. What we found is that the secondhand market not only has marked-down prices but is also reliable for recyclability, quality, and style. And that’s why we’ve turned to Etsy for the same. Looking for the best vintage clothes on Etsy is one of the best things we’ve done. It not only did away with the heavy lifting of physical shopping, but also it’s one of the best vintage fashion destinations we found. Why don’t you see what we saw and add a few amazing, unique, and valuable pieces to your collection too?

Wilma’s Past Julia Retro Vintage Two-Piece Playsuit

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Does this shop sound a little like what Velma from Scooby Doo would wear? We thought so too! This amazing Etsy shop boasts an excellent collection of vintage reproduction clothing from the 50s, 40s, and 30s. And this Wilma’s Past Julia Retro Vintage Two-Piece Playsuit is no exception. It’s a reproduction of a swimsuit from 1945, complete with a fun striped and colorful pattern to match. Not only did we find this retro-chic, but we also found it easy to wear. The back and neck tie straps allowed us to adjust the top to our figure easily. What’s more, the top is entirely lined and is reversible too. So we basically got two tops for the price of one! If that wasn’t enough, it even comes with a detachable bow.

The second half of the playsuit is a short skirt that’s gathered into a waistband, complete with a center back zipper for easy in and out. Besides a decent 15-inch skirt length, the fabric is pre-shrunk cotton with neatly finished seams. The best bit? They even do custom requests with special prints and colors. Is this amazing, or what?

Heart My Closet Turquoise Pencil/Aline Dress

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If you love clothing from the Netflix series “The Crown” as much as we do, then this shop is for you as much as it’s for us. Presenting Heart My Closet, which is stocked with everything from sweet and sassy dresses to va-va-voom ones that allow you to show off your curves. We especially love the “modern-day Royal family” vibe of the custom-made Heart My Closet Turquoise Pencil/Aline Dress. It draws inspiration from the dressing style of the current Princess of Wales, Catherine, a.k.a. Kate Middleton. Not only were we able to choose the size, but we were even able to choose the length of the dress. Since we wanted the dress for an absolutely formal event we were traveling to, we chose a below-the-knee hem length, and we couldn’t be happier.

Not just that, but this shop can also copy styles from classic movies and remake them in any size. What more could we want?

Beespoke Vintage Beachwear Dress

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Nothing is more versatile than beach-inspired vintage clothes on Etsy, as they make for amazing summer clothing too. That’s why we went for this Beespoke Vintage Beachwear Dress. It comes from Beespoke Vintage, a shop that has major history styles, including this beach dress inspired by Great Garbo’s McCall magazine cover circa 1951. This 1940s-inspired beachwear comes in three styles, namely top and skirt, top and shorts, or top, skirt, and shorts. It’s pictured here in Hawaiian print, but there are a lot more fabrics from that era that the shop worked with to make us what we wanted. We chose a top and skirt and sent the shop our measurements, and the dress came back extremely well-made and intricately crafted. In fact, the shop even uses construction techniques from the period!

One thing to note is that you will not be purchasing the exact garment pictured, but that’s what makes every handmade item from this shop unique and one-of-a-kind. Since the owner has a self-proclaimed obsession with vintage clothing and personally draws inspiration from films like Les Misérables and Gone with the Wind, we were assured that we’d get something amazing – and we did.

The Curvy Elle Floral Paper-Bag Waist Ruffle Hem Skirt

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We were looking for some good value-for-money and not very expensive vintage clothes on Etsy, but there was a catch – we needed plus-size clothing at that. Enter The Curvy Elle, a one-stop Etsy shop that sold everything from excellent skirts to quirky printed dresses – all in plus sizes. Not only was this shop extremely affordable, but also we found some new obsessions fit for our closet. One such thing was this vintage Floral Paper-Bag Waist Ruffle Hem Skirt from The Curvy Elle. Made from floral woven fabric, this skirt was perfectly sized for us even though the fabric wasn’t stretchable. We loved the shirred contrasting floral shirred fabric at the hem as it added layered interest to the skirt. But what we loved the most was the elasticized paper-bag waist, which meant that all we had to do was pull it on. The best bit? It’s made from cotton, and so it’s suitable for all kinds of weather.

Shop Exile Polka Dot Y2K Jacket

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Will we ever get over the late ’90s and early 2000s? We think not, given that one of the first pieces we picked up from Etsy was this Shop Exile Polka Dot Y2K Jacket. When was the last time you heard Y2K? For us, it never really left our minds, which is why we landed up at Shop Exile looking for halter tops and oversized sweatshirts à la Princess Diana. Nevertheless, we more than settled on this vintage Y2k black jacket, complete with colorful and vibrant polka dots all over. Thanks to the zipper up the front, we were able to use this as a layering piece without being ironical. Not only is it one of a kind, but also the jacket shipped very fast, which is almost unheard of when it comes to vintage clothing on Etsy. Since it’s a specific size, it turned out to be unique – and we love it.

How To Choose The Best Vintage Clothes On Etsy For Travel?

Know your eras and begin with a classic

Since vintage clothing involves clothing from eras that are, well, not now, the easiest eras to shop from were the ones closest to right now. Not only is there familiarity, but there’s naturally more abundance to choose from too. So, we looked for contemporary pieces from the 1960s onwards and for slightly unique ones from before that. A good place to begin was seeking something timeless to start with. So, our first piece of vintage clothing was something classic and basic, like the jacket. We were able to wear it again and again, and it didn’t lose its luster immediately.

Sizing standards

When it comes to vintage clothes on Etsy, it’s not the current size scale that matters, but rather that of the undergarments that ensured that a piece would fit correctly. Since sizing standards of women’s undergarments have changed drastically through the decades, every era of the 20th century has a discrete and distinctive silhouette. So, we found that certain vintage clothes looked very different without undergarments specific to that decade.

Tailoring it

Many times, we fell in love with something that didn’t quite fit. But, we researched and found that vintage clothes could always be nipped and tucked to make them perfect for us. So, we invested money to have certain clothing properly tailored to our bodies. It made all the difference between looking frumpy to looking like it’s been specially designed for us.

Fabric matters

Finally, we come to the fabric, and we kept checking that the clothes we loved had the fabric in good condition. Since vintage clothes could get brittle and dry and shatter, it’s very important to understand the fabric of the clothing you’re investing in. For instance, nothing works better than pre-shrunk cotton.

You might also want to check out the best vintage jewelry on Etsy for travel.

Is Etsy good for vintage clothing?

While it depends from shop to shop, most vintage pieces are of good to fair quality.

Is 20 years old vintage clothing?

Yes. Broadly speaking, if the clothing is no older than an antique (100 years) but not less than 20 years either, then it’s a vintage piece.