I bought it secondhand and it was already old.

1980 — 1989

I bought it secondhand and it was already old. That was the appeal. Somebody else had done the hard part — the first year, the stiffness, the newness that makes a thing feel like it still belongs to a shop.

There was a stretch in there where everything wanted to be louder than the thing next to it, and the only relief was something quiet that had already been through it.

Long Way Round — Vintage Hoodie from 1984 — Long Way Round · Vintage Hoodie

I was not sentimental about much, but I was sentimental about this: a garment that had a life before me was better company than one that did not.

A garment that had a life before me was better company than one that did not.

You could find anything if you were willing to go through boxes. Most people were not willing to go through boxes. That is still true, and it is still most of the job.

By then I had started keeping things rather than replacing them, which is a decision you only notice you have made about ten years later.

Somebody wore this before I did. I have never minded being second.

What the 1980s bring back

These are not copies of the piece above. A decade leaves things behind in a person, and some of them are shapes. These came out of that.

Box Room — Hoodie from 1984 — Box Room · Hoodie

Already Somebody Else's — T-shirt from 1984 — Already Somebody Else's · T-shirt