Hot, trendy and second-hand: The rise of fashion brand archives

At first glance, everything that passes the test of time might be seen as archival – a garment as old as our parents or one made in the 90s. In popular culture, the term archival is generally reserved for a specific group of designers – the creators of a fashion avant-garde in the 1990s. They’re designers who had a radical approach towards fashion in their time.

In the archival world, brand popularity depends on the niche. Whereas the most known one is the fanbase of Helmut Lang and Raf Simons, there are other sellers who focus on French Haute Couture or Dior by Galliano. Contrary to the word Vintage, the term archival signifies pieces that are hyper-valuable. What started as a small group of people years ago, has now grown into a mainstream phenomenon, especially in the menswear reselling market.

But how did this niche emerge? Organically; it seems.“At the start, I wasn’t building an archive, I was just buying things that I loved,” says Eugene Rabkin, a writer who is a fan of brands such as Helmut Lang, Number N(ine) and Raf Simons. “Building an archive wasn’t a thing. Even the idea of men’s fashion wasn’t mainstream at all, especially if you were young. I sounded a bit insane when I collected it – it was perceived as a waste of money,” says New York collector and stylist David Casavant. Collecting archival fashion pieces is trendy these days, but the sellers have been in the game for a long time. In fact, most collectors started out of passion. “It is an accumulation of your personal taste, the people you surround yourself with, the way you grow up, class, culture and area,” says Ariana Sheehan, founder of Aro Archive in London.

“I wasn’t building an archive, I was just buying things that I loved.” – Eugene Rabkin

How did they get into it? Eugene wasn’t building an archive, he was just buying items he loved, and 20 years later, the term archivist ended up being his title, he says. Based in New York, the writer recalls buying Helmut Lang and Raf Simons items in the clearance sale of Barneys – back then, in the early 2000s, no one in New York wanted to wear these designers. Now, you can make serious money from these designer pieces by reselling them. These days, Rabkin only collects Number N[ine], which is (according to Casavant) much sought after by the true nerds – those who appreciate clothing for its construction, story and quality. Ariana on the other side of the Atlantic was inspired by her mother Hoana (who is the original founder of the company), and rave culture. She grew up listening to garage and bashment, her friends were into Stone Island. “It became the first brand I really wanted to own something from. At that time, wearing a Stone Island jacket meant that you truly made it. It was a status symbol among the working class,” she says.

The reasons why young people buy into archival fashion vary from environmental awareness, the desire to hunt down a special piece or the appreciation of the history behind the garment.

With a growing sustainability issue within fashion and the ever-long desire to maintain an individual style, archival fashion has become more popular in younger circles recently. In a poll conducted on our Instagram page, 54% of the participants voted that they own a piece that is classified as archival. The reasons why young people buy into archival fashion vary from environmental awareness, the desire to hunt down a special piece or the appreciation of the history behind the garment. Some participants recalled a special feeling when they see their own garment on old runway footage, others appreciated the nostalgia and the life the garment had before it was in their wardrobes. Yet still, due to the growing demand, archival fashion is seen as very exclusive. Weighing in the factors of price, time and location, 88% of our poll participants voted yes on the question of exclusivity.

“I first became aware of the archival phenomenon in 2016. This was when I started seeing the term on Instagram sellers’ accounts.” – Joseph Gleasure

The most common and location-independent method to score archival pieces is online, on eBay, Vinted or Grailed. Yet still, especially in menswear, the prices are in a different spectrum than they used to be. Karl Leuterio, who is a Filipino-born, Australian-based content creator recalls his beginnings with archival fashion, where he was able to purchase Ann Demeulemeester boots in Japan for only $12. This easy-entry got most of the original sellers and collectors into this sector. Joseph Gleasure, based in Toronto and the co-founder of the shop @myclothingarchive, says: “I first became aware of the archival phenomenon in 2016. This was when I started seeing the term on Instagram sellers’ accounts. I spotted more and more flat lays of old designer clothes on white backgrounds of various production qualities. Initially, this grew out of Grailed sellers,” he says. Now, eight years later, he says that most original members of the community have been outbought – but why?

“I thought it was all because of Kanye West. Then other rappers started wearing archival designer clothes and subsequently all their fans,” says Eugene, referencing the period when the rapper started to wear vintage Raf Simons. The designer who came from the second wave of Belgian names following the Antwerp Six was always drawn to youth culture.

In the mid-2010s, Kanye West started wearing archival pieces from Raf Simons and Helmut Lang, allegedly borrowed from stylist David Casavant, who has a large archive of designer clothing. By wearing these precious pieces, the rapper transformed the small market of archival menswear from niche to mainstream. Casavant grew up in Tennessee and browsed eBay in his free time. He felt drawn to menswear, especially to the work of Raf Simons and Helmut Lang. Years into collecting, he went to London to study at Central Saint Martins. Later, he moved to New York to assist the likes of Carine Rotfield, Mel Ottenberg and Katie Grand. When they couldn’t source an item, David had it. And that’s how his archive became his business. Today, Casavant loans out his archive to celebrities, especially musicians, since they are the current zeitgeist and heartbeat of youth culture.

What is normal in menswear today, was extraordinary back then, says Casavant. What drew him to Helmut Lang and Raf Simons back then was their radical approach towards menswear. Previously, menswear was often treated like an unwelcome stepchild – all the commercial focus was on the womenswear market. “Womenswear has always been a thing. The idea of men’s fashion wasn’t mainstream at all back then – especially if you were young, collecting wasn’t even an idea,” says Casavant. When he started collecting, no one understood it. 

The London-based business Aro Archive was founded by Arianna Sheehan and her mother in 1989. They started out with a stall on Camden market on the weekends, where the reselling of Yohji Yamamoto and Comme des Garçons clothing filled their pockets with cash. “We only had to open two days a week in Camden at the time because we were doing so well. We were there until 2008 when my stepfather was made redundant from his job. He got a 10 grand payout. We used this and our other savings to open our first shop in Stoke Newington,” she says. 

“Archival fashion is fashion history based on gorgeous examples without any long, dry texts that you have to memorise.” – Leon Teke

Contrary to menswear collectors like David Casavant, which tend to focus on Raf Simons and Helmut Lang, Aro Archive is focussed on Yohji Yamamoto. The reason why she and her mother got into it, was because of their body shapes. “We are curvy ladies and Japanese designers made clothing that looked good on our bodies,” she explains. Out of the passion for Yohji, the archive started alongside the shop a few years ago: “We always had these two rails; one was with clothing that we couldn’t part with, so we decided to start renting them out to design houses for research purposes,” she says. It started from the back stock room in their Broadway market store. “At the beginning, we had maybe 10 designers where we rotated these two rails around. It was very smoke and mirrors – we pretended that we had this huge archive to get it off the ground. We did that for a year. And then the archive was born super organically, it was never a plan. Seven years ago, we opened our archive on Mare Street.” 

When it comes to curating an archive or shop, where you are based and how you grew up is a major influence, says Ariana. She points to the fact, that Parisian archival stores stock old YSL couture and vintage stores in Tokyo tend to be full of Comme des Garçons. Based in Berlin, the Instagram-only shop CopMeIfYouCan, is focussed on stocking Jean Paul Gaultier, Miu Miu, Prada and some of the Antwerp Six. Founded by Leon Teke in 2019 during his exchange semester in Bologna, Italy, the shop has now a following of 26K followers on Instagram. Like most other sellers or archivists, Leon fell into the profession by chance: “In Italy, I took the minimum number of courses and spent a lot of my off days in warehouse-sized thrift stores in the region. I began posting my clothing hauls on my private Instagram page and started shopping for friends as well,” he says. In the beginning, he loved buying items from Jean Paul Gaultier, especially from the Junior Gaultier line, which was produced in the late 80s and early 90s. “I went with what I liked, focussing on mesh tops,” he says. Over time, he found a passion for research and started his brand. Now, his client base is full of designers, musicians, stylists and other young creative people. To Leon, archival fashion is sexy fashion history – “It is fashion history based on gorgeous examples without any long, dry texts that you have to memorise,” he says.

“I definitely don’t believe in pricing an item because of its hype or status. I just want to do honest business.” – Ariana Sheehan

When it comes to pricing an item, it’s difficult – “How do you price something that does not exist a second time on the internet? Do you hope for a fellow fanatic that would spend even more or do you price it lower for a quick sale?”, he wonders. The factors that play into his pricing are age, condition, quality, longevity and the current market value. He does his research, compares and generally tries to price his item lower than the general market value. At Aro Archive, the consensus is that if an item is ugly it’s going to be cheaper – Comme or not. “We are super fair with our prices,” says Ariana, “I buy at 25-50%, so people always know I mark up. I definitely don’t believe in pricing an item because of its hype or status. I just want to do honest business. Our prices vary between £25 and £1,885.” She sources the clothing anywhere and everywhere from the carboot to shops in Japan, Antwerp, and Brussels.

“I source where everyone else is sourcing, additionally, I depend on the people who reach out to me, who know what I am looking for and think of me when they want to sell something.” – Leon Teke

After his period of living in Italy, Leon moved back to Berlin and had to start sourcing online. “It’s about building relationships, being respectful and honest with people. I source where everyone else is sourcing, additionally, I depend on the people who reach out to me, who know what I am looking for and think of me when they want to sell something,” he adds. The most popular brands he is selling are Prada, MiuMiu Dior and Jean Paul Gaultier. This is all bound to specific eras of the brands, for example, Dior by Galliano is very popular. The biggest increase he noticed in the past few years is Prada and MiuMiu. “I remember when the small Prada Nylon bags were super hyped. Around late 2019, going strong through summer 2020. After that, the rise of MiuMiu began. Pieces that you could previously find for a price below 100€ were suddenly shooting through the roof, now retailing for four times the price.”

We might be at the MiuMiu peak now, he says since other brands are slowly gaining popularity. But yet still, his current most demanded pieces are footwear from MiuMiu FW1999, a period that brand marked the “ugly chic” era of the brand.

For Ariana, in London, the most popular brands remain Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake, Comme des Garçons, Junya Watanabe, Alexander McQueen, Stone Island and Jean Paul Gaultier. The highest increase in worth was in Balenciaga and Stone Island over the last few years, she adds. Repping a high number of Japanese designers, it is no surprise that Pleats Please by Issey Miyake is her most demanded product line.

The popularity of the archive is reviving the profession of the archivist as the clothing is being worn, touched, looked at and used for research instead of being stocked in a dark basement room.

Operating from home, his pieces are stored and preserved in the way he was taught to take care of everything he owns himself. “The knits are folded and stored flat, the shirts are hanging and the mesh tops, depending on their weight, as well. Items with details and materials that easily oxidate are stored in garment bags,” he says. For now, CopMeIfYouCan, is exclusively stored in his home, but in the future, he wants to find a showroom for a fully-functioning system to store the archive. In London, Aro Archive see themselves as a living archive, with items in constant use and without a crazy storage system. It seems the popularity of the archive is reviving the profession of the archivist as the clothing is being worn, touched, looked at and used for research instead of being stocked in a dark basement room.

Among fashion students, archival fashion has been collected and worn for a long time. It is a way of conserving history in times characterised by quick trend circles and constant overproduction. “It teaches you about construction, cut and materials,” says Leon. The day before his prom, Raphael del Bono, researcher and art student at Central Saint Martins, purchased his first Pierre Cardin jacket. Monica Moon, who is a writer and history of design student at the Royal College of Art, saved her money to spend on a Comme des Garçons piece on a school trip to Tokyo a few years ago. What makes archival fashion valuable might be the price, but is certainly the emotional and nostalgic connotations we have to it.