Antique and vintage sales soar, thanks to supply chain issues
When Samantha Manocchio moved to Washington from California last year, she brought her clothing and not much more. Tzhe 23-year-old rented a studio apartment and set out on a search for furnishings, including a table to anchor her small space.
“I am very focused on sustainable living,” says Manocchio, who buys mostly secondhand or sustainably sourced clothing. “My generation is conscious about how we as individual consumers can do our parts.” Some change their diet, she says. Others, like her, look for pre-owned furniture instead of cheaply made “fast furniture.” She shopped local, buying a 100-year-old English Pembroke table from Georgetown’s Pillar & Post, a few miles from her home. The mahogany table on brass casters, which she plans to keep forever, was delivered a few days later in the back of an SUV.
Manocchio is part of a wave of consumers who, in the past two years, have been buying mid-century modern burlwood buffets, 1970s velvet sofas and French farm tables.
The pandemic has created a bit of a perfect storm for the used and antique furniture business.
All this time at home has made people yearn for a fresh look. The spike in home remodeling and all the moving around people have done created new spaces to fill. Frustrated consumers still waiting for a headboard and bedside tables they ordered six months ago are increasingly willing to buy previously owned sofas, just as they are willing to scoop up used Hondas and Chanel bags.
Popular online sources for antique, vintage and more recent pre-owned furniture report strong sales. Anything bought secondhand and made in the past 30 years is considered pre-owned; items made between 30 and 100 years ago are vintage; and anything more than 100 years old is an antique, according to Anna Brockway, co-founder and president of Chairish. Chairish’s business in 2021 was up 42 percent compared with 2020. In 2021, Kaiyo had five times the revenue it had in 2019. Searches for vintage or antique couches on Etsy increased by 126 percent in 2021 compared with 2019.
Reusing old furniture is a natural choice to reduce waste for sustainabilityminded consumers. According to Environmental Protection Agency statistics, 12.1 million tons of furniture and furnishings waste was generated in 2018, up from 2.2 million tons in 1960.
The EPA also reports that 80.1 percent of what was discarded ended up in landfills or disposal centers.
“As people increasingly shop with their values, buying vintage furniture enables sustainabilityminded shoppers to reduce their carbon footprint, all while supporting small, independent businesses,” says Dayna Isom Johnson, Etsy’s trend expert.
Younger customers in particular are discovering that old items add character to a room. “Antiques have been around for a long time and have a proven durability and a classic style,” says Daphna Peled, owner of Pillar & Post. She says her millennial and Gen Z customers, such as Manocchio, realize these pieces aren’t just a fad. “Buying a piece with history that is also a greener alternative is an added bonus,” Peled adds.
Chairish, a curated online marketplace for upscale vintage home furnishings that started in 2013, has found that the saving-theplanet aspect of pre-owned pieces is an important driving force in the market.
“It’s gone from being a style thing to also being an environmental advantage,” Brockway says. Of Chairish’s total inventory
(around 850,000 items), 95 percent comes from dealers, collectors and galleries. “Things are shipped point to point and not from one huge warehouse, which is frankly more environmentally conscious,” Brockway says.
Alpay Koralturk, chief executive of Kaiyo, founded the online marketplace for pre-owned furniture in
2014 after he realized how often he was moving, as well as buying and selling furniture. He wanted to make it easier for consumers