Vintage Hunters: Creating Vintage in the Czech Republic

The paper examines the creation of value in Czech vintage stores, focusing on how sellers transform pre-owned garments into desirable vintage items. Based on twelve semi-structured interviews and observations at seller-organized events, I explore the strategies and practices sellers employ to produce and enhance the value of second-hand clothing. The research highlights that they draw on their expertise, knowledge, and skills to justify the value of garments and reintegrate them into the market exchange. The findings suggest that while sellers perceive value as intrinsic to the quality of the item, the process of “valuing” (Heuts & Mol, 2013) requires their active engagement. This paper aims to contribute to the growing scholarship on thrift and second-hand economies (Greeson, 2018; Brooks, 2019; Alexander & Sosna, 2022), highlighting the interplay between sustainability, nostalgia, and fashion.