—Who decides the value of things?

This year, 2026, I accompanied a vintage shop on two buying trips to Thailand.

Thailand has a huge second-hand clothing wholesale market, where warehouses and shops are piled high with clothing collected from all over the world.

I examine each garment one by one, try to guess its age, check the tags, feel the fabric, examine the stitching, and search for something of value.

After that experience, I happened to be watching the NHK program "Tokoro-san! It's an Incident!" and one of the vintage clothing markets we had actually visited appeared on the show.

The program featured local opinions on Japanese vintage clothing, such as "the fabric is good and it's lightweight."

Indeed, the idea of used clothing exported from Japan being re-evaluated as a commodity overseas is interesting.

However, when you actually walk around the purchasing site, a more complex picture emerges.

Second-hand clothing is simply,

"Clothes that are no longer needed in Japan are being reused overseas."

It's not like we're following a perfectly straight and clear road.

There exists a vast system there that encompasses authenticity, information inequality, trends, climate, logistics, social media, and even waste disposal.

And this time, that story about vintage clothing happened to connect with African bead culture, which I had been researching separately.

So I thought about it again.

Where exactly does the value of an object lie?

The story behind the popularity of Japanese vintage clothing in Thailand's vintage clothing market.

When you actually walk through a used clothing market in Thailand, the sheer volume of goods is incredible.

T-shirts, sweatshirts, denim, military wear, sportswear.

Clothing that has passed through various places such as America, Japan, and Europe is displayed in the same space.

Naturally, some items there are of high value, while others are practically worthless.

And one thing to be careful of is fakes.

Vintage T-shirts are especially popular.

As market prices for rock band t-shirts, rap t-shirts, movie t-shirts, and other similar items rise, the economic incentive to create counterfeit goods naturally increases as well.

When you actually walk around the area, you'll find that there are quite a few questionable items mixed in with the T-shirts being sold as vintage.

The problem is that there are people who will buy it.

Young buyers from Japan are no exception.

Unlike new clothing, you can't determine the authenticity of used clothing by simply checking the manufacturer's official website.

Tags, stitching, body, print, fabric. Aging process. Size balance.

And did that specification actually exist during that era?

It is necessary to combine multiple pieces of information to make a decision.

In other words, in the vintage market,

More valuable than the ability to find old things is the ability to judge what you are seeing.

The fact that it has a price tag doesn't mean it has value.

Just because someone wrote "vintage" doesn't mean it becomes vintage.

The higher the market price, the more economically valuable knowledge itself becomes.

First of all, when did the 90s become "vintage"?

What's interesting here is the word "vintage" itself.

In the world of vintage clothing, there was a strong tendency to treat older American clothing, mainly from around the 1950s, as "vintage," while referring to newer clothing from the mass-production era as "regular."

But what about now?

T-shirts from the 90s are commonly referred to as "vintage."

In some cases, clothing from the 2000s is even sold as vintage.

Of course, there are no absolute boundaries in the definition of a word.

However, what's important is,

It's not that the clothes themselves have changed, but rather that the way society views clothes has changed.

That's the point.

Band T-shirts that once cost a few thousand yen are now priced at tens or even hundreds of thousands of yen.

What used to be considered "ordinary second-hand goods" now shifts categories due to the passage of time, rarity, celebrity endorsements, social media presence, and the collector market.

In other words, vintage is not simply about the physical attribute of being "old."

It is also a value category created by society.

As the number of "Made in USA" products decreases, other items gain rarity value.

Post-war America expanded its society based on mass production and mass consumption, including in the clothing industry.

However, after that, the apparel industry began to shift its production bases overseas.

Even American brands are seeing their actual production shift to Asia and Central and South America.

As a result, vintage Made in USA clothing itself becomes rare.

Even some clothes that were sold as new at the time were not thought to be of high value in the future because they were made in America.

However, changes in the production structure itself can cause things that were once abundant to become rare later on.

And the market then searches for the next value.

One example of this was band t-shirts and rap t-shirts.

The body itself is a T-shirt.

but,

Which band is it? Which tour is it? What year is it? What kind of graphic is it? Who is wearing it? What body is used?

When all that information comes together, it can create a huge price difference for a single used T-shirt.

Cotton isn't the only factor that determines the price.

Rarity, history, stories, knowledge, trends, and the consensus of market participants all determine the price.

Why are T-shirts so popular in Thailand?

What I personally found interesting while browsing vintage clothing in Thailand was the relationship between the climate and fashion.

It's incredibly hot.

In cities like Tokyo, London, and New York, there are physical limitations to complex layering using heavy clothing.

Inevitably, light clothing such as T-shirts, shirts, and shorts tend to become the focus of fashion.

This narrows the range of differences that can be created solely through clothing.

Therefore, body adornment such as hair, tattoos, and accessories becomes relatively more prominent.

Observing the highly perceptive young people there, I found this relationship extremely interesting.

In other words, fashion is

"Because this is what's trending right now."

That alone cannot explain it.

Fashion itself is shaped by adapting to constraints such as climate, cities, and living environments.

A contrarian approach to collecting "worthless heavy clothing"

Saleem appeared on the program as someone who has been collecting used clothing in East Asia.

Considering the climate of Thailand and East Asia, the domestic demand for heavy jackets and coats is limited.

Therefore, it doesn't command much value locally.

However, the situation changes if you take it to a different market.

This is one of the essential aspects of buying vintage clothing.

Instead of "buying cheap things," the goal is to "find things that have no value here but have value elsewhere."

This job involves finding the differences in value that arise from different locations.

Before the global vintage boom became as intense as it is today, this information gap would have been even greater.

Nobody there seems to care.

However, if I bring it back to Japan, there will be people who want it.

Knowing that difference itself was beneficial.

However, social media has destroyed the "information gap."

However, this structure is now changing dramatically due to social media.

People all over the world can see almost the same product image and price in an instant.

Knowledge that was once only known to a few vintage clothing stores in Tokyo can now be accessed by young dealers in Thailand using their smartphones.

What is experiencing a price surge in the United States?

What kind of band t-shirts are popular in Japan?

What did the celebrities wear?

A piece of clothing that was unknown yesterday is searched for all over the world the very next day.

The geographical price difference of knowledge is narrowing.

Therefore, I feel that buying vintage clothing has become a much more "global competition" than before.

Simply possessing information isn't enough to guarantee a win.

Because information spreads too quickly around the world.

Then,

Find it faster than anyone else.

They can determine authenticity more accurately than anyone else.

They have their own suppliers.

Discover categories that haven't been evaluated yet.

They sell it by adding their own context.

Those abilities will be important.

Where do clothes that are no longer needed in Japan go afterward?

The vintage clothing journey doesn't end in Thailand.

Used clothing transcends national borders, forming a global market.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) points out that while secondhand clothing offers affordable clothing and generates social and economic benefits, particularly in the informal sector, the disposal of imported clothing can cause environmental problems in areas with inadequate recycling infrastructure.

In other words,

Used clothing = recycling-oriented society

It's not that simple.

but,

Used clothing = waste export from developed countries to developing countries

It's not entirely accurate to think of it that way.

Within the same distribution chain, there is reuse, employment, commerce, access to inexpensive clothing, and waste.

These multiple aspects coexist.

This is where I suddenly came across a book about African beads.

On the day I was watching this program, I was researching Africa for a completely different purpose.

As part of my research for accessory making, I was flipping through a book about African beads.

そこで偶然見つけたのが、ナムジ人形だった。

カメルーン北部のNamji groupによる木彫像には、木で作られた人体像にビーズ、金属、子安貝などを組み合わせたものがある。

造形が不思議で非常に面白い。

西洋彫刻のように人体を写実的に再現するというより、単純化された木の身体に大量の装飾物が付加されることで、全体として強烈な存在感を持つ。

調べてみると、ニューヨークのメトロポリタン美術館にもNamji groupの作品が収蔵されている。

Met所蔵の一例は19〜20世紀、カメルーン北部のもので、素材は木、ビーズ、金属、子安貝。

僕が本で見て興味を持った造形と同じ文化圏に属するものだった。

I opened Mercari because I wanted something, and there I found a global marketplace.

造形が気に入ったので、

「日本でも買えるのかな？」

と思ってメルカリを検索してみた。

約1万円で売れた個体が出てきた。

一方で、その個体が別アカウントで15万円で転売されていた。

それでも面白かった。

なぜなら、直前まで見ていた古着の流通と、完全に逆方向の流れが見えたからだ。

中古衣料では、

日本
↓
海外市場
↓
さらに別の地域

へ物が移動する。

一方、ナムジ人形では、

カメルーン
↓
国際的な民芸・美術市場
↓
日本
↓
メルカリ

という移動が起きている。

世界の端と端にあるように見える市場が、一つのスマートフォンの画面でつながっている。

When "folk craft" becomes "art"

カメルーンで生まれた木彫像が日本へ来る。

すると販売ページでは、「アフリカ民芸」、「プリミティブアート」、「民族美術」、「インテリア・オブジェ」、「コレクターズアイテム」

など、さまざまな言葉で説明される。

さらに同じ文化圏の作品がMetのような美術館に収蔵されれば、今度は「美術作品」という制度的な文脈の中で鑑賞される。

物体そのものは急に変化したわけではない。

変わったのは、それを囲む場所、言葉、人、制度。

これはマルセル・デュシャン以降の現代美術を考えるときにも馴染みのある問題だ。

物そのものだけでなく、

どこに置かれたのか。

誰が選んだのか。

何と呼ばれたのか。

誰が価値を認めたのか。

それによって意味が変化する。

The same object moves between "garbage," "merchandise," "folk art," and "art."

ここで、古着とナムジ人形が一本につながった。

日本で不要になった一着の服。

カメルーンで作られた一体の木彫像。

まったく違うものに見える。

しかし、世界を移動するという点では似ている。

ある場所では価値がない。

別の場所へ持っていくと価値が生まれる。

さらに別の場所へ移動すると、今度は別のカテゴリーに入れられる。

だから、

同じ物体でも、場所と文脈が変わるだけで、
「ゴミ」「商品」「古着」「ヴィンテージ」「民芸」「アート」「コレクション」の境界を移動する。

What do vintage shops sell?

一口に「ヴィンテージを扱う」と言っても、

アメリカ現地まで行って買い付ける。

タイなど第三国の市場で買い付ける。

日本国内のセカンドハンドショップから探す。

フリーマーケットを回る。

メルカリやヤフオクなどECで仕入れる。

業者からまとめて仕入れる。

さまざまな方法がある。

そして、

実店舗を持つ。

ECだけで売る。

SNSだけで集客する。

ここにも違いがある。

同じ一着を販売していても、その店が行っている仕事は同じではない。

現地まで行く人には、現地へ行くコストとリスクがある。

膨大な服の中から選ぶ人には、選択する知識が必要になる。

フェイクを排除するには真贋判定能力が必要になる。

店舗を持てば、空間そのものを編集する必要がある。家賃も発生する。

写真を撮る。

文章を書く。

歴史を説明する。

顧客へ提案する。

つまり優れたヴィンテージショップが売っているのは、古い服だけではない。

探索、選別、鑑定、編集、文脈、信用まで含めて売っている。

Where is the boundary between "reselling" and "curation"?

では、安く買って高く売れば、すべて転売なのだろうか。

商売という意味では、商品を仕入れて利益を乗せて販売する行為そのものは珍しいものではない。

では、なぜある販売者は「目利き」と呼ばれ、別の販売者は「転売屋」と呼ばれるのか。

おそらく、その間には、

探索しているか。

真贋を判断できるか。

修復や手入れをしているか。

歴史を調べているか。

新しい顧客へ紹介しているか。

独自の市場を作っているか。

そして何より、価格差以外の価値を加えているか

という違いがある。

もちろん境界は明確ではない。

これは古着に限らず、骨董、美術、家具、時計、レコードなど、あらゆる中古市場に共通する問いだと思う。