Vintage fashion has evolved in recent years beyond simply wearing hand-me-downs. In a piece on how vintage clothing became trendy from GQ, writer Samuel Hine defines the ongoing vintage fashion trend as a “new preoccupation with the old.”
Today, the demand for vintage and retro fashion and style items is fueled by shifting fashion trends amplified by social media. Even if you aren’t actively buying vintage items, you’re likely still wearing something vintage, as the nostalgiacore continues to influence how new clothing is designed.
While the vintage marketplace used to be largely offline, a tech-led revolution powered by the Internet and immense social media use has led to thrift stores going online, promoting a variety of nostalgia-based fashion trends, from Y2K to Bob Dylan-core and Barbiecore.
When considering the vintage fashion trend, defaulting to retro clothing styles can be easy. Another key fashion accessory that has embraced the vintage trend lately is eyewear. Today, many people love wearing and buying vintage-style eyeglasses to complement their look or achieve vision correction. Fortunately, you don’t have to look too far to get your hands on your vintage eyeglasses. If you have an old pair lying around, you can refurbish them for use or sale.
Below, we’ll be sharing tips for refurbishing your vintage eyeglasses.
Adjusting for the right fit
When you buy a new pair of glasses, they’re typically fitted and measured by a qualified optician or optometrist to ensure they’re the right measurement for your nose and ears. However, older pairs of eyeglasses may have loose or missing parts or have endured enough wear and tear to no longer fit your face. Wearing the right fit of eyewear is important to ensure precise alignment of your lenses, which can affect how well you see through them.
To ensure the right fit for your glasses, you can learn how to measure pupillary distance, which is the distance (in millimeters) between the center of one pupil and the center of the other. Measuring pupillary distance (PD) helps ensure optimal comfort and clarity and can also prevent symptoms like eye strain, fatigue, and simply not being able to see properly. Typically, you can ask your eye doctor to include your PD measurement on your prescription. Nowadays, you can also use apps like Opthy to measure your PD with just a few clicks, for single-vision prescription lenses between -5D and +5D. Of course, if you’re planning to gift your refurbished vintage glasses to someone else, you should ensure to get their pupillary distance measured.
Cleaning your glasses
Another tip for refurbishing your vintage eyeglasses is to clean them. If you salvage an old pair from the bottom of your collection, it will likely have dirt and stains from years of neglect. While having a rugged look can help boost the vintage aesthetic, cleaning your glasses frequently is essential.
A study conducted in Germany tested swab-sampled worn glasses and found that all 21 spectacles were contaminated with bacteria, particularly on parts that came into contact directly with the skin, such as the nose pads and ear clips. Dirty eyeglasses not only compromise or distort your vision but can also be home to lots of bacteria and increase the risk of eye-related infections. As such, taking the time to clean your vintage eyeglasses can ensure comfort, as well as eye safety. The German study tested which cleaning methods would most effectively remove bacteria from eyewear. They found that the most effective way to clean glasses was to use lens-cleaning wipes with alcohol, followed by alcohol-free wipes. Dry cleaning with tissues or microfiber cloths was less successful than cleaning with wet wipes. Eye health experts recommend regularly cleaning your eyeglasses between 10 to 15 seconds before drying them off. Older glasses with substantial dirt buildup may require professional help, so you may want to bring them to the nearest eyewear store or retailer.
Replacing old parts
Finally, if a part of your vintage eyeglasses can’t be cleaned enough, you can also consider simply replacing the part entirely. One of the easiest eyeglass parts you can simply replace, of course, is the lenses. Even with new, non-vintage, or non-retro glasses, replacing your lenses is a pretty common practice, especially if you have a constantly updated prescription for vision correction.
Aside from replacing old lenses for a more up-to-date prescription, however, newer lenses may also have functional and useful lens coatings. For example, a team at the ETH Zurich Research Institute developed new anti-fog lens coatings in 2022 that warm a glass surface to keep it fog-free. The lens uses light-absorbing gold nanoparticles instead of electricity, making them extremely useful and practical in bright sunlight. Other lens coatings you may want to consider for your refurbished vintage glasses include transition or photochromic lenses, which automatically tint depending on light conditions, or simple anti-glare or anti-scratch lens coatings for added durability.
If you found this post useful or interesting, you can check out our talk with the founder and CEO of Fashion Conservatory, where Melinda Villarreal discusses her love for vintage fashion and how she started out buying and selling vintage pieces to build her own successful business online.