What is Retro Clothing?

Retro clothing refers to new or modern items of clothing that are consciously manufactured with reference to past styles, materials or motifs. Unlike vintage clothing it doesn't refer to any particular time period in the past but is a note of style in which the clothing is made. In layman terms, retro clothing is an item designed to imitate bygone fashions. A garment can also be both vintage and retro. If it was manufactured in the 90's to replicate styles of the 80's then this particular item would be bother vintage and retro. The actual word retro derives from the Latin prefix retro which means backwards and was first used in France to label fashions of the past.

Retro vs Vintage

In simple terms, vintage clothing is clothing from a specific era, normally 20 years old where as retro describes the style in which the clothes are made to replicate old or nostalgic patterns or designs. There is obviously a lot of overlap between the two terms and there is also a lot left to subjective opinions. In terms of value, there isn't one more valuable than the other, it all depends specifically on the item.