Let's have a look at Etsy's new "vintage" trend: custom "vintage"!
The item is sold by HelloRetrodesign whose inventory includes handmade small furniture pieces (wood cubes and flat surfaces attached to contemporary hairpin legs) and Danish modern furniture of a style sold from the 1940s through the late 1980s. All the Vintage pieces seem to have a similar pumpkin orange color. Could be the photography, but I've owned Danish modern pieces from the 60s, 70s, and 80s and never saw colors like these!
The item featured is this small chest of drawers married to brand new hairpin legs fake dated to the 1950s, with 2 units in stock.
The item's description explains how this item actually is a piece of a wall unit (not originally a chest), and the many options available for height and color of the legs. Nothing about this item is actually Vintage. It's a brand new piece constructed from materials old and new. Not from the 1950s. CAVEAT EMPTOR.
This is how #etsysellsvintage.
AUGUST 1 --again!
Another "Throwback Thursday" promotion email arrives, and once again one of the 5 curated thumbnails shows a made-to-order fauxtique. This reclaimed locker and basket storage unit is pretending to be "vintage from the 1950s". But the description clearly says
Please note: These images are a sample of our custom work. Our locker units are made to order! Production takes 3-4 weeks.
And
Let us make one just for you! Custom sizes and colors are available upon request.
In the real world, outside the mendacious Etsyverse, made to order items pretending to be 60+ years old are considered fraud. On Etsy, they're "vintage". And that's how #etsysellsvintage.
Congratulations to all the Etsy sellers whose authentic vintage items were pushed out of consideration by this piece of faux.
