Archive fashion was once about appreciation — history, context, reverence for pieces that defined entire eras of style. Raf Simons’ early collections, like Riot! Riot! Riot! or Virginia Creeper were commercial flops in their time, but are now seen as some of the most important moments in menswear of the 2000s.
Hedi Slimane’s Dior Homme didn’t just sharpen tailoring, it set the blueprint for an entire subculture tied to music, nightlife, and attitude. This was the original spirit of archiving: treating fashion as art, preserving pieces with intent and respect.
But in the last two to three years, archive fashion has exploded into the mainstream. Once niche, it’s now at the centre of TikToks, Instagram resellers, and hype-driven marketplaces. On Carousell, listings are flooded with archive buzzwords.
A vintage Abercrombie sweater suddenly gets tagged as “If Six Was Nine”, or a brandless jacket gets framed as “old Celine”. The brand associations are completely different from the reality of the piece, but the words alone are enough to inflate the price.
Somewhere along the way, things shifted. Grailed hustlers, Carousell flippers, and Instagram resellers — even the flood of reps — turned archive into resale value and clout currency.
What once carried history and context is now reduced to marketing tricks and markups. With prices ballooning and pieces already rare, the fatigue is real. Archive is starting to look less like a movement and more like 2016 Hypebeast culture. And that sucks.
For Southeast Asian collectors, the fatigue is felt even harder. Many of the most established archive resellers are based in Japan, the US, the UK, or Europe, where shipping costs make access nearly impossible.
The good news? Our own region has built an ecosystem of resellers that still treat archive the way it was meant to be treated: with care, context, and integrity. They’re proving that serious curation doesn’t need to come with a Western price tag.
Here are five Southeast Asian resellers still doing it right.
1. Glam Archive (Thailand)
2. Archive Gems (Malaysia)
3. Upstairs Garments (Singapore)
4. Test Labo (Indonesia)
5. HDKK Vintage Store (Thailand)
With fatigue mounting, who better to weigh in than Nic Varnier of Bangkok’s Glam Archive? A respected name in the archive fashion reseller community, especially in Southeast Asia, Nic, whose clients include rapper Gunna, shares his thoughts on the current state of archive fashion and where it might be heading.
What first inspired you to start Glam Archive?
I’ve been into fashion since I was young, but I followed a pretty traditional career path at first. I studied business, worked a corporate job for two years – but eventually I went back to my passion. Glam Archive actually started when I began selling pieces from my own wardrobe for extra money. People really connected with my curation, and from there it grew. I opened the store two years ago, and it’s been going strong ever since.
How else do you personally define “archive fashion” beyond just the clothes’ label?
For me, archive fashion is like a window into the designer’s life at that point in time. Designers are people too – what they create reflects the stage they were in and how they were feeling. That’s what makes it special. It also makes me nostalgic for certain eras, like the mid-2010s, when rappers were wearing Undercover, Rick Owens, Raf Simons. But I don’t take it too seriously. At the end of the day, it’s just clothes — a way to express yourself. If you like it, you like it.
Archive has exploded in recent years, but some say the culture feels watered down by hype, Grailed/Carousell flippers, or even rep pieces. How do you see this shift? Do you feel that sense of “archive fatigue” yourself?
To be honest, I don’t think it’s exploded as much as people say. I think a lot of that is just algorithms feeding people the same content on Instagram and TikTok. It feels bigger because that’s what you see all the time. For me, the market has stayed fairly consistent. But I do agree that certain things, especially newer “Visual Kei” brands like If Six Was Nine, have been hyped in a way that feels watered down. That doesn’t take away from the older pieces, though. The true historical collections will always maintain their significance and value.
For buyers navigating resellers online, what are some clear red flags, whether it’s pricing, authenticity, or even the way sellers carry themselves?
Other than the obvious — always legit check — I’d say the biggest red flag is if a deal feels too good to be true. It almost is. 100% all the time. Another one is poor or vague product photos. Sellers should always show details and be upfront about flaws. Archive pieces are old, wear and tear is expected, so it’s important to be transparent.
When sourcing pieces, what factors make something “worth” archiving for you?
Bangkok doesn’t have many stores like mine, especially focused on menswear. The trend here leans more towards more luxury. People prefer buying new pieces over looking backwards. But the scene is growing, thanks to tourism and a rising middle class. Southeast Asia still isn’t as developed as the West in this respect, and honestly, most of my sales still come from there. But the interest is definitely building here.
What’s one brand you feel most connected to, and why do you think it deserves more recognition?
For me, it’s Rick Owens, especially the pre-2010 work. I love old DRKSHDW collections and his early mainline pieces where he interpreted classic leather jackets like the Perfecto. Rick started out as a pattern maker, so those early silhouettes have a depth and detail that will forever be relevant and look cool.
Where do you think archive fashion is headed next? Is it on track to grow further into mainstream culture, or cycle back into its initial spaces?
I don’t think archive will ever become fully mainstream. It’s too niche by nature. These are well-made, timeless pieces, so there will always be demand, but within a smaller community. What’s changed is access to information. Back when I started collecting, you had to dig through forums like StyleZeitgeist or small Facebook groups. Now it’s one search away on TikTok or Instagram, which makes the community more diverse. And that’s a good thing. There will always be more pieces out there, so if you have your own taste, you’ll be fine. If you’re just chasing trends, you’ll get ripped off.
Archive fashion today might feel overrun with hype, buzzwords, and inflated prices, but conversations with people like Nic Varnier remind us that it isn’t doomed. The true weight of archive has always come from intent, or collecting with meaning, curating with context, and wearing pieces because they resonate, not just for the sake of hype.
In Southeast Asia, that intent is still alive. Sellers like Glam Archive, Archive Gems, Upstairs Garments, HDKK Vintage, and Test Labo show that archiving can remain about history and authenticity even in the face of fatigue.
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