The Guide to Pre-Owned: Key Terms

Vintage, NOS, NWT, Pre-Loved etc: What does it all mean?

This is the first installment in a - hopefully long-running - series about pre-owned menswear. This installment focuses on some key terms we often meet when shopping for pre-owned clothing, shoes or accessories. Readers who want to add to this vocabulary, please do so in the comments section.

A common barrier when you get interested in something new, is the vocabulary, or language, that often hold terms and expressions very specific to the field in relevance. Browsing or shopping for pre-owned clothing is no exception to this. Although not a Rubiks Cube, there are still a few terms and abbreviations that I have had to investigate and learn over the years. Here are some of them.

Deadstock: Defined as stock, that doesn’t turn over - doesn’t sell. There can be several reasons for this: overproduction, low or no demand and so forth. In pre-owned clothing we often meet deadstock as a term related to military garments, both clothes and shoes. However, clever and experienced vintage dealers with the right connections might also get their hands on more “civil” deadstock. Deadstock condition may vary, depending on how the goods have been stored.

NOS: New Old Stock. Unworn clothes, shoes or accessories, likely from a retailer, who has decided to make space for a new selection or from a maker/brand, if a line or model is discontinued or simple doesn’t sell or the retailer or producer goes out of business. Might also be factory seconds, which means garments with minor faults that can’t be sold on normal terms. For tailoring NOS also means that there has been made no alterations, possibly making it easier to get the right fit (if the right size is available).

NWT: New With Tags. A garment with original tags still attached. I would expect such a garment to have been bought by someone before but still be unworn. For tailoring, the same as with NOS applies.

Pre-Owned: Quite a broad term, a superordinate, for clothing, shoes and accessories that has been owned by an individual before and now is up for sale again. Can include most other key terms mentioned in this post. Other similar terms are Pre-Loved or Second Hand. I stick to pre-owned because it - for me - is the most neutral term and also seems more relevant for the type of clothing we focus on here on The Soft Armour.

Sample: A garment (or shoes) producered as a test. Might be a test of cut, fabric or something third. From time to time these samples end up on the re-sell market. Often quite unique garments, but in my experience rarely versatile.

Second Hand: More or less the same as Pre-Owned. However, there might be other associations here, perhaps hinting at a lower quality level or condition than pre-owned, leading to a lower price level or at least expectations of lower prices.

Vintage: Searching for one singular definition af what vintage menswear is have so far led me to the conclusion that there is no singular definition. But for our purpose here we might define vintage as a piece of original clothing, worn or unworn, that is at least some 30-40 years old. It is my impression that it is the last part, not so much the part about the garment being original, that is up for debate. Afficionados and purists, who know a lot more about true vintage than me, will probably find this definition to forgiving. That might be, but this is our starting point. Vintage garments often have one or more features or qualities that similar garments doesn’t have today, like make, labels or fabric.