Vintage fashion and Instagram: how in Malaysia the app has changed the way millennials and Gen Z look at second-hand clothes and thrifting

Young fashion fans in Malaysia are bucking a cultural bias against pre-worn clothing and promoting sustainable shopping

Instagram has played a major role in shifting their focus from new high-end designer wear to second-hand clothing and the art of thrifting

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Looks from Okgo, a vintage fashion store in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Social media apps such as Instagram are driving sales of vintage fashion in Malaysia.

Published: 8:15am, 3 Dec 2019Updated: 8:04pm, 3 Dec 2019

“Thanks, it’s vintage,” may prompt squeals of delight and intakes of breath elsewhere in the world, but in Malaysia, that’s not always been the case.

Until recently, the country’s relatively young economy has been obsessed with the “new new”, international labels and logomania.

Now there’s been a mini-earthquake thanks to Instagram.

The image-sharing platform has been widely credited all over the world for a certain democratising of fashion, showing luxury brands next to high-street labels, and vintage clothes next to current-season items. And not just for “inspiration” – independent retailers have been using the platform to sell second-hand clothes, with great success.

Vintage clothing from Okgo, a vintage store in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Vintage in Malaysia has always been a complex proposition. On the one hand, there’s a great love of bundle shopping – thrift shopping in its rawest form.

Bundle shop owners will buy bundles (literally, huge cartons of second-hand clothing – often from Japan), set them up on rails and let shoppers have at it. These stores are most often found in Kuala Lumpur’s satellite towns, and they’ve recently been joined by thrift “superstores” like Jalan Jalan Japan.