{"id":344681,"date":"2026-06-03T12:15:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T12:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/344681\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T12:15:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T12:15:17","slug":"why-l-a-parents-are-hunting-for-nostalgic-vintage-clothing-for-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/344681\/","title":{"rendered":"Why L.A. parents are hunting for nostalgic vintage clothing for kids"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kids\u2019 vintage clothing sales are experiencing a remarkable boom at in-person markets and online, where prices for clothes for little ones have shot up on websites including Depop and Poshmark. Millennial parents are looking to outfit their kids in the clothes and TV and film characters they loved (or coveted) when they were kids. <\/p>\n

The result? There\u2019s a new generation of kiddos hitting the playground looking incredibly cool. Take Amari Case, a SoCal toddler who spent a Sunday afternoon this spring ambling around a vintage market in a West Hollywood warehouse clad in baggy jeans and a \u201990s-era tee emblazoned with the \u201cDragon Ball Z\u201d character Son Goku. <\/p>\n

When she wasn\u2019t scribbling on a Lorax coloring sheet, she\u2019d been cruising around the market with her dad, Aaron Munoz Case, snapping up new pieces destined to make her the flyest kid at the preschool playground.<\/p>\n

\"Three <\/p>\n

Neil Wright, from left, Kristine Nite Scalzo and Brandon Rosenblatt, co-founders of Elemeno Kids Vintage Market.<\/p>\n

Showing off Amari\u2019s new vintage satin L.A. Raiders jacket and tiny teal Grant Hill Detroit Pistons jersey, Munoz Case, who was also impeccably dressed, noted that while Amari went through a phase at about 18 months where she wanted to dress herself, eventually she gave up and went back to letting her dripped-out dad dictate her wardrobe.<\/p>\n

Munoz Case found Amari\u2019s first vintage piece at the Rose Bowl Flea Market and got the bug, going back every month to pick up something to add to his little\u2019s wardrobe.<\/p>\n

Trendspotters<\/a> and researchers<\/a> say Munoz Case isn\u2019t alone in his quest. The market for kids\u2019 vintage clothing has heated up precipitously over the last few years, perhaps hitting a boiling point in January when an Eeyore romper from the \u201990s sold for over $3,000 on EBay<\/a>. (It was new with tags, but one without tags still went for almost a grand about a month later<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The thirst for tiny throwbacks is so popular that first-ever, all-kids market Elemeno \u2014 named after the \u201cL-M-N-O\u201d bit of \u201cThe Alphabet Song\u201d and where Amari was toddling and shopping \u2014 drew 17 vendors and over 2,000 attendees over a single weekend in March. (There are plans for another Elemeno Kids Vintage Market pop-up later this year in New York, as well as plans to bring the event back to L.A. sometime next year.)<\/p>\n

1 <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

2 <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

1. Cameron Scalzo, wearing a vintage McDonald\u2019s T-shirt from the \u201890s, and mom Kristine Nite Scalzo. 2. Cameron Scalzo rocks an Avirex jacket from the \u201890s. <\/p>\n

Eye Speak Vintage\u2019s<\/a> Kristine Nite Scalzo, who co-organized the event and is opening an all-kids vintage store in Pasadena this month, says she fell under the kids vintage spell in 2020 when she was pregnant with her son. She\u2019d always been a vintage shopper for herself, so she knew she wanted to pass the passion down to the next generation. She started filling up her son\u2019s closet, and soon enough, she found herself selling her other finds out of a bodega in her garage.<\/p>\n

She has a by-appointment space in Pasadena now, where she draws everyone from Rihanna\u2019s stylist to out-of-town moms who make a point to stop by on their way to Disneyland. \u201cThe community around kids vintage has really skyrocketed on Instagram over the past six years,\u201d Scalzo says. \u201cWe want to know who we\u2019re buying from. We want to know that we\u2019re doing good with buying secondhand. And it\u2019s a hobby for people that can turn into a possible business on the side. Because knowing there\u2019s a big group that\u2019s interested in vintage kids clothes, you can always pass an item [your kid outgrows] to someone else or resell it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scalzo says some parents are out digging through bins at the Goodwill Outlet looking for the perfect piece, while others are content to pay up for, say, a \u201990s Simpsons T-shirt or a mini-size Harley-Davidson jacket. Scouring the racks at the Elemeno market, most pieces cost $15 to $40, though there were special pieces pulled to the side in some booths with price tags that could make a parent\u2019s eyes pop. (Think $275 for a set of well-worn Spider-Man overalls from the \u201900s or $150 for a pair of Cross Colours denim shorts from the \u201990s.)<\/p>\n

In kids and adult vintage alike, mint condition is highly valued. No matter the era in which they were raised, kids tend to be messy. They get strawberry juice on their shirts or scuff up the knees on their Bugle Boy jeans. Vintage kids clothes that look pristine are more expensive, and while plain kids clothes do sell, items with characters on them or cool prints tend to draw more attention and dollars.<\/p>\n

Brandon Rosenblatt, another of the Elemeno organizers, says he\u2019s had his eye on a specific kids \u201cBack to the Future\u201d shirt for some time, but notes that it typically sells for about $1,000. He\u2019s partial to McKids clothes<\/a> for his daughter, from McDonald\u2019s short-lived kids clothing brand, noting that he\u2019s even snagged her a vintage official McDonald\u2019s-themed aloha shirt from Hawaii, something he says he\u2019s never seen anywhere else.<\/p>\n

1 <\/p>\n

\"Siblings <\/p>\n

2 <\/p>\n

\"Thalia <\/p>\n

1. Siblings Amora and Milo Castilo wear vintage cowboy hats, jackets and chaps. 2. Thalia Castilo and her kids Amora and Milo. <\/p>\n

Other collectors, he says, might be a little less obscure, leaning into mainstream characters such as Strawberry Shortcake or from \u201980s and \u201990s properties including \u201cThe Land Before Time\u201d and \u201cRugrats.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of millennials are having kids \u2014 like everyone who\u2019s in their 30s and 40s \u2014 and they all want to put their kids in the same IP they grew up in,\u201d Rosenblatt says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the thrill of the hunt that gets everyone so excited,\u201d Scalzo says. \u201cOnce you find that perfect nostalgic piece, you\u2019re like \u2018Holy s\u2014,\u2019 and you just want to chase that feeling again and again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mia De La Rosa, a reseller who was at the Elemeno market, says that like Scalzo, she started buying kids vintage clothes when she was pregnant with her daughter, Liv, who\u2019s 6 now, very into everything on PBS Kids and has a closet full of thrifted vintage garb covered in characters such as D.W., the annoying little sister from the \u201990s show \u201cArthur.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everything Liv wears is \u201ccompletely her style,\u201d De La Rosa says. \u201cShe dresses herself every day and she gets compliments on what she\u2019s wearing at school all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other vintage-wearing kids \u2014 and in particular younger ones \u2014 might simply be sporting what their parents like or might just like the look of the shirt even if they don\u2019t know what it\u2019s advertising. (An 8-year-old boy at the Elemeno market, for instance, chose to wear a pristine T-shirt highlighting the \u201990s Jim Carrey movie \u201cThe Mask\u201d because it featured his favorite color: green.)<\/p>\n

Derrick Broaster, a vintage enthusiast turned full-time reseller<\/a>, says that while he chooses to put himself in clothes from the \u201960s and \u201970s, he outfits his two sons in clothes from the 2000s. (\u201cHow Bow Wow used to dress when he was a kid,\u201d he says.)<\/p>\n

Although his younger son tends to rebel against Broaster\u2019s vintage picks, opting for whatever Spider-Man shoes happen to be in his eyeline, his older son has leaned in, letting his dad advise him on what vintage pieces could work and what would be the most stylish.<\/p>\n

1 <\/p>\n

\"Brothers <\/p>\n

2 <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

1. Julian, left, and Javier Gutierrez show off their vintage clothing. Javier says his mom always tells him to keep his vintage outfits clean. 2. Mom Priscilla Guzman, clockwise, Dad Javier Gutierrez and sons Julian and Javier Gutierrez enjoy the vibe of vintage clothing. Guzman says she\u2019s been buying and selling kids\u2019 vintage since her oldest son was born eight years ago. <\/p>\n

Rosenblatt says a good portion of what vintage finds he sees in the market now has returned to the U.S. from places in Central America and South America or Asia where those pieces were likely sent decades ago after they were donated or given away.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a real underbelly of this vintage game with rag houses<\/a> getting access to bulk product overseas and letting people sort through it,\u201d he says. \u201cThere are companies now that rip through 20, 30 or 40,000 pieces of vintage clothing a week. It\u2019s a really interesting ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n

For many kids vintage sellers, finding their stock is just as fun and interesting as getting it back into consumers\u2019 hands. \u201cAnywhere we can find clothes, we\u2019re there,\u201d says Matthew Carlos, owner of Long Gone Youth<\/a>. He started selling vintage clothes 11 years ago, when he was 15, switched to kids vintage at 20 and has spent the last six years scouring flea markets, websites and swap meets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids market is definitely growing,\u201d he says, \u201cbut I still feel like we haven\u2019t even gotten close to where we can go. It\u2019s just getting popular now, but the more events [like Elemeno] we can do, the more it\u2019ll go mainstream.\u201d Even now, some major brands like Gap and OshKosh B\u2019gosh have recognized the interest in some of their styles from the \u201980s and \u201990s, moving to re-release the looks<\/a> in limited runs.<\/p>\n

\"Jackie <\/p>\n

Jackie and Frank Oropeza with daughter Rumi Mae shop at Elemeno Kids Vintage Market.<\/p>\n

Kids resale is also leaning into streetwear culture. Rosenblatt, who worked in the streetwear industry, says that he\u2019s noticed that a good portion of those interested in kids vintage \u2014 particularly, male shoppers \u2014 tend to be fans of streetwear brands like Supreme, Fear of God Essentials and Bape. At Elemeno, for instance, a good portion of the parents we saw pushing strollers were well-dressed dads seemingly on solo missions, something you don\u2019t always see at kid-centric events.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want my son to feel like I did as a kid,\u201d said Justin Nguyen, while watching his toddler, Jayden, play with bubbles. \u201cI want him to be happy, carefree and joyful, and I want to be able to spend time with him. My mom and dad were always working, even on the weekends. Now that I\u2019m a dad, taking my son out on weekends to do stuff like this just seems like a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n