In recent years there has been a quiet change in the way Córdoba dresses. It was neither a trend imported from Buenos Aires nor a passing fad dictated by the broadcasters. Above all, it was an accumulation of individual decisions—pocket, conscience, style—that ultimately reshaped the city’s business landscape.
Any attentive walker can see the evidence of this Guemes, General peace, Alta Cordoba or even in the center of the city: shops displaying unique used “brand” clothing, hung with the delicacy of a home museum; boutiques that act as small curators of the past; a growing presence on social networks that are storefronts and catalogs; and customers—women and men of all ages—who seek in a worn label the value they once sought in novelty.
The used clothing It stopped being a resource for times of crisis and became an aesthetic and ethical choice. In Córdoba this mutation reaches phenomenal levels; However, this is no exception, because the same thing is happening on a global scale: according to estimates from Forbesalready represents 10% of the global fashion market. There are at least three categories in the industry: vintage (clothes 20 years or older), contemporary second-hand (used but newer clothing) and design upcycled (Parts intervened or reconstructed). In Córdoba all three coexist.
Origin and evolution
The story of Laura Posadaan inevitable reference in the circuit of circular fashioncan certainly be considered as a witness case to summarize the origin and development of the technology boom. used clothing. As a trained master gardener, she decided to open a silver jewelry store on a commission basis in 2007. He managed 13 salespeople and a wholesale office. “Until 2018 the instability of the dollar caused my business to collapse and then I saw a great opportunity to sell my own clothes,” he told Perfil Córdoba.
“I started an Instagram account in the living room of my house where I uploaded photos of 150 items of clothing, shoes and accessories that I had in my closet,” he added. Your company today –Laura Posada– has seven of its own branches and eleven franchises and is in seven cities in the province, but also in St. Louis, Mar del Plata and more recently in ValenciaSpain.
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Just as the crisis can be an opportunity for entrepreneurs, the same applies to the public. Inflation and loss of purchasing power forced them to rethink their clothing consumption. In this context, a good quality used garment can cost between 30 and 80% less than a new one with similar characteristics, depending on the season, the condition of the garment, the validity of the brand and materials. “But when it comes to that vintage True, the price is not necessarily lower. “Many items can cost as much or more than a new item of clothing,” he explained. Andrea Barriosfrom Güemes Vintage (Achával Rodríguez 238). The price alone does not explain the phenomenon. To buy used clothing People come who could easily buy something new but decide against it. People come looking for identity, looking for history. What was worn was no longer interpreted as a sign of precarity, but became a sign of distinction.
Other motivations
“Since we opened our store in April of this year, different target groups have come. But the vast majority are looking.” Unique piecesTreasures, jewels of good quality and at cheaper prices than in leading brand stores,” he analyzed Paula AguirreOwner of Therapy: recycle and expel Argentinawhose location at 982 Rosario de Santa Fe Street is part of an old mansion in the neighborhood General peacerecycled with exquisite taste. Her sister and founding partner “Angie” has a branch in BerlinGermany; Some items of clothing cross the ocean from Europe to America and vice versa.
It seems clear that the Singularity – this desire not to dress like everyone else – is worth more than the premiere. And there is also a component in that nostalgic which is at its highest point. For Andrea, “there is a big return to the aesthetics of the 80s, 90s and 2000s”; but it makes an important conceptual difference: “Retro imitates the past; vintage It is authentic past. Many people look for vintage clothing because they want something original from that period: prints, old labels, cuts, fabrics and brands that are no longer the same.”
“Poli” Aguirre agrees: “There is a search personal style and nostalgia, which leads many people to turn to vintage or, in our case, vintage Upcyclingredesigned from vintage, second-hand and discarded items.” Therefore it is not surprising that a Levi’s jacket made many years ago sells faster than a new one, or that a newly designed dress is more in demand than one of these fast fashion fresh from the factory.
Part of the boom is held in one Environmental sensitivity That’s not the majority, but it’s no longer marginal. The speech of circular fashionpreviously relegated to ecological niches have gained common sense: buying what already exists avoids waste, reduces demand in textile production – one of the most polluting industries in the world – and allows extending the useful life of materials that would otherwise end up in landfills.
In Córdoba, this argument was particularly well received by university students and young professionals, but not by all listeners. “I don’t think the impact of sustainability is big enough, or at least not noticeable to most customers,” he said. Laura. But, for PaolaThis criterion is present in those who intervene in garments: “When we design, we want to tell the customer that there is something hidden behind these materials Traceability. It is a way to bring light and transparency to processes that have social and environmental impacts, as is the case with design.”
Garments with history
In this universe, every place leaves its mark. Some function almost like old fashion galleries, where each item of clothing has a story that the owner knows and tells. “We love to learn as much as we can about the origin of the garment, whether it contains an anecdote, whether it has been passed down through other generations and what emotional significance it has. Sometimes people ask about it.
Laura Posada He immediately renamed the idea: He prefers to talk about clothes.pre-loved“, no “used” clothing items. “It’s our brand concept.” We attach great importance to the past of each piece of clothing, to its previous life. It is a plus that gives it more value. We even thought about describing the history of each garment on a label, although we haven’t been able to do that yet,” said the owner.
The fans of vintage They are the ones who most often ask about the history of the garment: what year it is from, where it was made, whether it is a special edition or whether it belongs to a specific line or collection. And Andrea has a few tips for them: “Many garments carry information that allows them to identify their origin, such as old labels, dates, logos that are no longer used, or countries of manufacture such as.” USA, Mexico, Guatemala either Honduraswhich usually indicates older and higher quality production.”
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Everything suggests that we are dealing with a different way of dressing, consuming and living in the city, driven by a mix of thrift, style and responsibility. It’s impossible to know how long it will last or how it will evolve, but one thing seems clear: new, diverse, curious people are entering the site every week. You will not “research” but choose. And this choice explains why used clothing has moved from being on the fringes of consumption to the center of the urban scene.
The other side of the coin
The Argentine Chamber of Clothing Industry (Ciai) warned that imports of used clothing multiplied more than forty-fold in 2025: between January and August, $2.2 million of second-hand clothing entered the country, compared to just $52,000 in all of 2024. The majority of this comes from USAwhere environmental law prohibits the incineration of used textiles. They arrive in bales of 25 to 50 kilos and their immediate destination is resale.
At the same time, shopping courier —Shein, Temu and other Asian platforms – continue to grow and the “made in China” already dominates trade fairs like The salad and some smaller replicas in Córdoba, displacing local production.
Mass imports of clothing were banned in Argentina between 1999 and 2022, but there are no restrictions today. For the textile industry this means: unfair competition; for the world of vintagea threat to the sector’s founding principle: recycle not replace what already exists with global surpluses.
Accelerated growth raises environmental alarm. Organizations warn about what will happen if the flow is left unchecked chilithe largest importer of used clothing in the region: approx 39,000 tons of the clothes end up in the Atacama DesertIn High hospiceone of the largest textile dumps in the world.