If it smells, it's not vintage it's garbage.

I have never bought anything from a "vintage" store, as they mothball the shit out of their wares. Probably because most of the owners are lazy people who are running the store because otherwise they'd have to hold down a real job.

I only buy second hand clothes in charity shops, and smell or condition has never been a problem.

For about 4-5 years I bought mostly vintage, a lot of it high dollar 50s gear that was rare.  LA is a great place for 30s-70s vintage, the selection used to be really good and the prices surprisingly low for the pedigree of gear you could get.  There was a time when vintage stores from San Francisco would come to LA, buy stuff, then mark it up and sell it up there. And obviously there's always been a huge influx of Japanese buyers over the years. But the vintage selection nowadays is slim pickings and what you do find is so expensive it's hard to justify.

"New" is the new vintage

Maybe Im a horrible snob but I like new clothes. Especially after reading that report on germs and viruses found on neckties...blah.