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Vintage has a lot of things going for it from an ethical stand point. Vintage shopping falls under that re-use category of ethical practises. Since the garment has already been produced, buying it has a really low environment impact. No need to produce more materials or put in more labour. You are also preventing something from ending up in a landfill.
On the ethical labour front, you're unlikely to know whether the garment was originally produced with higher labour standards. It depends once again when it was made, where it was made and what the labour laws were like at that time. On the other hand, you are not contributing to more fast fashion items being produced. Some points for that!You are also likely to be supporting a local business or person when you buy vintage. With a few exceptions, most vintage stores are small businesses, not big chains. A fair like I went to the other day, you have a direct one-to-one support to someone, which always feels nice to me.
On the other hand...
Vintage is obviously more selective in what they sell than just straight up used clothing. Which means unlike your local charity shop, they are more likely to be traveling or transporting purchases over greater distances. Most communities don't have an endless supply of good vintage items. While its still less environmental impact than new, its footprint may be higher than some types of used-clothing.
Another thing with vintage (and used item) is that of course, it does rely on people throwing things away/buying more than they use. While it might be nice to imagine we are all swapping things between each other, thats not really the case. The reason we have so many options of used/vintage items is because of hyper-consumerism. Something to think about.Finally, vintage can come with a whole host of size and style dilemmas. Vintage clothing sometimes was designed assuming you have very different undergarments (pointed busts anyone?) You might hate things in your size and love something that won't fit. Or just not feel the 50's vibe. All of these make it difficult to shop. And buying something that doesn't fit or isn't your style will just mean yet another item in your closet that is unused.
Every ethical option has its ups and downs. For me, I find the most important thing with vintage is to be really realistic about whether I will wear something. I might love the cut of a 50's dress or 60's coat, but that doesn't mean it will make it into my real-life wardrobe. Save your cash and vintage shopping points for things you will get the mileage out of.
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