Retrograde started with a simple observation: The vintage market is growing rapidly, but the infrastructure supporting it has not kept pace.

Every day, vintage store owners spend hours sorting inventory, researching garments, determining pricing, and tracking down information that often exists only in scattered archives, forum posts, personal expertise, and decades of accumulated knowledge.

At the same time, consumers are increasingly interested in authenticity, provenance, sustainability, and the stories behind what they buy.

Yet there is no central intelligence layer connecting these worlds.

Most existing platforms focus on transactions. They help people buy and sell. Very few help people understand.

We created Retrograde to fill that gap.

Inspired by platforms like Vivino—which transformed wine discovery through image recognition and community knowledge—we believe vintage fashion deserves the same evolution.

Our first product is being developed in partnership with academic researchers and industry experts to help vintage stores identify garments, access valuation insights, and connect with trusted service providers.

But this is only the beginning.

Our long-term ambition is to build the platform that powers understanding across the vintage ecosystem—connecting stores, collectors, enthusiasts, historians, and future generations through shared knowledge and technology.

Because every vintage piece has a story.

And stories deserve to be preserved.