Condition grading is the least standardised aspect of the vintage market. One seller's "excellent" is another's "good with flaws" — and the difference matters considerably when you're spending several hundred euros on a single piece. At ALE PARIS, we use a four-tier grading system applied consistently across every piece in the boutique.
Pristine
Pristine means the piece shows no signs of wear. No pilling, no fading, no marks at the collar or cuffs, no stress at the seams, hardware intact and unscratched. Pristine pieces are typically unworn or worn once — they represent a small fraction of the vintage market and are priced accordingly. If a piece is graded Pristine, we expect it to look indistinguishable from new under close examination.
Pristine with Tags
A subset of Pristine: the original retail tags are still attached. This is the rarest condition grade and carries the strongest provenance signal. It confirms the piece was never worn and, in many cases, never altered.
Excellent
Excellent is the most common grade for quality vintage pieces. It means the piece has been worn but shows minimal evidence of it. Acceptable under Excellent: very light wear at collar points on shirts, minor softening of structure in tailored pieces, slight fading of lining colour. Not acceptable under Excellent: visible pilling, marks that haven't responded to cleaning, hardware with significant scratching, or any alteration that affects the original silhouette.
When we grade a piece Excellent, we're saying: wear it as-is, no intervention needed.
Very Good
Very Good means the piece has visible signs of wear that do not affect its wearability or overall appearance from a normal distance. This might include light pilling on a wool jacket, minor colour variation at stress points, or a replaced button that closely matches the original. Very Good pieces represent strong value — the wear is honest and the price reflects it.
Good
Good means the piece has character. Visible wear, possible minor repairs, hardware that shows its age. We stock Good condition pieces only when they are exceptional in some other respect — a rare Mugler silhouette, a Galliano print that doesn't appear elsewhere, a Lacroix embroidery that justifies the condition. Good is never a default grade; it's a deliberate choice.
What to ask before buying anywhere
If a seller doesn't use a defined grading system, ask three specific questions: Are there any marks or stains? Has the piece been altered? Is the hardware original? The answers tell you more than any condition label.
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