Reference
Condition & Measuring
Everything here is between twenty and thirty years old and was built to be played in. Some of it has been. This page explains the four condition grades, how every piece is measured, and what ageing does to performance fabric — because a lot of what looks like wear is chemistry, not damage.
The four condition grades
| Grade | What it means |
|---|---|
| Like New | No visible wear. Often deadstock or close to it — original tags are noted on the product page when present. This grade is used sparingly. |
| Excellent | Worn, washed, and still sharp. No holes, no stains, no meaningful fading. Colour and structure are intact. |
| Good Used | Honest wear that reads at arm's length: light pilling, softened cuffs, minor fading, or a small mark. Every instance is photographed and described. |
| Fair Used | A visible flaw that affects how the piece looks — a stain, a repair, a pull, thinning fabric. Priced accordingly and always shown up close. |
When a piece sits between two grades it gets the lower one. Every flaw is photographed rather than described around, and repairs are disclosed as repairs. Surprise is the thing that ruins a vintage purchase, not wear.
How pieces are measured
Every measurement is taken flat, in inches, with the garment laid out and smoothed but not stretched. Measure a piece you already own and like, then compare — that is more reliable than any size label from 2001.
- Chest, pit to pit
- Straight across the front from one underarm seam to the other. Double it for the full chest circumference. This is the single most useful number on the page.
- Length, HPS to hem
- From the high point of the shoulder — the seam where the collar meets the shoulder — straight down to the bottom hem. Measured on the front.
- Shoulder to shoulder
- Across the back, seam to seam. On raglan and set-in-sleeve outerwear this is approximate by nature, and it is noted when it is.
- Sleeve
- From the shoulder seam to the end of the cuff. Skipped on vests, and on raglan sleeves it is taken from the centre back of the collar instead, which is stated when used.
- Hem or waist
- Given when a piece is boxy, elasticated, or cut noticeably wider or narrower than the chest — which covers most windbreakers of this era.
- Headwear
- Fitted caps carry their stamped size. Everything else is listed as adjustable, with the closure type named — snapback, strapback, or buckle.
What ageing actually does to this fabric
Most of what Free Drop sells is engineered polyester. It ages differently from cotton, and in ways worth understanding before you read a condition grade.
Wicking usually survives
Moisture management in these garments is built into the fibre shape and the knit structure, not sprayed on. Because it is structural, it does not simply expire the way a surface coating does. A clean twenty-five-year-old Dri-FIT polo will often still move sweat roughly the way it was designed to.
The comfort package often does not
What degrades is everything around the wicking: detergent and body-oil build-up, retained odour, pilling, a shiny abraded surface, and elastane that has gone slack from years of high-heat drying. So the honest framing is that the moisture channel may still work while the garment no longer feels factory-fresh. Those are two different claims and Free Drop does not merge them.
What to look for on outerwear
Shells and linings have their own failure modes: water-repellent finishes wear off with use and washing, laminated or coated layers can separate from the face fabric with age, and taped seams can lift. Any of these is called out explicitly on the product page. If a shell no longer sheds water, it says so.
Care, briefly. Wash cool, and keep synthetics away from high heat — heat is what kills the elastic in a twenty-year-old waistband or cuff. Air-dry where you can. Most of the damage these garments take now happens in a tumble dryer, not on a course.
Condition and the score are separate
A piece's score out of 150 is mostly about what it is — brand, era, rarity, demand. Condition is only a small part of that number and is graded on its own scale besides. Read the score to understand the piece; read the condition grade and the photos to understand the garment. Full rubric on Grading.