THERE is a difference, the designer Wayne Hemingway is keen to point out, between vintage and retro.

Retro is spacehoppers and deely boppers. Retro is Elvis Presley in a white flared jumpsuit, "something you can look back and laugh about," says Hemingway. "But it was a daft piece of design at the time and it remains a daft piece of design today."

That's not what vintage is. And it's not what Vintage, Hemingway's bespoke festival, which is coming to Glasgow as part of the Merchant City Festival, is either. Vintage (and vintage for that matter) is "a timeless celebration of design, of timeless creativity", according to his definition.

"It's a celebration of music, fashion, design and food and I think as a designer it's a great chance for us to remind ourselves of the heritage of our profession. But to do it in a way without a scratchy beard."

Hemingway is explaining his plans for the festival in the surroundings of Glasgow's Blythswood Square hotel.

It's an appropriate venue, he says: "This hotel is a perfect example of vintage because it feels timeless and classy."

Vintage – the festival – has now been running for three years in different locations around the UK.

It's the latest venture of Hemingway and his wife Gerardine, best known for starting the Red or Dead fashion label in the 1980s (and their famous shop of the same name on Buchanan Street), though they have since branched out to design furniture, tiles, Butlin's badges, revamp Hush Puppies, and even design houses.

And as well as a chance to celebrate Britain's design history, Hemingway says Vintage is also an excuse to have a good night out. Events announced include the Soul Casino, which will recreate the classic 1970s disco, and a Vintage Great Gatsby 1920s Fashion Show.

"At the forefront of it we've always put dancing and catwalk shows and things that are exciting," he says. "We always look at it as this is a proper night out, and you wouldn't come along like you'd been working as a petrol pump attendant all day. Unless you were doing it trendily. But the great thing is you can make an effort when you're there. If you fancy your hair done in a beehive or 1940s victory rolls you can get it done here inexpensively."

Entry is free but you do have to buy tickets in advance for the dancing classes, catwalk shows and music shows. And the whole event will have a distinctly Scottish flavour. "The last thing we want to do is impose a whole team that has delivered an event in London on another city that doesn't want it."

The music, most of the DJs and the fashion designers who will be part of the festival are home-grown. The whole event's DNA, Hemingway suggests, is Scottish. "That makes it more interesting to us. It's important that we're on a voyage of discovery as well."

Hemingway's Vintage festival started in 2010 and has grown. Some 40,000 people turned up in Preston last year. The question is who are they? "People like me and Gerardine and our kids," says Hemingway. "I think we have mass-market tastes, because Red or Dead was a mass-market brand. Our tiles are sold in Topps Tiles and most of our products are available in John Lewis and places like that. So we're not elitist.

"But we thought festivals were getting hijacked a bit. They were something you did in a muddy field. They were mainly for young people getting away from their parents for the first time, getting off their face – which is great.

"But for me, art and music and fashion and design have always gone together, and part of the thing of going to music is getting dressed for it as well. And you can't do that in a field." He pulls his feet up into his lap. "Look. I've got my nice polished 1950s shoes on which are well worn in. But they'd be f***** in 10 minutes in a field. We thought it would be possible to do a festival where you would watch bands dance, buy great food, be with a lot of other like-minded people but do it without having to build the infrastructure in a muddy field."

Vintage is really about the Hemingways having fun. The serious stuff happens elsewhere. They are also playing their part in one of the major social debates of the day.

At the turn of the century, Hemingway spoke out against the "Wimpeyfication" of Britain, attacking the quality of Britain's social housing. He was subsequently approached to be involved in a number of housing projects, including one with Peter Stirling at Calderwood near Livingston, which he is hoping to see come to fruition next year. Meanwhile, the 750 homes he helped design in Gateshead is the project he is proudest of as a designer.

And yet the housing problem has, if anything, got worse, he says. "There's an awful lot wrong with the housing industry. The national housebuilders have seen off most of the small competition because they've got the financial clout to see them through this downturn.

"Housing is about the most important thing in our lives, apart from flesh and blood, and when you think people are making the sums of money they're making by not delivering the housing we need – not just in quantity but in quality – it's pretty worrying."

It is a reflection of a wider problem, he argues. "Look at these streets we're in here in Glasgow. Look at the thinking that went into it and the quality that went into it. The whole point of society is to leave a better legacy for your kids, and I don't believe housebuilders are doing that."

In short we have become a retro society. Hemingway believes it is time we were a vintage one.

l Vintage Glasgow at Merchant City Festival will run on July 27 and July 28. For more details visit www.merchantcityfestival.com

Vintage highlights

l The Vintage Marketplace, July 27, 11am

Curated by Gin in Teacups, it will sell vintage clothes, from couture to street style, and from the 1920s to the 1980s.

l Let It Rock, July 27, 2pm

An afternoon of rockabilly, jive classes and a headline performance from Coy Dogs.

l Soul Casino, July 27, 8pm.

Recreation of classic soul club nights of the 1970s and 1980s, with DJs including Wayne and Jack Hemingway.

l Vintage Great Gatsby Fashion Show, July 28, 2pm

1920s catwalk show with live jazz from singer Lou Hickey.

l Torch Club, July 28, 8pm

1940s-style nightclub curated by DJ/bandleader Snowboy. Includes style makeovers and 18-piece string orchestra The New Squadronnaires.