Thrifty business: Perth people talk about their passion for op-shopping

Andrew: ‘Wearing stylish and interesting clothes is a great way of starting a conversation and creating a positive vibe’

Like a lot of people of my generation I bought from op shops when I was young to be different. And it was a lot cheaper than buying new, which helped when you were starting out. Then I bought a beautiful Italian woollen suit from an op shop and suddenly people were treating me differently and I felt different.

Buying stylish clothes from op stops and making an effort in what I wear became a part of my identity. Around the same time I started doing stand-up comedy, so I would perform wearing a beautiful second-hand suit. Most of my contemporaries were wearing jeans and T-shirts. It didn’t cost me much to stand out and make an impression.

I looked for high-quality clothes and shoes that cost a fraction of what the original owner paid. These shoes I’m wearing, for example, are O’Keefes. They’re made by an Irish woman in Italy and worn by movie stars. I paid a fraction of the original price of around $900 for something incredibly beautiful and will never go out of style.

Andrew’s shoes are one of his favourite op-shop finds.Credit: Mark Naglazas

Being my height and weight it is a bit harder to find better clothes. Older men tend to put on weight, so a lot of the good stuff tends to be a bit looser.

My first novel, The Montegiallo School of Swearing, is being published by Fremantle Press next year. A lot of it is about making a new identity with the clothes. It is set in modern-day Sicily, where they still put an effort into looking great. It is something we had here in Perth in the 1950s, but has gone by the wayside, which is a shame.

I mostly shop at op shops and vintage stores, but I do buy some new stuff. Apart from jeans and cords, trousers are really hard to find because they tend to show their wear in a way coats and shirts do not. And there are plenty of good shoes. When somebody passes away their shoes tend to be moved on unless members of the family happen to have the same shoe size.

Ninety-nine per cent of what you find in op shops is crap. So if you want to find great items like my O’Keefe shoes you have to walk through regularly. Even if you only have five minutes you can pop into an op shop and scan the place for anything interesting. It’s a bit different with vintage shops. They’re curated. You’re paying them to weed out the good stuff.

The good stuff lasts forever. These shoes I’m wearing are 25 years old. They have been re-soled, of course. But with another re-soling they will be with me many more years. So always look for quality when you’re buying second hand. And look for the good brands. It’s not a guarantee, but it is a way of sorting through the piles of clothes.

Jessica (left) and Sarah (right) at Cool Cats Vintage in Mt Lawley.Credit: Mark Naglazas

Jess and Sarah: ‘We feel a lot better about ourselves shopping for recycled clothing than buying something new’

JESS: The main reason I shop at vintage clothing stores and op shops is the quality of older clothes is so much better than what you get today.

SARAH: Sustainability is important for me. Fast fashion is so destructive. It impacts on the environment and it is produced by people working in appalling conditions. We feel a lot better about ourselves shopping for recycled clothing than buying something new.

JESS: You can probably buy cheaper clothes online and in stores like Kmart, but you know that they have often been produced in places that don’t pay people proper wages. How can you wear clothes when you know that the people who made them are mistreated?

SARAH: I also don’t like contemporary fashion very much. I don’t want to sound like a prude, but some modern clothing is kind of inappropriate. I saw this TikTok video the other day of a mother buying her daughter shorts that were more like underwear. Older fashion is a bit classier. Not so trashy.

JESS: I find that the older styles are more timeless. You can’t go wrong with jeans, flannels and a T-shirt.

SARAH: The only problem is op shops and vintage stores have become so successful that the prices have gone up. So the whole vintage-shopping thing is now more commercialised. So vintage shops will buy clothes from more traditional op shops for a few dollars and charge like $50 for the same item.

JESS: Our generation is not just into recycled clothes. We love retro things in general. Vinyl, CDs, old cameras. I don’t like all the things I love being digital. It’s so transient. Who knows if I will be even able to get the music or movies that mean so much to me now in 20 or 30 years time. Op shops and vintage stores keep alive the things we believe are valuable.

JESS: The cost of living has made these stores more popular. I probably wouldn’t buy from a lot of the vintage stores in the fashionable inner-city areas because they’re too expensive. But you can still get great stuff in areas like Balcatta.

SARAH: Shopping in op shops and vintage stores is always a way of expressing yourself. There are multiple different stores in Perth but they are all selling the same thing. So buying second-hand and recycled clothes allows you to be a bit different.

JESS: Everyone says that Gen-Zedders are too woke or too soft. But I think we are just acknowledging the reality that the world is facing big problems. No offence to the older generation but we are dealing with the consequences of their actions, which is why we go out of our way to buy recycled clothing. The world doesn’t need more waste.

Bernadette at Beat Happening in Fremantle. Credit: Mark Naglazas

Bernadette: ‘I could buy lace that would cost $60 a metre in textile stores for nearly nothing’

When I was 16 a friend took me to a Bicton op shop and I was blown away. I loved watching old movies, so when I saw clothes like the ones I saw on the screen I became addicted. I loved the whole experience of rummaging through clothes from the 1940s and 1950s. I loved the designs, colours and retro patterns.

I was also obsessed with clothing construction. As a child, I made clothes out of salvaged textiles. So when I started going to community centres and op shops I wasn’t just looking for clothes. I was buying vintage patterns and fabrics. I could go to the textile store and buy guipure cotton lace for $60 a metre, or I could go to the op shop and buy exactly the same thing for nearly nothing — for $2.

Once I started going to community centres and op shops I stopped buying from traditional clothing stores. I have never bought new clothes. Everything that I own I’ve bought from op shops or made myself. My wardrobe is an eclectic mix of thrifted, gifted, handmade or locally constructed pieces.

When I was young I was shopping mainly at community church shops, which were really lovely. It had a wonderful community vibe. There are second-hand and vintage shops everywhere now and some of them are big businesses, but there is still a wonderful op shop vibe. They are run by people who love and care about what they are selling and treat all their customers with respect.

There is a lot of discussion now about fast fashion and climate change, but we were thinking about these things in the 1980s. I remember when I was a teenager there was a lot of concern with the disappearing ozone layer. I used to talk to adults all the time about how crazy it was that we keep producing stuff that goes into landfill instead of recycling it.

I’m a Fremantle girl and the op shops have always been a part of the alternative culture down here. There are lots of like-minded people who worry about the state of the world and the overuse of resources.

I spent years making clothes out of recycled fabrics and selling them at the Fremantle markets and in local shops such as the fabulous Moulitatas mid-century boutique and upstairs at Mills record bar when they sold retro stuff upstairs in the late 90s. I would make hipster flares out of 1970s curtains, for example.

About 10 years ago, I opened Beat Happening, an internationally curated vintage shop after years of selling at vintage markets and online. I’ve been in this laneway for the past seven years.

I am contacted by musicians and people from the arts who have specific needs. Local theatre groups might need clothes from the 1940s and I will source that for them. And musicians who perform will come to me looking for an outfit. They don’t want to look like everyone else who shops in traditional stores.