Some people look at you sideways when you declare you’re an op-shopper while others understand the sense of discovery, salvage, revival, thrift and pleasure it represents.

There are many reasons why people throw out clothing including de-cluttering a bulging wardrobe, boredom, dated style, gain/loss of weight, doesn’t work with body shape, owner has moved on, it needs mending or they may want to help a charity.

But in a recent 1 Million Women post about the pros and cons of donating clothing to charity, Bronte Hogarth wrote: “It might feel like you’ve lifted a weight of your shoulders in cleaning out your closet and donating your clothes to charity, but everyone should be aware that your clothes don’t automatically end up in an op shop or in the hands of someone in need, if at all. The model at Lifeline, for example, shows that one third of clothes donated are considered good enough to go back into the stores to be sold, one third is packed up to be exported, and the remaining third is either cut up and sold as cleaning cloths or disposed of. This model is reflective of clothing collection charities worldwide.” 

I buy from op shops for the fun of finding treasure, something original, quality materials you can’t find new, rescuing natural resources I hate seeing go to waste, and to support the charity and volunteers.

The problem for op shops now it that new clothing is so cheap and the quantities so huge that it is impacting their fundraising model and volunteer capacity to process donations.

Op shops have so much clothing coming through donation bins these days they can’t store counter-seasonal items, therefore they’ll often go on the $2 rack for a quicker sale. That’s where I picked up this black wool cashmere coat for $2 at an RSPCA op shop. It is a Stella McCartney and in near perfect condition. 

Even though the tag says dryclean only, that cost and chemical use can be avoided with a simple handwash in wool wash, spin, shake and hang to dry in the shade. To create a bit of interest on the plain black coat, I added some camel-coloured wool hearts cut from another $2 coat that was beyond salvaging and which I’ve cut into pieces and will use for patching and piecing in future upcycles. Not much more to be said about this one, except that it goes complements Sew 117 worn with tights and a skivvy.