Op shops, or opportunity shops, originated in the late 1800s to help low-income people. Thrifting was not cool but rather meant you lacked class. The primary customers were low-income, marginalised, and immigrant people.
Neha Madhok, the founder of Democracy in Colour and a staunch South Asian social justice activist, said that when her parents immigrated to Australia in the early 90s, they went to the op shop because they didn’t have much money.
However, Madhok notes that “over the years, thrifting has become ‘cool,’” and now she op shops for “better quality vintage clothes” that match her 80s, 90s and contemporary style.
