By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
DENIM never goes out of fashion – that’s the opinion of the Vinnies Grovedale op shop staff, and they are sticking to it.
The entire staff – most of them volunteers – will be dressed head to toe in their finest denim on 4 September for the op shop’s Denim Day.
Store manager Maree Cooper said the nine month old outlet did carry a good stock of pre-loved denim.
“It’s always quite versatile and you can dress it up or down,” Ms Cooper said.
“Whether its jean, shirts, shoes, hats or even ties, we are reinventing denim. We will all be in our wildest, craziest denim and invite out customers to join us.”
Ms Cooper said the oddest piece of denim she had seen was a pair a men’s denim shorts hand-painted with various flags from around the world.
“I thought I’d just put $5 on it because the demand for it might be a bit small. But it was out the door within 10 minutes,” she laughed.
“The guy who bought them thought it was the greatest thing he’d seen.”
Denim bean bags, cushions and even furniture have all made their way through the shop at various times, Ms Cooper said.
Donations of denim items were always welcome, she said.
Vinnies Grovedale was a “concept” store, the first of a new breed of op shops, Ms Cooper said.
The other Vinnnies op shops in Geelong would receive a similar make-over, creating a “bright, clean, modern and airy” shopping environment.
Denim Day will wrap up national op shop week but Ms Cooper and her 65 volunteers have been adding a denim theme to their outfits for a couple of weeks already.
“We love it – any opportunity to dress up.”
