Pre Loved Geelong is settling in Torquay

Pre Loved is a boutique circular fashion clothes shop for women, giving locals the chance to buy, sell and reuse preloved clothing.

It took off in Geelong last year, and now is settling in on the Surf Coast.

Pre Loved founder Lou Hammer said the vision is to make fashion more affordable, and sustainable.

“It’s just a really great way to recirculate fashion back through the community,” Hammer said.

“The way that some fast fashion brands are pumping out clothing is completely unsustainable, nobody can possibly wear that many items of clothing.”

Hammer said at Pre Loved, she wanted to combat the impact of the fashion industry, with a few billion items of clothing circulating the globe, most of which are made with man-made fibres that do not break down.

Initially, Pre Loved launched as a pop-up stall at Geelong’s markets, before moving online in 2020 and then opening a permanent shop in Geelong at the end of 2021.

“What we do is create an avenue for people who aren’t wearing their clothes and want to make some money back, because they don’t have time to do it themselves,” Hammer said.

“We want to change people’s perceptions around buying and selling preloved clothing, and we just want to get people a little bit better about the things that they are buying – instead of buying new every time.”

At Pre Loved, people can sign up to give the store their clothing on consignment, splitting the sale cost with the store.

The store takes a maximum of 10 items from each person, giving the store a good cross section of sizes and styles.

Nowadays, the store’s range includes anything from Spell to Arnhem, Gorman, P.E Nation, Ena Pelly, Anine Bing, Mister Zimi, Country Road, Steele, C&M, and many more.

“For us it’s more about desirability than the actual brand… if something looks really cool and we know that that particular style is trending at the moment we’ll take it irrespective of the brand.

“The beauty of shopping pre-loved is finding those rare items, because there’s nothing worse than going to a wedding or an event and there are three people wearing the same dress because that’s what in the shops at the moment.”

“So, you’re not shopping for on trend, you’re shopping for an individual’s style and finding that rare keep that’s fun and exciting, and you’re saving a dollar as well.”

With the success of the Geelong store, Hammer wanted to bring the vision closer to the coast.

“That went gang busters, so then we thought let’s go down the coast,” Hammer said.

In December last year the team opened their doors to the Torquay store for a busy summer pop-up.

Now they are planning to make it permanent.

“The intention was just to have a pop-up venue throughout January, but it went quite well so we’re hoping to stay.”

Hammer said the store will stay on Bristol Road, Torquay until Easter and then be looking for a permanent home.

In the future, Hammer plans to open more and more regional Pre Loved stores, giving people in the country access to stylish, circular fashion and changing the way used clothing is viewed.

“The brands that we stock, the price point is out of reach for quite a lot of people, so not only is there a sustainability factor, there’s also an affordability factor,” Hammer said.

“I want to be able to give women in regional towns access to really great quality clothing at an affordable price.”

Pre-Loved Torquay is now open Monday to Saturday 11am to 4:30pm, at 2/15 Bristol Road, Torquay.

Customers can visit Pre-Loved Geelong online prelovedgeelong.com.au or in store at 156 High Street, Belmont from Tuesday through Saturday from 10am to 4pm.