The talk of the town: AusCrep

AusCrep is the creative venture of six local Torquay teens, striving to mix their love of fashion with the surf and street skate lifestyle prevalent on the Surf Coast.

The word “crep” stands for sneakers, says joint founder Nash Mangos, who said the dream of having a clothing and vintage resale business came to him and his friends during a casual conversation at home in November last year.

“My mates Cooper Gaulke, Zak Stewart, Dylan Mahoney, Texas Dixon, Kai Garreau and I were all just sitting around one day and thought that we all had so many pairs of clothes to sell, so we started this secondhand clothing business and it actually worked.

“It’s a group of us who are into street clothing and shoes and different brands.

“We started our own Instagram and started selling a lot of old shoes, clothes and vintage that can resell for a really good return.

“It started growing really fast so we begun ordering clothes and shoes in bulk and it’s gone absolutely crazy since December when we kicked off.

“We are really happy with it; I certainly didn’t expect it to grow so quickly and work as easily.”

 

 

AusCrep has a distinct style, with Mangos saying much of the range Torquay locals were trying to get their hands on were products that sold out quickly, including pairs of Jordan shoes.

Since December, the small business has already had more than 90 sales and over 50 recommendations and reviews, with the community raving about their communication, authenticity and trustworthiness.

“Some of the products we have are definitely harder to buy, things like Jordans and vintage clothes which you can’t really get anymore,” Mangos said.

“Essentially, it’s all the clothes that you actually have to search to find, and they are all decently expensive.

“With the Jordans, we have all been collecting shoes for a while, but we often go to people who are clearing out their houses and other vintage or thrift stores to collect and buy the shoes off them.”

When the Torquay teens aren’t searching and sourcing the best vintage apparel and footwear, they skate, surf, go to the gym and play football, keeping themselves active and having fun.

 

 

“We’ve been able to make an insane amount of money so far, the resale has been great,” Mangos said.

“We will usually buy things for cheaper, fix it up and then sell it for more than we bought it for once it’s in good condition.

“The Jordan 4’s have a huge currency and sell very easily, Nike and TN hats tend to go super quick as well.”

 

The Year 11 students say AusCrep’s success thus far had not come without plenty of hard work and travelling around to find the best items.

“We are constantly heading around to shops and being active on Facebook and Marketplaces to buy new things,” Mangos said.

“It’s a lot of work but its definitely worth it!”

 

Mangos said the dream for the sextet was to continue evolving the business and have a range of pop-up shops in Torquay and Melbourne.

“We want to have somewhere that people can come in for a day and buy everything they want,” Mangos said.

“On top of the pop-up shop ideas, we’d like to continue to develop the Instagram platform and also make a website that makes it easy for people to buy and sell to us.

“We can’t wait to see how it keeps going.”

The boys start Year 11 studies in a fortnight but said they do not see how they could not balance their schooling with their summer success.

For more on AusCrep, head to on their Instagram at instagram.com/auscrep