о̄p-shop sketch

the idea

• a worker-owned physical store for second hand clothes & accessories, run as a syndicate of О̄PCO
• pay-what-you-can pricing, including paying with clothing (permanent clothes swap)
• sectioned by item type and/or color, not gender
• additionally retailing locally produced clothing (looping it into the gift economy)
• providing new gender affirming items like binders and period briefs
• paying ourselves enough money to meet our basic financial needs
• high standards for clothing donations to minimize waste and maximize quality
• facilitating the recycling of low-quality/unappealing clothing into new things

why

beauty in the waste of fashion power

Fashion as a product is deeply linked to two major forces of power: capitalism, which dominates its production through the use of slave labor and environmental destruction, and gender, which determines its "correct" appearance in terms of oppressive categories. There's lot potential to creates spaces for fashion outside of these power structures, but unfortunately, second hand clothing shops often reproduce them. They'll mark up items using labels like "boutique" or "vintage", direct profits towards their associated religious organization or means-tested charity, and divide clothing into gendered categories.

The о̄p-shop

small-scale remuneration

We'll keep the core group of workers small, allowing us to meet our basic financial needs, while still welcoming the cooperation of people with other means to support themselves. This is not an act of gatekeeping, but the start of a dream: a future filled with many varied cooperative projects, each fulfilling a specific role and capable of supporting it's workers.