Those who know me will know that I love thrifting and vintage. When I moved to Canberra for work, that’s one of the things I assumed I would have to go without. But with the uniquely Canberran Fash n’Treasure second hand clothing market and visits to the numerous charity stores and antique shops to tide me over in between events, I haven’t taken a break at all.

One place I always rave about is Material Pleasures. (Every time I tell people about this place they think I’m talking about a strip club or something, but trust me, the name makes sense – ‘material’, as in what clothes are made of, see?). With a  physical store located on 3 Barrier Street, Fyshwick and a permanent stall at the Old Bus Depot Markets, Material Pleasures is a second hand clothing store dedicated to only buying and selling designer/high street items of the highest quality. Here you will find brands from Sportsgirl to Burberry, all for prices generally between $10-$60

I know a lot of people feel a bit funny buying clothes that someone else has worn, but Material Pleasures only buys clothes in near new condition, so personally I don’t feel it differs much from buying retail – except that the items are a fraction of the price!

Experienced second hand shoppers in Canberra know that one event you’ll regret missing for the rest of your life is the Material Pleasures’ season launch, when their new season stock that had been accumulating for several months is unveiled. The lovely ladies at Material Pleasures were kind enough to invite me to this event.

This was my first time attending one of Material Pleasures’ launches, and I have to say, I was genuinely impressed. I had visited the store when they had all their new season stock behind curtains, so I had no idea how much stock there was going to be. The racks filled up two regular shop spaces, and everywhere I turned there was something really amazing and unique. With such a huge selection, it was so great that everything was sorted by size, style and even colour!

The turn out was also quite impressive. There was a constant stream of people coming in and out for the 4 hours that the event ran, and almost everyone leaving with an arm full of clothes. When I dropped by the store the next day, there seemed to be even more people.

It looks like to get your hands on the best stuff, you really have to get there within a few weeks of the launch. I’ve visited Material Pleasure mid season and there wasn’t nearly as much nice things to see. But the good news is that towards the end of the season they have ridiculous sales. Last week everything in store was marked down to $10.

I nabbed myself my own arm full of clothes – amazing Country Road knit dress, Jersey Girl mesh cardi, beautiful Colorado sweater and more!

These are the lovely girls who work at Material Pleasures. They have so much spunk and energy, and each one of them has a wicked style.

Some of you might be thinking, how can there be any descent second hand clothing in a tiny town of 350,000 people? But I think what makes vintage shopping in Canberra so uniquely viable is the constant comings and goings of people from all over the world who stay for work and inevitably have to offload their clothes when they leave. Another factor is that Canberrans commonly shop in Sydney or Melbourne, and of course online. This explains why at second hand stores you see so many brands that you can’t get in Canberra (or even Australia for that matter) like H&M, Zara, Yumi and Superdry. In fact the first H&M item I ever bought was from Fash’n’Treasure – for only $5.

Check out the Material Pleasures website at http://www.materialpleasures.com.au/ for details of their location and stock. Remember they only open from Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm. To get the latest news on new stock and season launches, I suggest you join up to their mailing list here.

As a final note, my FOTD. Yes I have a rogue tooth…which my housemate has mockingly dubbed the‘lucky tooth’. Now that I’ve drawn your attention to it, I bet it’s the only thing you see! It kind of makes me look like Goofy don’t you think?

Don’t forget to check out my Closet Sale!!