One Noffs

Often just a jumble of unwanted Christmas jumpers and outdated corduroys, the humble op shop is rarely associated with rising design stars. That is all about to change thanks to One Noffs, the Randwick-based retail outlet for the Ted Noffs Foundation.

Rupert Noffs, grandson of the organisation’s founder and namesake, was determined to breathe new life into the store when he started working there two years ago. He was blown away by the quality of some of the donations. “We used to get so many donated items like beautiful 1980s batwing tops and 1950s silk dresses that had stains on them or that had been torn,” says Noffs. “I just couldn’t bring myself to throw them away – they were too cool and too beautiful.”

Instead of scrapping them, Noffs got creative. He decided to invite fashion students and aspiring designers to “deconstruct and reconstruct the clothes into wearable one-off pieces”. With this, One Noffs was born. Each of the store’s reconstructed garments comes with a short designer bio attached and 20 per cent of the proceeds from the sale of the item is given to its creator. The remaining 80 per cent is used to help fund the Ted Noffs Foundation’s Street University programme for kids aged 14 to 18 that have been affected by drug and alcohol problems.

In addition to the unique designer creations, One Noffs also stocks carefully picked vintage pieces. “They’re not just dusty old scrappy clothes that you’d normally find in other op shops,” explains Noffs. “Our store is more like the cool vintage stores that you’d find in London’s Notting Hill.”

With increasing interest from budding designers, a new shop and a sustainable shoe range called Gideon, and keen support from the public, the future’s looking bright for One Noffs. We predict you’ll be pushing people out of the way to rifle through their racks.