Sydney’s industrial inner-city suburb of Alexandria, usually filled with men with forklift licenses, was taken over today by patient women in activewear.
Women turned up in droves to the suburbs thanks to the Aussie fashion label Kookai hosting a warehouse sale.
A giant line formed outside the sale by 8am on a Wednesday, filled with hundreds of women who were prepared to wait hours to snag a bargain.
School-aged girls were even ditching class or, as one teenager claimed, “just first period.”
The famous brand is known for its well-made basics and is usually the look of choice for any woman who lives on Sydney’s North Shore and is hosting a gender reveal party.
The brand’s dresses retail for $100 plus, and their basics, like shirts and crop tops, hover around the $50 mark.
It isn’t high-end retail by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s one of the more fancy brands you’ll find stuffed into your local shopping center.
It’s the Peter Alexander of basics.
When men get together to go nuts about something, whether football or cars, it usually quickly turns into them all jumping around together in a mosh. When women get excited, they form an orderly line and wait patiently for their turn.
Seasoned shoppers were armed with coffee cups and snacks, and newbies were hungry and surprised it was taking so long to even get inside the building.
Everyone was prepared to wait – well, almost everyone.
One mum who was with her university student daughter said she was ready to ditch the busy fashion scene already.
“I did suggest we go, but my daughter is keen on staying,” she said, adding that she had told her work she would be late.
At this point, it was only 8.30am, but she was smack bang in the middle of the line. It would easily take another hour until she made it into the sale. Who knows when she will manage to get to work?
However, the mother said that, because Kookai was a brand that both she and her daughter could wear, she was prepared to continue to wait it out.
Another woman in the line smugly shared that she could be here on a random Wednesday because it was her “rostered” day off.
As an added bonus, she had also just paid and was ready to spend her money on stretchy black tops that all looked the same.
Everyone in the line has their plan of attack. If you’re going into a warehouse sale, you can’t just go in unprepared.
One woman revealed that she had brought cash to “restrain” herself from overspending and another said she had worn tight black basics so she could easily try on clothing once she was inside.
“You have to be ready,” she said.
One shopper admitted she had just decided to get out of bed early and line up for hours because she was just looking for an “excuse” to spend money.
Inside the warehouse sale, there was absolute anarchy.
Clothes were everywhere and women dug around in overflowing tubs, desperate to find their size.
Once they exited, they looked exhausted. A warehouse sale isn’t for the weak or the dehydrated.
Someone called it “feral,” another said it was “chaos,” and one said, while it was hectic, people were still very “nice” to each other.
One woman left looking flushed and complaining it was so “hot and sweaty” in there.
Upon exiting the sale, a shopper told me she’d been camping out since 5.30am. When she arrived, schoolchildren were lined up doing their homework.
She admitted she’d been called sick to make sure she would be able to make it, but she had a motto to justify her actions.
“End of the day, you work to buy nice things, and if you can buy those nice things cheaper, you pause work,” she said.
Iconic.
She also revealed that, while the sale was great and she got so much stuff way cheaper, she was surprised by how much nudity was taking place in the chaotic sale.
“There are no changing rooms. Everyone was naked, like, everyone was getting naked,” she said.
She hung around for a moment catching her breath and then once her mate exited the sale, after spending $500, they trotted off together to admire their purchases away from the crowds.
A father lingering near the exit, armed with a credit card to pay for his daughter’s purchase, said he had taken the day off work and considered these “daddy duties”.
“I think I’m the only guy here,” he said.
He was pretty much right.
This is women’s business at its most chaotic, busy and sweaty.