Momo Love Concept is a boutique specializing in preloved fashion, handmade patchwork quilts, and handcrafted accessories. Store manager Jeslynn Chong and patchwork quilt artist Aunt Sau Yoke has been managing the thrift shop since its establishment in 2018.
Photographs courtesy of Momo Love Concept, unless otherwise specified.
Denise: Can you share how you came to join Momo Love Concept? What was your job like before it?
Jeslynn: I did accounting; I was an accounts administrator. Coincidentally, I was quitting my job at that time when Momo’s founder1 approached me. I’ve known her for a long time, so when she asked whether I wanted to join and work at this new concept store, I thought, “Why not give it a try?”
So, I joined Momo near the end of 2017. Before the shop officially opened in early 2018, I was already involved with behind-the-scenes preparation. Now as the store manager, my work routine involves processing the clothes received, social media marketing, QC, and so on.
Aunt Sau Yoke: Before working here, I made shoes in a footwear-manufacturing factory, so my previous job also involved a lot of sewing. Like Jeslynn, I’ve also known Momo’s founder for a long time. She approached me to see if I wanted to help teach people how to sew and eventually, asked whether I wanted to work here. I officially joined in April 2018.
Being a patchwork quilt artist now, I’m responsible for making the quilts that we sell. I also mentor single mothers who want to learn the craft of sewing and who want to earn an income through selling handmade products.
Denise: Since you were both here since the very beginning, can you share how Momo Love Concept started?
Aunt SY: The idea was actually from Momo’s founders. They noticed a lot of people donating clothes to places like orphanages and old folk’s homes. Some of those clothes are branded and quite fancy, too.
Jeslynn: Yes, you’ll see people donating dresses like this. [Jeslynn indicates her outfit, a thrifted floral midi dress.]
Aunt SY: But the reality is, it wasn’t what the residents within these organizations truly need. Take old people, for example, who often have chronic illnesses and other physical conditions. How were they supposed to get around in fancy clothes? So, the donated clothes end up becoming impractical.
Also, the limited staff or volunteers there don’t have the time to go through the clothes. If I visited an old folk’s home ten days ago and visit it again today, the same bags of donated clothes will just be there in the same spot. It’s not their fault; they already have so much work on their hands. But the fact remains that the clothes become a waste of resources that could have been better used elsewhere.
Jeslynn: That’s how our preloved boutique came to be. People donate their clothes, we sell them, and the money earned can be used for charity. Instead of overwhelming nonprofits with more clothes, we can provide support in the form of monetary donations.
Denise: Were you already familiar with the concept of clothes thrifting before joining Momo?
Jeslynn: Not really! It was after stepping into this industry that I learned more about preloved clothes and environmental causes. And in the past, I don’t think JB had any preloved boutiques at all. There were only bundle shops, which imported second-hand clothes from other countries in bulk. The clothes are indeed cheap, but the shops aren’t made to cater to a comfortable shopping experience. When you step into those stores, you often feel overwhelmed by their massive amount of clothes.
Aunt SY: Honestly speaking, even we had our concerns even when we first started here. We wondered if it was possible to keep everything neat and presentable, when there were so many donated clothes coming in? Would anyone here even enjoy shopping in a thrift store? But with a system in place, it all was. I’ve thrifted all my clothes ever since I joined in 2018. They’re all pieces that came through our shop. It’s been almost five years now!
Jeslynn: Same. We have never looked back since! Besides being highly affordable, the thrifting process is like a treasure hunt. It’s quite fun and exciting! After experiencing all this, it’s impossible to go back to buying brand-new.
Denise: What do you think are the misconceptions people have toward second-hand clothes?
Jeslynn: Hmm … a lot of people tend to imagine they’re clothes worn by people who have passed away. I think this is caused partly by our culture here. People tend to pantang (taboo) things related to life and death. When we first started, there would be people who ask, “Who wore these clothes before? Are they dead people’s clothes?”
Aunt SY: At that time, people hadn’t grasped the environmentally friendly concept behind thrift stores. They only feel that they’re spending money and buying clothes, so their mentality is like, “Hey, why should I buy something like this?”
Jeslynn: But over the years, we have truly seen more and more people being open to thrifted clothes. Nowadays, the customers who come to our shop already have the awareness and knowledge of how clothes thrifting works. We don’t receive as many questions now!
Aunt SY: There’s a strange but interesting phenomenon we noticed though. People who donate clothes, will only donate clothes. They rarely buy or take the time to look at the ones sold in our shop. They’ll just drop off two big bags of clothes and leave. But the customers who often buy preloved clothes from us, don’t really donate at all.
Jeslynn: Exactly! Very few of our customers donate and even when they do, it’s only a small pack of clothes. They’ll bring that over and while they’re here, buy a garment or two back. They never bring a whole car boot worth of clothes as though they’re moving house. [laughs]
But even for people who haven’t bought from us yet, I think their choice to donate the clothes which they’re not finding a use for is still a good start. When they come over to our shop, they’ll at least gain some form of awareness and exposure to the concept of thrifting.
Denise: How do you process the clothes you receive every week?
Jeslynn: First, when people bring their bags of clothes here every Tuesday and Saturday, we direct them to place their items in our designated wooden bin and request that they take their plastic bags home—otherwise, we get so many plastic bags that we don’t know what to do with them!
Next, we allocate a day in the week to filter the clothes and sort them into a few categories. The first category contains clothes in good condition and can be resold. The second category also has clothes that look nice and are in good condition, but they’re of slightly lower quality because they’re usually made from Taobao fabric. So, for this category, we mainly give them away during our monthly distribution event, or sell them at our Ulu Tiram branch at a lower price. Around RM5 or RM10 per piece. As always, we hope the clothes can be worn again and be given a second chance at life, and not just get sent to landfills.
The third category consists of clothes in poor condition. For example, they have turned yellow, or are covered with lint and pills. These can’t be resold or donated, so we sell these to local uncles in bulk and the clothes are exported elsewhere.
After sorting, we pack all the clothes to send them for cleaning. The number of donated clothes varies from week to week, but from the large volume of clothes we receive, only a small percentage can be resold. Often, only two to five bags of clothes remain.
Denise: What are some of the biggest challenges you have faced so far?
Aunt SY: As Jeslynn mentioned, not all the clothes received can be resold, so we need to go through them one by one. We already stated we don’t receive undergarments, but when we go through those bags, we’ve seen undergarments and socks that are old and worn beyond measure. The items are often at the very bottom of the bag.
Some of them still look new, but because they’ve been kept in a wardrobe too long, they have yellow stains. Some customers try to convince us, saying they’re new and it’s only some yellow spots. But although we donate clothes that we can’t sell, we can’t possibly give away garments that already look unhygienic, especially since it’s innerwear.
In the very early years, we even received bowls, plates, and chopsticks. Or pots and pans that had screws missing. Almost everything you could think of.
Jeslynn: You feel that people treat your place like a garbage dump. You wonder, what do they take you for? Especially the undergarment issue, shouldn’t people have the self-awareness to realize that it’s inappropriate and disrespectful? Thankfully, these incidents are far and few between now. I think we have successfully educated the public on this. [laughs]
But I think another challenge we have is, somehow, the nature of a thrift store is a little contradictory. When we see so many clothes pouring in every week, we think, “Why are people still buying and throwing away so many clothes!” So, as a thrift store, we want to promote a more environmentally sustainable lifestyle where people buy less. Yet to a certain degree, we can’t tell people to stop buying completely. If they don’t buy our clothes at all, we don’t have money to do our charity work!
It’s a dilemma. Almost a never-ending cycle, really. It’s challenging to balance reality and ideals. What we can simply do is educate people on the importance of purchasing rationally, and resisting giving into impulse buying. Still, a lot of time is needed to achieve this.
Denise: Besides playing a part in solving fast fashion and clothing waste, what are some of the charity projects you do?
Jeslynn: A fixed amount from our monthly profits is donated to HOPE animal rescue and a few underprivileged families. Some of our recent projects include a home makeover for a family in need and another one with OrphanCare. We made patchwork quilts to help raise funds and awareness for their cause. Patchwork quilts are a traditional way to convey blessing and love, so besides promoting handmade quilts and making a financial contribution, our hope is that our handmade quilts can be a little source of warmth for the infants.
For our monthly distribution event, we donate clothing and basic food supplies, like rice and oil. For this event, some friends who volunteer at nonprofits will give us a name list. The list helps us to identify the people who need assistance the most, in a particular area.
We also conduct home visits to gather more information about their situation. Only those who registered can redeem items from us during the event. Previously, we didn’t have this system, so we had people who weren’t able to receive anything because they came later and we ran out of supplies. I felt it was really sad because while clothes aren’t their biggest priority, food certainly is. So, we established this system, and it also helps to prevent others from redeeming items more than once.
Denise: What can other people do to join in the movement—the work you’re all doing?
Aunt SY: Well, as humans, we have to be responsible for the planet after all. To reduce waste, we can start with what we wear, what we buy, and be mindful of how we consume resources. It’s not just clothes. Take plastic bags, for example, which is one of the biggest problems right now. If you ta pau (takeaway) a pack of mee, you’re already using so many plastic bags! The mee uses one bag, the soup another bag, the gravy, chili, and soy sauce a few more bags … But if we bring our own container to ta pao, there’ll be no plastic bag waste at all—not a single one. Even though we can’t dramatically change the world as one person, we still can and need to start with ourselves.
Jeslynn: Of course, we certainly hope people can practice rational buying as a start. Don’t shop just to fill a void or seemingly compensate for something else you feel you don’t have in your life. Take some time to understand yourself and ask, “Where does my desire to shop so much come from?”
Although thrifting is more environmentally friendly, we don’t want to promote the idea of shopping all you want even if it’s preloved clothes, because that doesn’t solve the root cause of the problem either. The root cause is people’s desire to shop. The more you buy, the more you waste, so what’s important is knowing how to make rational purchases. Plus, as the old saying goes, “Less is more!”
Notes
Links: Momo Love Concept Facebook | Instagram
1. Momo is a beauty academy specializing in makeup and nail courses. The company also owns hair and nail salons. The thrift store, Momo Love Concept, belongs to the same business.
This interview was originally conducted in Chinese. English translation by Denise Lim.
