Cult Bravery

We aim to deliver a stylish and current collection of men and womens apparel. We always stock a large range of iconic vintage designer brands including Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Levis, Lee, Wrangler, Guess, Carharrt, Dickies, Reebok, Adidas, Nike, Kappa, Fila and Diesel. With everything from jeans, corduroy pants, jackets, bags, belts, hats, earrings, shirts for both men and women, jackets for guys and girls, shorts, vintage work wear, party tops, festival wear, vests etc etc..

Cult Bravery are passionate about matching you with vintage pieces you’ll love. We hand pick everything and will only offer you things that we personally think have integrity and style. Over the years we’ve expanded our range to include small run, newly made items which gel with the vintage vibes. Keeping our beautiful planet green and ethical is important to us, and our business choices always aim to make a positive impact on the world. We hope our collection will inspire you to delve into vintage and create your own one of a kind wardrobe that will never go out of style.

History Of Cult Bravery - Vintage Clothing Australia

Cult Bravery was formerly known as Miss Kristie Vintage, which was started in 2005 by vintage lover and op shop obsessed, Miss Kristie. During a decade long part time job, at the fabulous vintage store Shag, Kristie co-wrote a book called The Treasure Hunters Guide. She visited, mapped and reviewed over 300 op shops and second hand stores in Melbourne. The book turned out to be quite a success and spent 6 weeks on the best sellers list.

The following year, she visited all the Sydney stores and the NSW edition was published. Picking up a huge collection of treasure along the way, she started trading at Melbourne’s famous Camberwell market. In the 16 years since then, Kristie and her team have continued to grow the business to the 10 stores there is today. We really appreciate the continued support from our beautiful customers, and hope to keep on delighting you with our finds!

Here is Kristie’s story of how she ended up doing what she does. I’ve always been overly sentimental about old things, I’m in awe of the history, and they make me feel cozy and safe. I can’t do Marie Kondo, my instinct is to hoard! A great day for me is sifting through thousands of old clothes, and rescuing the beauties, giving them a chance to live again. I love seeing the markings of age and wear, the look and feel of old textiles, the joyful old labels, ornate buttons, stitching accents, embroidery, collars, tucks, zippers …the little details that get me excited is endless!

Australian Vintage Clothing: The Future Revolution

Over the years, I’ve travelled far and wide on buying trips and my mind has been blown, by the industrial scale of these mega recycling factories that have cropped up around the word. I’ve watched the industry growing fast over the past 15 years and feel happy and excited for a bright, green future ahead. I really hope that more and more people will choose to wear recycled clothing.

I want Cult Bravery to be a part of that revolution, by presenting a great easy wear vintage collection, as a responsible and cool alternative to buying new. My mother is a very talented seamstress and made a lot of our clothes back in the day. She let us choose the fabrics and made patterns up herself, always open minded to indulging our often half baked and whimsical fancies!

When I was about 12 I got her to make me a full length denim fishtail dress (denim dresses were huge in 1988!) with a low V at the back, puff sleeves and a peplum. She kept telling me there was too much going on, and she was right! It was foul, but I learned a lot from these experiments and fashion became central to my world. When I was very young, I discovered a suitcase of my Mum’s, filled with her old clothes from the 60’s and 70’s. It became our dress up box and inspired a passion for playing crazy dress ups, that’s never gone away!

A racy mini dress which was hand crocheted by her, (bless!) became my favorite for years and I wore her 70’s brown leather knee high boots into the ground. She had an outrageous purple and mustard paisley hot pants suit, that I wore to a high school social, which was a bold move back then! I still keep some of her pieces in my wardrobe today, and they mean a lot to me.

When I discovered op shops, as a teenager, I was hooked. Back then, op shops were brimming with fabulous 60s and 70s treasure, which I’d bring home and rework on my Mum’s sewing machine. A friend and I used to wag school sometimes and spend a whole day scouring the stores that were closed on weekends.

Then when I got a car I would go to trash and treasure markets, record swap meets and garage sales every weekend. One jacket I got from a swap meet 29 years ago, I still wear regularly, and I always get compliments! For many years, I worked part time at the vintage clothing store Shag, and learned so much from the gorgeous owners, Jeremy and Grant.

During that time, I co-wrote a book called The Treasure Hunters Guide, which had maps and reviews of over 300 op shops in Melbourne. It turned out to be quite a success and I was lucky enough to spend a few months in Sydney, researching and writing a NSW version. So through all that, my path led to selling, as well as buying treasure! I started selling stuff at Camberwell market. that I’d bought at the op shops, while writing the books.

My kind Dad came to help me every week and the customers loved him! That was 16 years ago now…and since then, I’ve continued this wonderful adventure, surrounded by loveable old clothes and a great team of people. If I can keep doing this, I’ll live happily ever after! Love, Miss Kristie.