Since I came to live in the Philippines I have more smart shirts and dress shorts than I have ever had in my life!
If you have ever tried shopping for clothes of larger sizes, in countries where most of the population is fairly small in stature, say Hong Kong or Singapore you will know the problem. Nothing will fit! Even the French must have small feet… I remember having great problems replacing a pair of broken sandals a few years ago during a French ‘Oliday’ They had some beautiful designs but they were all much too small (My Father always said I needed to throw the shoes away and wear the boxes! And that was in my home town in England of Northampton, famous for its Boots and Shoe manufacturing… perhaps I just have big feet.)
In the Philippines, despite the average size of a Filipino being much smaller than a big Western Guy like me, I have had no problem in getting quality clothes, and as a big bonus, at real bargain prices. (Sandals are a bit different, I have had to have some made to measure, my big feet again!)
Why have I been able to get shirts and shorts to fit? (Not slacks…I rarely wear long trousers, the several pairs I brought from Australia will last me for ever, so rarely are they worn, only ever for special occasions like Weddings and Christenings… (mind you I have been to a lot of those lately…my next post is going to be about Marriage Filippino Style)
Well first the shirts - a lot of shirts are made here for the American Market and if you look in the right places they sell the shirts made for export here too, even in the larger sizes. The beautiful Filipina in my life always seems able to find such things and even more amazingly know what size will fit; even when the size as indicated by the label seems unrelated to the actual size. (The Labels seem to be chosen for a particular shirt by a computer that specialises in generating random numbers!) None of this seems to worry Gina, she just looks and says “Yes this will fit” and she is nearly always right.
Last week she found quality polo shirts in a variety of colours, all the right size for 99 Peso each…brand new and perfect! I am very pleased she bought 10 shirts for me as a birthday present… total cost $20. Amazing. Thanks Darling.
And shorts…at last we come to the Okay Okay title.
Have you ever wondered what happens to all the clothes donated to your local “Op Shop” or Charity Shop? I know they receive far more stock than they can ever sell or even donate to worthy people.
Everything gets sorted and washed, clothes in bad condition are cut into rags, sold to Industry by the Kilogram while good stock goes to their retail outlets but they still have a big surplus. I was involved in a transport company back in Australia and one of the regular jobs was to pick up 5 Tonne truck loads of compressed bundles of surplus clothes. They are bought by weight by enterprising companies and shipped by the container load to developing countries.
Container after container of such clothes must come to the Philippines from the States, every City, Town and even small community has their “Okay Okay” store.
(I presume so named, haggling being common in such places, for the agreeing to the price cry from the vendor of “Okay, Okay”… [local spelling] )
In the larger Cities are dozens and dozens of such places. They are mainly market type stalls with the clothing and bedding piled high on simple tables. There are Upmarket places where they sort the clothes out and put them on hangers but Gina reckons they are too expensive! She prefers to go through the piles and find just what she is looking for. The best time is when a new container has just arrived. Using her unerring eye for size, she enjoys going through it all and finding bargain after bargain.Even better are Children’s Clothes, we regularily find brand new, expensively made clothes for less than a dollar. Fantastic!
I have dozens of shorts bought this way, including some real high quality ones which fit perfectly.
So if you combine the local made shirts with the Okey Okey shorts you can be well dressed for very little.
I can help you with where to find the shirts and shorts but you need to find your own Filipina with the right patient character and the keen eye for a bargain!
Colin and Gina in Cagayan de Okay
