Top labels on sale for good causes

A new premium clothing store boasting designer labels including Trelise Cooper, Karen Walker, World and Adrienne Winklemann is set to open at The Cargo Shed this weekend, raising money for Tauranga SPCA and children in Cambodia.

The Tauranga version of Eva's Attic, originally co-founded in Wellington by former Telecom chief executive Theresa Gattung, will be officially opened on Thursday night with the store open to the public from 10am until 4pm every Saturday and Sunday and while cruise ships are in port from next month.

Founder of the The Cambodia Charitable Trust Tauranga lawyer Denise Arnold said the idea to open an Eva's Attic sister store in Tauranga came about after local clothing store Repertoire donated clothing to the Wellington store. Eva's Attic will feature new Trelise Cooper items as well as pre-loved premium designer labels donated by Western Bay, Hawkes Bay and Auckland women.

"Anything that we can't use we can either take to Cambodia or we can donate to other charities," Mrs Arnold said.

Other stock has also been sourced from Eva's Attic Wellington which opened in April 2010 and supports six different charities.

Ms Gattung, who is also patron of The Cambodia Charitable Trust that runs programmes focused on governance, social development, education and health in Cambodia, contacted Mrs Arnold and encouraged her to open Eva's Attic in Tauranga. Ms Gattung will attend Thursday's opening.

"We figured that there's a really good synergy between the two [Eva's Attic and the Cambodia Trust]," Mrs Arnold said.

Eva's Attic now shares a section of The Cargo Shed at the Harbour Bridge end on Dive Cres with The Cambodia Charitable Trust shop which sells crafts, handbags and toys made by women in Cambodia.

The space will be known as the UP Market at The Cargo Shed. "We want to turn it into a charity and community space, we want to have an area where community groups come down and promote what they're doing," Mrs Arnold said.

Both Eva's Attic and the Cambodia Charitable Trust shop will be manned by volunteers from both the charitable trust and Tauranga SPCA with proceeds from Eva's Attic divided between the two charities.

A host of volunteers have been working over the weekend in preparation for the opening.Mrs Arnold said the shops wanted to support The Cargo Shed as much as possible and there was also the potential for other charities to benefit from Eva's Attic by supplying groups of volunteers to man the store.

For the most part, designer clothing and shoes at Eva's Attic will range from $30 upwards depending on the label and original value of the garment.

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