New clothing shop in Kelowna repurposes lightly used clothing

Photo: Nicholas Johansen

Paul Reyes at the Grey Hearts Workshop Saturday.

A new local company is looking to slow down the trend of “fast fashion."

Grey Hearts Workshop held its grand opening party Saturday afternoon, inviting the public to check out the new retail space on downtown Kelowna's Pandosy Street.

Paul Reyes, co-owner of the new shop, says rather than offering brand new, bulk-purchased clothing, a lot of their items have been lightly worn, and then altered in house.

“There's already so much clothes out in the world, that we're not trying to buy brand new clothes,” he said. “Instead, we're going to boutiques and buying their dead stock, we're going to film set sales and buying a bunch of lightly worn clothes, we're going to vintage shops, we're going to thrift shops.

“We're reworking the stuff. We have sewing machines in our workshop here so we can do a bit of fitting and tailoring as well.”

Reyes says “fast fashion” – cheap clothing made quickly in response to the latest trends – is a wasteful practice that he thinks is going out of style.

“We're just looking for quality clothes that we can really be proud of, and curate a certain space that is a little more catered to the individual and not just the generic public,” Reyes said. “We're really trying to get to know people on a personal level and shop for them, as opposed to just shop in general.”

Reyes went to school for fashion design, giving him the skills to alter and repurpose older items, while his business partner Sean Whyte went to school for fashion marketing and has worked in the film industry for years.

“Being in those industries for the past decade, we've accumulated a lot of great connections and networks,” Reyes said. "(Whyte) has great connections with sourcing clothing.”

Grey Hearts also features a photo shoot area, where they've been making their own marketing content for new items that come through the doors.

“We've had a lot of people message us once we put something up that day, and they're just like, 'Hey, I'd love to come check that out and try it on,'” Reyes said.

The shop is located at 1615 Pandosy Street. More information can be found on the shop's Instagram page.