DARTMOUTH – Bee Morrison and Gwyn Maxwell are bridging the gap between expensive eco clothing brands and big box thrift stores, so everyone can revel in haute couture fashion at Joe Fresh prices.
The Has Bin isn’t your grandma’s consignment store. But for an outfit under $50, it just might be.
Located on Windmill Road in Dartmouth, the store’s vibrant yellow signs are a stark contrast from shades of grey that paint the industrial street. For Morrison, the colour is a reflection of The Has Bin philosophy.
“Yellow is happy, but also calming,” she said. “And the yellow is like the centre of a mind map.”
Morrison and Maxwell’s mind map is one of gender, class and racial inclusivity, one that promotes sustainable consumerism, at an affordable rate. And people are taking note.
Opening in September 2018, The Has Bin has since amassed an Instagram following of 1,686 people, many of whom interact with daily posts, hailing the pair for their alternative approach to retail consumerism.
Unlike many retail, thrift and consignment stores, The Has Bin organizes apparel by colour, not by gender.
This speaks to young entrepreneurs’ inclusion of marginalized people; which Morrison says is at the forefront of daily customer interactions. In an effort to uphold inclusivity, Morrison says they will open after hours for non-binary and transgender folks to buy and sell clothing in a safe, judgement-free environment.
“We don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable by shopping in a section that they don’t feel they identify with,” Maxwell said. “It’s all just clothing. If it looks good, it looks good.”
Both Morrison and Maxwell are from Vancouver, where they met as teenagers and eventually worked together at a Starbucks.
Morrison, who ran her own Etsy shop selling knitted apparel, decided to move to Nova Scotia to attend Dalhousie University where she currently studies sustainability. Tired of being apart, the close friends brainstormed ways Maxwell could join Morrison on the East Coast.
With Morrison having owned her own business, and Maxwell’s experience managing a local thrift store, the pair decided to open a consignment store. In three months, they found an affordable location, acquired dozens of unique clothing items and gathered a following of devout shoppers.
While other 20-year-olds are working part-time jobs, eating instant ramen to save on cash or selling textbooks to pay off their visas, Morrison and Maxwell are thriving – in a big way.
“People definitely underestimate us,” Morrison said in a recent interview. “But they’re never necessarily rude about it.”
Five months into operation, The Has Bin continues to introduce consumers to alternative ways of shopping.
Unlike other consignment shops, people have the option of selling their items for 40 per cent in cash or 50/50 store credit.
“What we want is for people to take store credit,” Morrison said. “Our eventual goal is that they come back and shop at the store. And eventually, the clothes that they buy with store credit, they’ll consign back to us when they’re done with them.”
Morrison says this kind of consumerism creates a continuous loop, where customers can invest in a local business and contribute to the local economy while benefiting from an affordable service.
Her reasoning comes from her business’ commitment to slowing down “fast fashion,” building connections with people in her community and making sure the local economy can sustain itself.
Fast fashion, a term that describes quick, inexpensive and trendy clothing production, is often associated with its negative impacts on society and the environment.
According to a 2017 report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, “one garbage truck full of textiles is landfilled or burnt every second.” Textile production produces more harmful greenhouse gas emissions annually than international flights and maritime shipping combined, the report continues.
“A lot of people don’t understand that you can be fashionable and sustainable,” Morrison said. “I don’t think that often goes hand-in-hand, and when it does it’s very expensive.”
“The majority of people just got to go to work, they got to pay bills, they don’t have the money to spend at Patagonia, or the time to rifle through racks at Value Village and I think that plays a big part in our vision.”
That, too, is part of their consignment philosophy: clothes are clothes, regardless of the name that’s stitched on the tag.
“The throwaway culture is so intense that sometimes they don’t care,” Morrison said.
Customers will insist on consigning expensive items at a fraction of the cost that they would receive at other consignment stores, simply because they are desperate to give away clothing they don’t want anymore.
Another example of The Has Bin’s commitment to sustainability is their soap refill station. Customers can fill up on laundry detergent, hand and body soap, dish soap and all purpose cleaner starting at 50 cents per 100 grams.
So far, customers have been supportive of Morrison and Maxwell’s business ideas, no matter how out-of-the-ordinary they appear to be.
“The support was much stronger than I thought it was going to be and I was pleasantly surprised by that,” Morrison said. “People in Dartmouth are special to me and have been very kind to me.”
Windmill Road is home to many people who live in subsidized housing or are on welfare, Morrison says. While they don’t often buy from The Has Bin, they will regularly check in on the entrepreneurs and make sure they are doing well.
“We live in a nice pocket where everyone is supportive of us and want us to do well,” Maxwell said.
In the future, the pair have big plans to be even more involved in their neighbourhood. They hope their customer demographic becomes more socially and racially diverse in the process.
Their biggest goal is to tap into the local trade economy. Morrison says she would love for people to trade plants, merchandising skills and social media management for store credit.
Morrison suggests customers keep an eye out for future workshops, including a clothes-mending workshop and other community-building activities.
“We’re just two human beings, doing our best, trying to make ends meet and making our community a bit more colourful.”
Fadila Chater is a freelance writer in Halifax.