The interior of Wild Rabbit Vintage. This wall is located directly on the left when customer walk in, it is decorated with old western novels and magazines, as well as posters and vintage pendants. A rack of vintage western clothes can be seen on the left, and a straw cowboy hat hands off the edge. A neon sign of a cat wearing a handkerchief and a cowboy hat can be seen on the right. (Sierra Anderson, CMRU.ca)
Fast fashion has become a behemoth in the fashion industry. In such a fast-paced world, trends are ever-changing, and the fashion world does its best to keep up. Fast fashion is the cause of severe environmental impacts, it relies on child and forced labour in poor working conditions. Big-name brands cause overconsumption and poor-quality clothes – places like Wild Rabbit Vintage do the opposite.
About the owners
Wild Rabbit is a local Calgary business owned by Lianna Hung and her partner Mark Straub whose sole focus is sustainability and slow fashion. They hope to educate and inspire responsible consumerism—a large portion of the goods they sell come from local vendors around Calgary.
Lianna and Mark are high school sweethearts from Brooks, Alberta. Lianna comes from a background of a local restaurant in Brooks that her parents owned. She worked in the fashion industry for a large portion of her adult life, saw the ins and outs of the corporate fashion industry, and wanted to make a change. They attempted to make a career off of handmade goods that they made through markets but found that the high costs of renting booth spaces weren’t sustainable. They saved up money and eventually opened Wild Rabbit Vintage in 2022, a space where they could support local art and creators and give them a sustainable way to create without costing an arm and a leg.
Supporting the community
Wild rabbit isn’t just popular from supplying incredible quality vintage clothes at fair prices, but they also sell a variety of goods from local vendors. Pottery, jewelry, teas, etc. are sold, either made by local producers or by Lianna and Mark, themselves.
Some local vendors include:
- Kite Jewels
- Bowness Soapworks
- Jennea Frischke Jewlery
- Tender Living Farms
- Witch’s Mark
- Grace & Harlow
- Home Range Goods
- Loop Collection
- Lucky Dog Thrift
- Simply Gathered
- Sweetheart of the Rodeo
- Volone Vintage
Local vendors aren’t the only way that they support the community. Wild Rabbit Vintage also use their upper floor for workshop space free of charge. This allows local artists or groups to meet in a space without having to pay exuberant fees.
“I used to teach macrame classes with Market Collective and pop up all around the city. And it was quite expensive. When you rent a space, you’re renting a room for $400 an hour. Then the prices would always go down to the artists to have to absorb and eventually to the participants who were trying to learn something new, learn a new craft, or just have a fun night with friends. So that’s why when we opened, we wanted to create a space where anybody could pop up and not have crazy steep fees and give everybody an opportunity to share their work, get to know people.” – Lianna Hung, Co-owner of Wild Rabbit Vintage
A queer creative writing group meets every second Sunday. It is hosted by CJ, a local writer who was looking for a space to meet like-minded people. Their group gets to use Wild Rabbit’s upstairs area free of charge.
“I started the group because I needed some motivation to write and what better way to do that than with other people. And I’m queer, so I also like queer people. So this was really a way to build community and work on my own stuff.” – CJ Braxton, Founder of Queer Writers of Calgary
Personal Reflection
I chose Wild Rabbit Vintage because I was very intrigued by their store; it was one of the most beautiful stores that I have ever been in. A mix of industrial and vintage western styles, and old pendants that lined the walls; it was beautiful. Little did I know that I would be meeting some of the kindest people I had ever worked with. Lianna and Mark have truly created a beautiful community. Having the space upstairs that they let artists use free of charge is something that is so unheard of in a world that is so dead set on capitalism and greed. By doing this, they have met an array of local artists who want to share their craft or find people with similar interests.
In the small time that I was there to film, I met several of their friends that stopped by to visit, and a local group that met up the next day to work on their creative writing. I truly lucked out by meeting them, I went into this project excited to have a unique place to film, but I somehow found myself in a thriving and diverse community of local people just looking for a space for self-expression. As artists themselves, Lianna and Mark saw how difficult it was to make art in a world where everything is fast paced and two dimensional – spaces like theirs gives me hope for the future of the world, but also my future. I told Lianna, there’s so much reassurance in the fact that if one day if I decide to become a candle maker, I might be able to make a sustainable career out of it because of spaces like the one that Lianna and Mark have created. It is a beautiful thing they have made, and I am ever grateful that I found them. Plus, they make a mean cup of coffee!
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