‘If not now, when?:’ Young Ottawa couple throw caution to wind, open Bad Dog vintage clothing

It's not unusual to see this pair of twenty-somethings, Luke Webster and Sian Richard, shopping for clothes.

It's not surprising to see any pair of twenty-something hipsters spending a day in a store looking at clothes. What makes Webster and Richard unusual is that they own the store.

At age 24 and 23 respectively, the couple may be among the youngest entrepreneurs operating their own bricks-and-mortar store this author has met all year. That being said, fashion is for the fun and the young.

The morning Webster and Richard opened Bad Dog at 617 Bank St., on January 21, customers were lined up in temperatures near -25 degrees Celsius, waiting to shop.

Just what a 24-year-old entrepreneur with a fat lease wants to see.

“Having a street front address on Bank Street was a dream for us,” says Webster. “Getting a lease when you're 21 isn't the easiest.”

Bad Dog sells vintage street and sports wear from the 1990s, carefully curated and cared-for sports and street wear, t-shirts, sweatshirts, jeans from the 1990s including original Nirvana tees, jerseys with NFL logos, with prices ranging from $20 for a tee to $300 for something special.

The vibe is California hip. Skateboarder's paradise.

“Band tees from the 1990s, a lot of sport sweatshirts and adding more modern items like Patagonia. Vintage is our focus,” says Webster. “You can be so individual with our clothing, whether you're into sports, movies, music, you can find something that's important to you. You're not wearing it to impress others or follow trends. This is clothing you wear for yourself.”

“Vintage clothing is really popular right now,” Richard adds. “People appreciate the staples that will always be around, denim, leather, crew necks. Essentials that won't go out of style. They also realize that fast fashion is damaging the environment and their wallets because it encourages constant consumerism with new looks all the time. It's unsustainable.”

The two met over thrifting, shopping online and going to thrift stores, looking for the same kind of things, streetwear and sportswear brands from the 1990s.

“We like the hunt, but it's also convenient to have a place like this that does the hunting for you, that curates vintage well,” says Richard. “We love vintage that has a story.”

While Webster had been planning to open his own business for years, the move was a little more transitional for Richard, who had been studying sociology at the University of Ottawa for three years at the time.

Bored or dispirited one day in class, she suddenly decided to quit school and sent Webster a text saying, “Let's open a store.”

“My best decisions are always impulsive,” Richard says. “You already know in your gut it's a good idea. It was just a matter of wearing down the resistance.”

The pair launched Bad Dog in 2018, originally as an online venture. Quickly discovering that demand for vintage '90s streetwear was strong, the pair knew they had found their niche, and a viable business plan, and moved into a squat shop at 889 Bank St., just weeks before the pandemic.

“We were scared and excited at the same time,” says Richard of opening her first store. “Not many 19 year olds can open a brick-and-mortar store. It's a risk. We decided to go for it. For us, we thought, 'We don't have a house or family or anything right now, we have nothing to lose.' If we do this and it doesn't work out, we don't have nothing to lose so it's kind of a good time to take the risk.”

Call it insight, or just plain luck that Webster and Richard successfully launched their store while navigating a soul-crushing, business-destroying pandemic lockdown, they also did it during one of the more apocryphal and rebellious periods for fashion, when dressing up is done and even notions of gender are up for debate.

“We're not a men's store or a women's store,” says Richard. “Gender roles are done. Our clothes are things anyone can wear. It's an exciting time for fashion and gender issues.