A new vintage clothing store opens in New West, BC

Although born in the early 2000s, when it arrives to vogue, Surrey-based mostly Kian Salvador appears to be back to the ’90s.

The younger entrepreneur recently opened a vintage shop in New West that attributes a substantial selection of athletics-motivated garments and sneakers from the period that popularized flare pants and hoop earrings.

Classique Grails, positioned at Retailers at New West at the New Westminster SkyTrain station, attributes Jordan 1 Reduced Golf sneakers, a 1999 Holyfield Vs Lewis shirt, Harley Davidson shirts, Carhartt pants and a lot more.

A basketball supporter, Salvador’s curated assortment also involves starter jackets of NBA groups Denver Nuggets, Philadelphia Sixers and Toronto Raptors — but a person of his prized wares is a Vancouver Grizzlies jacket from 1994.  

“These were distributed back in the working day. It is sad to say that the workforce experienced to relocate to Memphis (in the United States) mainly because, as for each history, they experienced one of the worst data in the NBA,” he stated. 

“They will not make all those jackets any more. But it is super nostalgic for me. I liked the group,” he mentioned.

And for other people who did way too, Salvador’s keep promises a possibility to celebrate them once more.

Nevertheless another unusual piece at the store is a $500 Allen Iverson T-shirt, he pointed out. 

Iverson, a wildly popular former American qualified basketball player, started his vocation in the late ’90s and retired in 2013. 

“He produced an influence in the community of basketball in a brief span of his vocation. For me, that piece is also super nostalgic,” reported Salvador. 

“I’ve only seen two of those, and I have a person of them,” he included.

Offered how unusual the items are — be it the Iverson T-shirt or the Grizzlies starter jacket — Salvador refers to them as his “holy grails.”

Even though that describes the store’s identify, the deep admiration for basketball champs was not the only motive that led Salvador to set up shop a brief stint as a barber performed a large section also.

From chopping hair to functioning a classic store

When Salvador moved from the Philippines to Canada in 2015, he experienced small curiosity in commencing a company of his possess.

He started out functioning component-time as a barber when he was in substantial school. Every penny that he built styling hair, he poured into sneakers and classic dress in, he stated. 

A single of his clients’ dad was the owner of a warehouse in B.C. — this link, he explained, allowed him to imagine about turning his passion into a little something more.

Salvador started marketing his curated sneakers and apparel by means of word of mouth and at community marketplaces. 

He manufactured ample cash to start a physical keep in Surrey, at the commencing of COVID, before moving to his present-day New West location in April this 12 months.

“I hardly ever planned to one particular day open up a physical store of my have,” mentioned Salvador.

He preferred to go after engineering immediately after substantial faculty, he reported. But now at the helm of a business enterprise that men and women feel to be lapping up, his options have pivoted.

“A large amount of persons, when they see my collection, are like, ‘Oh, I don’t forget having this. I bear in mind acquiring that’ … It reminds them of their childhood.” 

And giving people that knowledge is reason adequate for him to proceed staying in company. 

 

Classique Grails is situated at Retailers at New West, 800 Carnarvon St.