Although reworking hand-me-downs from your parents—or, better yet, grandparents—is all the rage, vintage dressing doesn’t just look cool. It’s also a way to reduce your environmental footprint.

Marketing and fashion-merchandising grads Lyndsey Chow, 29, and Lauren Clark, 31, caught on to this fact early, when they organized a pop-up shop in Clark’s South Granville apartment to showcase their one-of-a-kind finds under the label Hey Jude.

Six years and seven pop-ups later, the pair’s carefully crafted aesthetic now manifests itself in a brick-and-mortar boutique in Gastown.

“I think, for us, the importance really comes in the idea of recycling and just being able to have such a current, contemporary wardrobe in the face of all this fast fashion and its detrimental effects on our planet and the environment,” Chow tells the Straight at Hey Jude.

“It’s nice to know that you can have an impact not only with the food you eat or by physically recycling, but with your clothes as well.”

Scouring thrift shops, vintage stores, and flea markets from Vancouver to L.A., Chow and Clark fill their airy, boho-influenced digs with the same luxe silks, distressed denim, and oversized silhouettes that first gained Hey Jude its loyal following.

The duo takes care to throw the love back to its community as well, stocking its shelves with handmade goods from local lines like HumanKind Candles and Wednesday Jewellery.

And although Hey Jude has certainly evolved beyond the ladies’ wildest dreams (“The idea of being able to own a store in Vancouver just seemed crazy,” Clark says), the brand is an exercise in what passion and a lot of hard work can achieve—regardless of age.

“I feel like that’s probably one of the most rewarding things, just this feeling of ‘You can do it,’ ” Clark adds. “You might have to change the way you do it, it might take a few more years, or you might have to take a few more steps, but I think you can do it.”