Just three years ago, Casey Desjarlais and Dakota Bear were living below the poverty line in low-income housing with not much to their names.
Now, the Vancouver-based couple, who originally hail from Treaty 6 Territories in Saskatchewan and are from the Nehiyaw and Saulteaux Nations, are owners of a million-dollar company promoting First Nations' rights and decolonization called Decolonial Clothing Co.
Over the past three years, the brand has shipped to almost every continent, was featured in a couple of Netflix shows, and worn by well-known celebrities such as Mark Ruffalo, Biff Naked, Noah "40" Shebib, Natalie Bolt, and Jessie Reyez.
The founders achieved a new feat last month when Decolonial Clothing Company finally opened its first flagship store in Vancouver at 269 E Georgia St. The location soft-launched on Sept. 16 and will carry merchandise sold online as well as exclusive drops.
"It feels very surreal at times," Desjarlais tells V.I.A. about this major accomplishment. "I'm very proud of how far we've come, even in the face of adversity, we've always found a way to continue moving forward and centring the community through it all."
She vividly remembers the moment that the duo decided to kick-start Decolonial Clothing Company, recalling sitting on the couch with Dakota and their one-month-old baby in the thick of COVID lockdowns. "We knew that now was the time to take real action to build up our brand that we've been sitting on for a few years," she says.
The duo invested their last $500 in savings into an online course to help them start a clothing brand and website, which was "the moment that inspired us to go for it."
Within a week, a website was created and the brand was ready to launch. All that was missing was a name.
"I think it was about midnight after a long day of website work, it clicked," says Desjarlais of the moment the name Decolonial Clothing came to them. "It rolled off the tongue so smoothly and we instantly fell in love with the name as it was a reflection of our journey of self-discovery and decolonization."
As for the future of Decolonial Clothing Company, Desjarlais shares that they are currently in the works of collaborating with established Indigenous artists and performers for new merchandise.
