University Streetwear, But Make it Sustainable

The NEST is home to retro duck merchandise, vintage streetwear and a couple of Eugeneans

The Neighborhood Eugene Sustainability Team — or, The NEST — offer a variety of vintage clothing. With close proximity to campus, The NEST gives the ducks of Eugene a chance to rock some school spirit in style.

Although its focus is still on university sports-and-street-wear, as time passed The NEST has branched out to different styles. Right now, co-owners Eduardo Olivares and Harrison Stevens believe their product mix is as diverse as ever.

“This year, Oregon vintage (and) Oregon Duck gear has only made up about 15% of our revenue,” Olivares says. “So it's obviously, maybe not as big as someone from the outside would see, just because of how heavy we brand to be this place where people come and buy Oregon gear. But that was kind of the main idea when we first started our brand, was to really stand for something, get those people to come in and shop and then buy some of our other stuff as well.”

In terms of its current products, The NEST offers its own branded apparel, a variety of sneakers and streetwear, merchandise from pro sports teams and even other universities clothing.

Before opening The NEST together, the co-owners separately ran their own shops online. Bounce Back Thrifts and Standing Thrifts — owned by Olivares and Stevens respectively — were key building blocks in the formation of The NEST, and tie into the store's current branding.

“So Harrison actually made the logo when 2020 it started off just sort of sketch, and the logo was obviously meant to represent, like a globe,” Olivares says. “And then we added the rainbow of colors to represent the blue from (my) past brand, and the orange from his past brand. And we came to this, like baby blue color that we resonated with our brand.”

Originally, the goal for The NEST was to create a space for students and local community members to shop for vintage clothing. At the time — Jan. 2021 — “There were really no vintage stores like that (in Eugene),” says Stevens.

Today, Olivares and Stevens serve the community from two different locations, one in the Valley River Center mall, and the other just outside of campus on 13th Ave.

Given their name, sustainability is a huge priority for The NEST as all products they sell are ethically sourced – making an effort to reduce waste and emissions. Olivares and Stevens purchase their inventory online from a variety of different avenues ranging from Seattle to Portland and even southern California.

Delivering ethical clothing to Eugene isn’t just a priority for Olivares and Stevens, they view it as a responsibility.

“I think sustainable fashion and vintage clothing, like stores, vintage stores and in between, do something that's pretty unique compared to other types of businesses. And you know that's really reducing the carbon footprint of their community around them,” Stevens says. “Because every time that someone’s shopping (for) a piece from either here or from another vintage store, or, if you will, you know they're saving something that would otherwise (have) been in the landfill. So it really operates on a zero carbon footprint platform, and I think that really ties into our message of wanting to promote sustainability here in Eugene.”

As the store has grown, the community has started to give back to The NEST. To Stevens, the support the store has seen from the city of Eugene is priceless.

“It's been (an) absolute pleasure getting support from different types of community members. Maybe the nest will come up in conversation, and people go, ‘Oh yeah, I know about that,’ or, ‘I've been there.’ I think that's pretty dope. And I really think that power of word of mouth really helped us get our name out there at the beginning. So we completely owe it back to the community for supporting us right from the jump,” Stevens says.

Going forward, the two co-owners revel at the possibility of expanding across the west-coast, but for now their focus remains making their two current locations the best they can be.

“I think the ultimate goal with the brand is to hopefully kind of remain here as long as we can. I want to be able to come back in the future and the grand for still, to still be here,” Olivares says. “I'm from Eugene, I want to hopefully build a legacy here and just build a place where you’re able to come shop.”

THE NEST IS OPEN MON-FRI FROM NOON TO 6 P.M. AT 894 E 13TH AVE, EUGENE, OR 97401-3742 AND EVERY DAY FROM 10 A.M. TO 9 P.M. AT VALLEY RIVER CENTER