Young entrepreneurs start sustainability shop
Two students in Fredericton are using their passion for the environment to encourage others to live more sustainably— while also supporting their new business.
Brigitte Comeau and Emily Bourque are best friends who started the One Stop Sustainability Shop at the end of April. They sell handmade clothing made from recycled materials and homegrown herbs in hand-painted pots through an Instagram page.
"We want it to be like a stop where people can stop and buy things that are more sustainable and ethical and just really like getting the word out there about sustainability," said Bourque, who's an environmental marketing major and hand paints the pots.
The University of New Brunswick students live sustainable lifestyles; Comeau is vegan, Bourque is a vegetarian, they shop secondhand and both avoid single-use plastics. They said their decision to start a sustainable business was inspired by how they live.
"We changed a lot of things in our lifestyle to become more eco-friendly and it got to a point where we felt like it wasn't enough and we wanted to give other people the option to shop more sustainably," said Comeau, who is a marketing major.
Comeau, 19, got a sewing machine from her mother on her 16th birthday and has been sewing ever since. She makes the clothing out of recycled material she finds while thrift shopping.
"Just a couple months ago I started making clothes from scratch just because I got inspired … I started caring a lot more about the environment and I started thinking about fast fashion and I still wanted to buy cute tank tops and cute shorts, so I decided to try to make them myself," she said.
'Not about the money'
The online shop is gaining popularity, with more than 200 Instagram followers since the launch, but Bourque said their business isn't about profit.
"Just getting the word out there about the word sustainability and educating people on what the word sustainability means," Bourque said.
"[It's] not about the money, not about anything like that, just getting the message out there, showing our passion and just educating people on that too is also part of our business."
So far, the duo is breaking even. They said their goal is to be convenient so people have a jumping off point if they want to be more sustainable.
"We're just trying to offer a more sustainable option for people because we know a lot of people try their best, but a lot of people won't look for these options if they're not like readily accessible to them," Comeau said.
Comeau and Bourque are interested in expanding their business to sell shampoo bars and produce bags. Now, besides clothing and pots, they also sell cloth utensil holders and tote bags.
The friends said they're hoping to be a small part of a worldwide fight to save the environment.
"Globally, I think that we want to change the mindset of people we want the thought of, 'How is this going to impact the environment?'" Bourque said.
"We want that thought through everyone's brain for everything they do in their everyday life like, 'Oh, if I do this, how does this impact the environment?' That I think is something that needs to change for sure."
They'd also like to start selling their products across Canada, as long as they can find sustainable packaging, and set up shop at the local markets in Fredericton.
Comeau said she decided to live more sustainably when she went vegan a year and a half ago.
"I was just like, "Wow, I really need to start doing something,' because no matter how little of an impact we have, we still do have an impact," she said.
And Bourque said everyone needs to work together if change is going to happen.
"It can't just be like my lifestyle, it can't just be her lifestyle, it has to be a movement. A global movement needs to start happening because if it doesn't, then it's really scary for my future, my kid's future."
