Retail therapy: Halifax boutique Slowly Slowly was born out of the pandemic’s creative reset

Slowly Slowly, Hannah Sears' Halifax boutique.Supplied

Over the course of the pandemic, there were many who moved away from urban centres amidst shifting priorities. In Hannah Sears’s case, returning to Nova Scotia from Toronto in December, 2020, presented the opportunity to create her boutique, Slowly Slowly, which opened its doors in July. “I’ve known for a long time that I wanted to open a clothing store. This was the opportune time to do it,” she says.

Located in Halifax, Slowly Slowly is the result of Sears’s extensive career in fashion retail, which spans roles in global chains and independent boutiques. As the name suggests, Slowly Slowly specializes in slow fashion and design, an ethical approach to production that respects people, animals and the planet. “We’re all, especially with COVID, moving away from shopping at malls and realizing what fast fashion and these huge brand names are doing to the environment and the people who are making their clothing who aren’t getting paid fair wages,” she says.

At Slowly Slowly, Sears has curated a selection of brands that subscribe to this ethos and that she says are hard to find in person east of Montreal, such as Paloma Wool and Après Ski from Barcelona. She also has plenty of Canadian brands on her shelves, including Eliza Faulkner, Laura Kissed Ashley, A Bronze Age and her sister Sarah Sears’s namesake jewellery line. “I really wanted to make sure I had something for everyone, for someone to come in and grab a gift and a card for a friend’s birthday or for them to invest in a more special piece.”

Slowly Slowly, 5685 Cunard St., Halifax, 902-880-1146, shopslowlyslowly.ca.