As Eduardo Olivares unpacks the 50 packages of new t-shirts that just came in, he tags, prices and hangs them on the racks to be sold. Just four years ago Olivares was struggling to walk in and out of his dorm room because of the clothing racks that filled the shoebox-sized space. Now, he is co-founder and owner of The N.E.S.T; otherwise known as The Neighborhood Eugene Sustainability Team.

Olivares began his journey as a vintage seller when he was a freshman at the University of Oregon. In hopes to expand, he decided to reach out to another student who was established in the industry- his future business partner Harrison Stevens. “I basically just shot him a DM…”, Olivares recalls, “…I still have the message and it said, ‘Hey Harrison, I love what you’re doing and I’d love to just take you to Chipotle and talk some t-shirts.’”

At a 2019 street fair Olivares and Stevens joined forces in selling both of their collections of vintage clothing under one tent and kept track of their sales on a piece of scrap paper. As word spread of them as reputable vintage sellers, Olivares realized the potential that they had.

So, Olivares pitched his idea to Stevens: create a new vintage brand together. Stevens agreed, and the two began building their business.

Throughout summer and fall of 2020, Olivares spent all of his time preparing for the opening of The N.E.S.T.: Obtaining a storefront, designing a logo, stocking inventory and more. Finally, The N.E.S.T was ready for its grand opening day in January 2021. 

Two years after its opening, the store boasts nearly 13,000 Instagram followers, an upgraded storefront and an expanded inventory. 

For the foreseeable future, Olivares’ attention is on making The N.E.S.T the best store that it can be. However, the idea of expanding the store isn’t out of the question. “I've been living here in Eugene my whole life…so we definitely have hopes and dreams of expanding it and going somewhere else, but for the time being I think we just gotta focus on making this as good as we can.”