Welcome back to GENEs.
These interviews reveal the stories behind peoples coveted items and we unravel the connections and history that have brought them to where they are today.
To check out the previous interviews covering a range of clothing with intimate and gorgeous stories, see the link here.
Let’s pull the thread.
In this episode of GENEs, I sit down with Brenden Wren, also known as B-Wren, the founder of Leo’s Clothing Supply on Vancouver’s Granville Strip. We talk through his journey from thrifting and selling on Grailed in Calgary, to working long nights in bars and flea markets, and eventually opening Leo’s in a historic space once home to a camera supply store for over 65 years. Brenden shares how hustle, exhaustion, and curiosity shaped his relationship with clothing, vintage, and building something of his own.
Our conversation moves beyond retail into community, legacy, and place. We talk about Leo’s as a multi-use space, supporting people without moralizing, navigating city bureaucracy, and what it means to create something meaningful in a difficult environment. We close by getting into the GENEs of the project, a pair of jeans Brenden made himself, using sewing, trial and error, and mentorship as another extension of the same mindset that built Leo’s. At its core, this is a conversation about showing up, learning by doing, and continuing to ask, why not?
