Do you remember when puddle jumping was fun? When rainy days weren’t a deterrent but an invitation to go outside and explore a new, wet world?
Shanda Jerrett never forgot. And when the 31-year-old Australian moved to Vancouver and saw how “miserable and depressed” everyone was, she said she was determined not to let the grey make her blue.
She fought back by opening Gumdrops, a wet-weather fashion boutique in Kitsilano that sells colourful and trendy rain accessories.
“Gumdrops was born from an idea of finding a solution to a problem,” she said. “I was sick of being soggy.”
Noticing that fun galoshes for grownups were hard to come by, she stocked her shelves with colourful and trendy alternatives to boring black boots.
Her footwear comes in a variety styles, like knee-high field boots, patent-inspired ankle boots with wedge heels, sneakers and ballet flats.
She even sells water-repellent Emus.
Rather than making galoshes a necessary evil, she suggested that we think of them as fashion statements.
Jen Zurowski, 32, was equally motivated to find the silver lining in the rain cloud when she moved to Vancouver from Calgary.
“(My first winter) I went through I can’t even count how many umbrellas,” she said. “They seemed to disintegrate. I wanted something cute and all I could find were plain (umbrellas).”
So she started her own brand of durable, fun brollies called Cheeky Umbrellas, which sell in more than 100 retailers across Canada.
Most of her umbrellas have a saying on the outside and a splash of colour on the inside.
Sayings include “I prefer umbrellas in my cocktails,” “I sizzle in the drizzle” and “When does it start raining men?”
“Be well equipped (for the rain),” Zurowski said. “It’s a fact of life here, (so) just get out and rock it.”
– What’s your essential rainy-day item? Tell us on Twitter @metrovancouver or on the web www.metronews.ca.
