Inside Alterior, a hub of craft, creativity and community in East Vancouver | Canada Voices

Alterior is more than just a store. You’ll find clothing and accessories, but also a hairdresser, a library, an atelier with roughly 15 sewing machines and a small climbing wall.

Cole and Dallas Chreptyk are the brothers behind the East Vancouver destination, a creative space rooted in collaboration, craft and community. At its core, Alterior functions as both a retailer and design studio, but with the spirit of a modern mom-and-pop shop, it’s also a gathering place for DIY-minded creatives.

Near the store’s entrance off Commercial Drive, a table displays a selection of heart-shaped rock paperweights made by the brothers’ father. “He’s not fully aware of how cool they are,” said Dallas. The shop is stocked with independent streetwear brands, zines, home wares such as soap and incense and accessories including tote bags and jewellery. You’ll find skateboarders, climbers, menswear enthusiasts and curious passersby alike browsing inside.

“If you come here and you feel connected to the space, you can be a part of it as much as you want to be,” said Dallas. “This space is special because of everyone involved.”

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The Chreptyks’ path to Alterior began long before the storefront. In high school, Cole and Dallas, now 34 and 32 respectively, shared ambitions of founding a clothing brand and explored different creative outlets. That journey eventually led them to work at Livestock, Vancouver’s well-established purveyor of cool sneakers, where they began as warehouse staff before moving into sales roles at the retailer’s Chinatown location. Those early years provided exposure to product, retail culture and community, laying the groundwork for what would become Alterior.

Soon after, the brand side of their concept began to take shape with small-batch leather goods handmade by Cole. In 2014, Alterior launched its first product online and at Livestock: A leather belt that is still sold today, originally part of a tightly edited collection of roughly a dozen pieces. That hands-on approach led to collaborations with niche but respected Los Angeles-based streetwear brands, including a leather wallet with Mister Green and a card holder with Brain Dead. “At that time, those brands weren’t making handmade leather products, but we had the knowledge to do that,” Dallas said.

In 2022, the pair opened their first physical space in East Vancouver and launched a full collection of cut-and-sew menswear painstakingly handmade in-house by Cole. Two years later, they relocated a couple of doors down to a former dry cleaner. As Alterior grew, so did the need to divide responsibilities. In the beginning, the brothers did everything together. Over time, Cole became more hands-on with production, and Dallas focused on buying and curating.

They make a point of honouring the history of the spaces they occupy. Signage from the former Ace of Suede dry cleaner still hangs on the shop’s exterior. “Our work is with leather and fabric,” Dallas said. “The symbol on the outside is a playing card with an ‘A’ in it. A for Alterior. It was weirdly in the stars or something.”

The brand couldn’t be what it is without a physical space, and the shop has become woven into the fabric of East Vancouver, operating as a third place, aside from home and work, where different creative disciplines intersect.

That openness and diversity is reflected in the people who share it. Matt Roberge runs a shop within Alterior, called Vintage Sponsor, focused on nostalgic snowboarding and skate gear. When he relocated to the city from New York in 2023, his stateside friends suggested he check out the brand. After visiting and meeting the brothers, a partnership felt inevitable. “When you come into Alterior it’s like, wow, this doesn’t exist in other cities,” Roberge said. “They take in a lot of input, they’re constantly looking at what’s happening around the world.”

Alterior is also an integral part of East Vancouver’s broader creative landscape. Mike DiPietro, who runs the street-style photography project Seasons of East Van, said there’s something special about the neighbourhood’s attitude and energy. “People are influential without trying to be,” he said. “There’s a diversity of clothing and people here. It’s not pretentious at all.”

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In the neighbourhood and beyond, Alterior is synonymous with the Lloyd tuque. Created by local designer Kathy Hamagami and hand-sewn by Cole, the tuque is instantly recognizable for its signature inside-out construction. It’s become one of the most popular and recognizable items stocked at Alterior, and a ubiquitous part of the East Vancouver dress code.

Ultimately, the Chreptyk siblings are not interested in rigid definitions. They lean into what feels personal, intuitive and interesting, likening Alterior to an art gallery. “You don’t have to buy anything,” Dallas explained. “You can just come in, chat with us, look around, or hang out.” In an industry where ideas of what qualifies as cool are often tightly gatekept, the brand operates as a constantly shifting, open-source platform for creativity. The brothers’ secret is simple: Do what feels right.

“I think this radical openness is something you don’t see very often,” Dallas said. “It’s a combination of things you’re not going to find anywhere else.”