HUMANKIND Thrift is Ready to Serve

Posted by Luke on August 24, 2009 · View Comments

[We sent intrepid explorer Eileen to visit our friends at East Nashville's newest thrift store, HUMANKIND. Here's her report.]

As of last week, all you funky, fashionable Nashvillians, there is a new thrift shop in town. Owned and operated by Ryan and Christina Rado, HUMANKIND Thrift had a supremely successful launch last Wednesday. Located on Gallatin Pike, not far from 5 Points, HUMANKIND is the kind of shop that’s worth the drive if you’re outside of East Nashville and worth stopping in several times a week if you’re in the area. It’s the kind of place you walk in and immediately know you’re going to find great, perfectly one-of-a-kind items that won’t break the fragile piggy bank.

Preparing the shop for its grand opening.

Though it is a small store, HUMANKIND houses an extensive array of vintage and modern apparel, all marvelously trendy and in excellent condition. Tastefully arranged on interspersed display tables and hanging racks, HUMANKIND’s selection of attire is easy and fun to peruse. Say goodbye to the super-thrift store days of prying apart hangers on overstuffed racks in hopes of finding a gem of an item lost in between.

Everything on the racks at HUMANKIND is not only easily accessible but also sports a personality all its own. In all of 3 minutes I happened across a light-weight beautiful blue, white, and brown flowing floral skirt ideal for summer, a 60’s reminiscent polka-dot top with a stylish loose tie at the neck, and a multi-colored, textured scarf that would be a perfect accent worn as a belt or around the neck. Furthermore, many of the items can be easily dressed up or down, providing the versatility essential to the college student or young professional’s wardrobe.

The Rados

Not only this, but the racks are full of brand name clothing for a fraction of brand name price. A chic vertical pink and white striped, cap-sleeved women’s vest was all of $4.50, where it originally must have cost at least $30. Men’s attire is equally fashionable and well priced. A large shelf of trendy jeans in various washes stands against one wall, framed by racks of sturdy T-shirts and classic button-ups.

And as if it couldn’t get any better, HUMANKIND Thrift even offers in-store alterations in case the otherwise flawless item you’ve found needs a little letting-out, bringing-in, or hemming-up. In short, Humankind is chock-full of wardrobe must-haves for men and women, and not an item in the store is over $20. Not even the pair of vintage white roller skates.

Mission

Even more impressive than HUMANKIND’s selection of attire, however, is its mission. About a year ago, Ryan and Christina Rado began looking for a way to give back to their community and settled on the idea of a thrift shop. HUMANKIND is an entirely non-profit organization, with all the proceeds going toward providing clothing for the children of refugee families in Nashville.

Somali refugees with new clothes.

Beginning in 2007, the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools enacted a Standard School Attire dress code for the city schools. Although the specific dress code may vary slightly from school to school, the basic requirements are that students be attired in navy, black, or khaki bottoms (absolutely no jeans), and collared shirts in approved colors which must be fully buttoned and tucked in.

While this basic dress code may do well to better the learning environment as a whole, Christina Rado witnessed firsthand the difficulties such a code can cause for refugee families. As a former elementary school English Language Learners teacher, Christina saw what a struggle it can be for refugee families to settle into new jobs, homes, and schools on top of learning English and adapting to a completely new society. The last thing these families need to worry about is finding appropriate school attire for their children, especially given the intricacies of the SSA requirements.

From this desire to help stemmed the idea that HUMANKIND’s profits go toward providing dress-code appropriate clothing for refugee children. Here’s Ryan and Christina’s vision in their own words:

“We think that kids should go to school in clean, comfortable clothes. We think that kids should have a choice of what to wear in the morning – something they feel good in, something that improves their level of confidence. We think that families who are new to America and trying to acclimate should not have to stress over finding the right school clothes in the approved colors and styles. HUMANKIND refers to the fact that we are all human – all part of the human race, all with the same basic needs, one of those needs being clothing.”

Just recently, HUMANKIND provided 20 children with full school wardrobes, all completely SSA acceptable, in preparation for their first week of school. The gratitude of the children and families was amazing, Christina said.

Let’s help continue the great mission that the Rados have begun through HUMANKIND. Visit the store at the corner of West Eastland and Gallatin Avenue right across Regions Bank and Aldi. Look for the HUMANKIND Banner on the second floor at #206. Stop in, buy yourself some great new clothes or donate gently used clothes you don’t need anymore. It’s an unbeatable opportunity to grab some great new duds and contribute to the Nashville community at the same time.

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