Fighting fast fashion
Kira Gullion is on a mission to empower consumers, reduce waste

There is enough clothing on the planet to clothe the next six generations of humans. Globally, we consume 80 billion pieces of clothing each year. The fast fashion industry is partially to blame, but it’s a vicious cycle. Budget friendly shopping may require some ethical sacrifice, but many people don’t have a choice. The system is broken, and it’s a long history of corporate greed that Kira Gullion is working to address.

The 24-year-old owner of Lizard Head Trading Co. in downtown Durango is working to provide a solution for global overconsumption within the fashion industry and to create a space for sustainable fashion that is accessible to everybody. Lizard Head is one of many secondhand shops in Durango, but it’s the newest – and it offers same-day payouts using the buy, sell, trade model. The buy counter is always welcoming new consignors. 

Growing up in Bayfield, Gullion learned the art of thrifting as a child, and she eventually started the town’s very first thrift store, Bee Thrifty. 

“I grew up on yard-sale clothing – we had boxes in our basement, and once every summer, every winter, my sister and I got to do a little shopping out of the bins,” said Gullion. 

Growing up with secondhand clothes influenced Gullion’s adult thriftiness, but she remembers a defining moment in middle school. She scored a pair of shoes at the La Plata County Humane Society Thrift Store and ended up selling them on Ebay for $100. Thus started her love for recirculating and sharing clothes.

“I got through college by selling things on Poshmark and decided this is what I enjoy doing,” said Gullion.

Gullion wanted to be a child psychologist in an elementary school but felt discouraged by low pay and complaints from teachers of being stretched too thin. In 2022, a year before her expected graduation from Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, she decided to take a leap. She moved back to Bayfield and made a deal with her dad. 

He had recently bought a property on Mill Street in Bayfield. Gullion ended up renting it from him for $1,000 a month and turned it into Bee Thrifty, Bayfield’s first and only thrift store, which Gullion still owns. 

She opened Lizard Head Trading Co., at 965 Main Ave., next door to the Durango Diner, in September 2023, when she was 22. She said she is happy to be in the location – however, the process of finding and securing a space was discouraging, with plenty of hoops to jump through before signing an official lease. When she started looking for a home for Lizard Head in 2022, she looked at more than 20 spaces. “I got so close each time,” said Gullion. “I always had a model, a plan, I had taken out a loan, and each time the owners went with someone else. I hate to pull this card, but it’s true. Being a woman, they’d pick a more secure tenant.”

Eventually, after being skipped over once in favor of a chain store, the Beef Jerky Experience, which closed in 2023, Gullion scored the spot. 

“A lot of people didn’t have faith I would make it in this space,” said Gullion. “I am really grateful to be here.”

Gullion, who recently moved to Durango with her husband and two dogs, hopes Lizard Head, in conjunction with other consignment and secondhand stores of Durango, provides a system for people to recycle. 

“The trends are what’s killing us,” she said. “We provide instant value – 30% cash or 50% trade credit – so you can circulate your closet without spending more money. You keep what’s already in the cycle, within the cycle.” 

She also said it can be a quick source of cash or clothes for folks on tight budgets. “We pride ourselves on having affordable clothing that’s accessible. You don’t have to wait for your items to sell to get a check. You get cash up front. And that can get people out of situations – where else could you have gotten that cash?”

 Aside from the consigned pieces, Gullion travels bimonthly to source clothes for the store from warehouses in Denver, Phoenix or Los Angeles. The managers of these warehouses tell her the floor-to-ceiling bales of clothing are sometimes sent to developing nations but more often are routed directly to the nearest dump. 

This is what Gullion hopes to avoid.

“When you shop sustainably, it creates a cycle that rejects the linear model of fast fashion,” said Gullion. “It’s common to throw away clothes if they rip, but sustainable fashion turns flaws into a positive thing – creating something unique.”

Respecting the history of the pieces is important, too. “People come in and tell us stories about the clothes, the history, their intentions,” said Gullion.

The community aspect brings her great joy – it’s rewarding to see people come back, and it’s fun to dress people up and help them feel confident on a solo shopping trip, she said. She also likes the aspect of meeting visitors from out of town as well.

“We love our space – we get tourists that we wouldn't get if we weren’t on Main,” she said. “To hear the different perspectives is incredible, and people can learn about us just by being downtown.”

Gullion says November was slow, but she’s excited for more foot traffic this winter and to bring to life the ideas she’s been planning. For example, the store hired an in-house seamstress to upcycle pieces, rather than just repairing them.

She envisions the space as somewhere anyone can come and hang out. “We recently bought a set of cute green couches,” said Gullion. “Please, loiter! (within reason, of course).”

The next steps for Lizard Head include expansion – Fort Collins or Flagstaff would be ideal – to continue to spread awareness and accessibility of recyclable fashion. 

 She is also exploring profit sharing with her employees to give them more investment in the business. Lizard Head’s staff is priceless to Gullion – interviews are taken seriously, and she strives to create a safe working space. 

Adalyn Campbell, 19, was hired in October 2023, just a few weeks after the store opened. Campbell appreciates the atmosphere Gullion has created for the staff. 

“Kira always prioritizes my mental health and other life circumstances, encouraging us to take time for ourselves,” said Campbell. “She always makes sure there are multiple people on staff, to help us feel safer and to have company. She’s always on call.” 

The current staff is mostly female, and so are the majority of employment applicants, but Gullion would love some diversity of gender on staff to help source, price and style men’s items. 

“We’d love to have more male staff, but it’s hard, because not as many find themselves in the industry,” Gullion said. “If someone is good for the store, and they’re qualified, we’ll take them.”