Series 4

Ep 111, THE SLOW TRAVELS OF OCEAN PLASTICS EXPLORER EMILY PENN

Ep 111, THE SLOW TRAVELS OF OCEAN PLASTICS EXPLORER EMILY PENN

Emily Penn is a British sailor and the co-founder of eXXpedition - a series of all-women voyages exploring the impacts of plastics and toxins in our oceans. "The only way to reduce the potential impacts on human health and the environment is to reduce consumption," she says.

But where to begin? For the next two years, a total of 300 women will sail around the world on eXXpedition's voyages of discovery, to look deep into what's going on with plastic in our oceans, and try to come up with solutions.

Why XX? Women are underrepresented in science and sailing - the XX in the title refers to the female sex chromosome. Could plastic pollution be gender discriminatory? Could women suffer greater effects from it than men? Remember, pollution can bio-accumulate - the fish eat the plastic, and we eat the fish. Of the estimated 700 contaminants in our bodies, many have barely been researched.

Ep 110, THE UPCYCLERS - MEET MADDIE WILLIAMS, HELEN KIRKUM & DURAN LANTINK

Ep 110, THE UPCYCLERS - MEET MADDIE WILLIAMS, HELEN KIRKUM & DURAN LANTINK

FASHION’S NEW OBSESSION. What's driving the fashion's love affair with upcycling? And how far can it go? Might fashion stop using virgin materials completely one day? Upcyling means taking something that’s been discarded, is usually unloved and considered trash, and transforming it into something new, and of a higher quality.

It has become a major fashion buzz word, thanks to designers like Marine Serre in Paris, and even Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen. But it’s the next generation that's really pushing it.

Meet three emerging designers leading the way: Londoners Maddie Williams and Helen Kirkum, and brilliant Dutch trouble maker Duran Lantink.

Ep 108 BAY GARNETT'S THRIFT SUPERPOWERS

Ep 108 BAY GARNETT'S THRIFT SUPERPOWERS

How to shop secondhand (& why you should). British stylist Bay Garnett started working in fashion in the late ‘90s, and edited the NY version of Cheap Date - a zine started in London by Kira Joliffe, inspired by a love for thrifting. Bay famously put Kate Moss in the pages of British Vogue wearing vintage and has long been top of Clare’s list of charity shop fashionistas.

Her latest project? Second-hand September for Oxfam.

Find out how she does it, how thrifting has changed over 20 yrs, and why giving garments multiple lives is more important than ever as a tool to reduce fashion’s environmental impact.