It's not every day you get to sit down with a proper fashion world icon and pick his brains for free! Dear listeners, you're in for a treat this week, as Clare meets the one and only Jimmy Choo. This magic name in shoe design is now professor - he runs his own fashion school, the Jimmy Choo Academy in London's Mayfair…
You might have noticed this idea gaining momentum. Ecocide refers to the mass damage and destruction of ecosystems – severe harm to nature which is widespread or long-term. The idea is to criminalise it. And it's happening! It's become national law in several countries with many more discussing it. In March, the EU passed a law that criminalises actions 'comparable to ecocide' - a revolutionary legal development; the first law of its kind to be adopted by a political entity with substantial global influence. In September, Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa submitted a proposal to the International Criminal Court for recognition of ecocide as a crime.
What does all this mean for fashion? Listen to find out!
Okay, brace yourselves...
Brands love to set sustainability goals. But what if it's all nonsense? What if net zero, the obsession with carbon, and the idea that renewables are taking over from fossil fuels, are all part of a fake green fairy tale that we tell ourselves because the alternative is too difficult to imagine. Or that corporations tell us so that they can keep on with business as usual.
WTAF? We know. It's... a lot.
Is it true? You decide, after listening to this week's guest.
Carole Collet on the role of a fashion designer today. Thinking purely about gorgeous clothes is so last season. Gone are the days when designers could consider only a collection, how it will sell and what the customer might be looking for.
Forward-thinkers are already beginning to take more holistic view and adopt a living systems approach. They’re asking questions such as, Can we make like Nature makes? How might fashion create nutrients instead of waste? How can we use biomimicry in sustainable ways? Program living systems to produce bespoke products? And, how can we build a truly regenerative system in place of the current regenerative one?
Happy Secondhand September! Six years ago Oxfam UK came up with the idea of using September to encourage people to: "Shop second hand to take a stance against fast fashion and dress for a fairer world." They say it's a moment to come together “to choose a more planet-friendly way to shop, and dress for the world you want to see." This week, Clare sits down with model-thrifter-filmmaker-activist Eunice Olumide, ahead of her walking in Oxfam's LFW show.
From runway to reality. In 2011, super model Arizona Muse landed a Prada contract and a 14-page story in American Vogue, with Anna Wintour comparing her to Linda Evangelista and Natalia Vodianova. She's since become a familiar face on Vogue covers everywhere but these days Arizona has different priorities. Today she is using her platform for sustainable fashion.
Meet the millennial behind cult New Zealand label Maggie Marilyn. We hear a lot about how the Gens Y and Z are more woke, more into sustainability and of course more worried about climate change and the environment - why wouldn’t they be? These are the generations that are going to inherit the mess that’s been made. They are already inheriting it.
Find out why designer Maggie Hewitt is determined to do fashion differently, how she sold her very first collection to Net-A-Porter and gets most excited about seeing her clothes worn by women she doesn’t know in the street. Yep, even though Megan Markle, Kendall Jenner and Rose McGowan are fans.
The mainstream fashion production process is extremely wasteful. The whole system is built on over-ordering, taking a punt on how much will sell, and writing off over-production. This leads to shocking amounts of pre-consumer textiles and garments being landfilled or incinerated - according to some estimates, 1/3 of all the fashion ever produced it never sold.
Australian made-to-order T-shirt company Citizen Wolf is using big data and algorithmic power to disrupt this. And they plan to take on the world. Can it work? How did founders Zoltan Csaki and Eric Phu build it? This thought-provoking discussion looks into the fashion crystal ball to imagine a leaner, greener, more responsive manufacturing future.
She is author of How to be a Craftivist and the founder of Craftivist Collective. Sarah Corbett believes, “If we want a world that is beautiful, kind and fair, shouldn’t our activism be beautiful, kind and fair?”
This episode is a call to arms for fashion change-makers, a demonstration of the persuasive nature of gentle activism, and the wonderful idea that together we might stitch a rebellion, sweep out the status quo and usher in a fairer world in fashion and beyond.
Happy Earth Day!
As we gear up to Earth Day on April 22, we're thinking about living more lightly on the planet. This year’s theme is Protect Our Species, and one of the quotes that inspired it is from Rachel Carson, who said, “In nature nothing exists alone.”
Natalie Isaacs is proof of that. The super-inspiring Australian movement builder behind 1 Million Women went from being a one-woman powerhouse to harnessing the collective power of other women - heck, the whole of womankind! - to start a lifestyle revolution to fight climate change.
Who’s up for stopping our wasteful ways and reimagining trash as a resource? This week’s guest is proving fashion can be made entirely from recycled materials.
He is Javier Goyaneche, president and founder of Ecoalf, the Spanish clothing company that pioneers high-tech new materials made from waste.
If you’re a sustainability nerd, you’ve no doubt heard of Ecoalf. It was Spain’s first B-corp and Gwyneth Paltrow is a fan - a few years back she did a collab with them for Goop.
Have you heard that phrase from seed to garment? Probably, right? Because most natural textiles are grown in the Earth. But how often does fashion get its fingernails into the actual dirt?
We hope there are some gardeners listening this week, because our guest loves worms. Nina Marenzi has a Masters degree in sustainable agriculture, but today she works in fashion. Her organisation The Sustainable Angle puts on the Future Fabrics Expo in London, which is all about what she calls ‘diversifying the fibre basket’ - or rethinking fashion materials.
For many years, Sass taught at FIT in New York. She was the Founding Dean of the Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation. She has purple hair, is a dedicated thrifter and has her shoes made by hand. But actually, this is not an interview about a life in fashion...
In this conversation, we focus on how fashion shapes our collective image, and how and why we allow it to dictate culture, and often get it so wrong. Ethical fashion isn’t just about garment workers being treated right - it’s about the whole thing, including us: shaping culture in a responsible, respectful, empowering way. Not making women feel bad about themselves. Not plundering from other cultures without asking permission. Not perpetuating eating disorders. Not ignoring entire sections of society who need clothes too. Basically, not propping up a broken system that deserves to be rebuilt. That’s a lot of nots!
This episode is about purpose, co-creation and building a social enterprise with a friend. It's about fashion with a heart, and following your dreams.
Rosario Dawson and Abrima Erwiah are Studio 189, a social enterprise brand based between New York and Ghana that won the CFDA x Lexus Sustainable Fashion Initiative award last year.
The brand works in countries with valuable skills but little infrastructure and limited access to markets, to help build the creative economy of the African fashion industry.
You no doubt know Rosario for her film work - she was discovered aged 15 sitting on her New York stoop by Harmony Korine, who cast her in his cult hit, Kids.
You know the score - Stella McCartney does the eco things first. Whether it’s making all things green super-cool, proving non-leather accessories can compete with traditional animal leather in the luxury market, or bringing the circular fashion conversation mainstream, this fashion brand leads the way.
So who makes all this happen? There’s McCartney herself, of course - the designer is a visionary greenie. But no woman is an island. Claire Bergkamp, and her sustainability team, have her back.
Meet Stella McCartney’s Worldwide Sustainability & Innovation Director. A self-confessed fibre nut, Claire started out as a costume designer in LA before switching lanes to study sustainability in London. There, she found her calling.
