Ep 129, AJA BARBER - CATALYSING FASHION CHANGE

Ep 129, AJA BARBER - CATALYSING FASHION CHANGE

DO THE WORK. EPISODE 129 FEATURES AJA BARBER. Aja is a London-based writer, stylist, fashion activist and cultural commentator. Her work focuses on sustainability, ethics, intersectional feminism, racism and all the ways systems of power effect our buying habits. Aja is passionate about social justice and rebuilding systems of oppression.

It's all up discussion today: from the COVID reset and garment workers to allyship (when brands get it wrong & how to get it right) and fashion billionaires. We’re unpacking white fragility, the dreaded Karens, and coddling vs. discomfort. This is a conversation about how the system is rigged but we have the power to change it. Aja's vision for a sustainable fashion future? Press play to find out. And don’t miss next week’s Episode, with Aja in conversation with Kalkidan Legesse.

Ep 128 KEAH BROWN - WHY IS FASHION IGNORING DISABLED CUSTOMERS?

Ep 128 KEAH BROWN - WHY IS FASHION IGNORING DISABLED CUSTOMERS?

Functional, accessible fashion please! For all the talk of inclusivity finally being taken seriously by fashion, the industry is way behind on many fronts. It basically ignores entire sections of the market, which makes no sense from a business perspective, let alone a social one.

Adaptive fashion is both an opportunity and a necessity - as this week's brilliant guest, author Keah Brown says, disabled people love clothes too. And they're tired of having to alter things that don't work for them. Accessible, adaptive design is the future, and forward-looking brands are taking note.

Our chat covers everything from Keah's New York Fashion Week debut and how her hashtag #disabledandcute went viral to writing her first screen play and the finding joy in the everyday. This is an enlightening, bright interview full of inspiration.

Podcast 127, PAUL DILLINGER, FUTURE FASHION PHILOSOPHY & WEARABLE TECH

Podcast 127, PAUL DILLINGER, FUTURE FASHION PHILOSOPHY & WEARABLE TECH

What is fashion actually for? Philosophy! The Internet of Things! Irvin Penn! From not being Mozart to designing outfits for The Muppets, as a kid... It's all up for discussion in this week's ep with Levi's Vice President of Global Product Innovation, Paul Dillinger.

Paul drove Levi's Jacquard collaboration with Google, so of course we talk about that, and the future of tech innovation in fashion particularly around wearables. So of course we talk about that. But fundamentally, this is a conversation about why we wear what we wear, what fashion means and how we've used it across time to craft our identities. Oh, and sustainability.

Ep 126 DAVID BRESLAUER ON SPIDERS, BIOTECH & BOLT THREADS

Ep 126 DAVID BRESLAUER ON SPIDERS, BIOTECH & BOLT THREADS

"You can't farm spiders!" says this week's guest, scientist David Breslauer.

You can keep more them in serious numbers spinning webs off hula-hoops suspended from your office ceiling though...

Enter Bolt Threads, the Californian biotech company behind Microsilk - a bioengineered sustainable fibre used by Stella McCartney. Find out how they did it, where the science is headed, and what’s next (hint, it's involves mushrooms). Just don’t call David Spider Man.

Ep 125 FRANCOIS GIRBAUD - DENIM LEGEND

Ep 125 FRANCOIS GIRBAUD - DENIM LEGEND

FORMIDABLE! How did denim get so unsustainable? And did it all start with stone washing? Our guest this week accepts responsibility for the industry going so hard on that. Francois Girbaud was there at the start, when, as he says “I was just a stupid guy” - and didn’t know about the environmental impact of stone washing. After that, of course, came acid wash, sandblasting, all the rest of it. So, yes, we discuss all the important environmental stuff, but this is an epic interview about Paris, the history of fashion, and the birth of cool - and its full of great stories.

Outspoken, unafraid, and a true original, Francois Girbaud is fashion pioneer. Meet the man who brought denim to Paris in 1964 with his boutique Western House, who dressed Jimi Hendrix, counted Brigitte Bardot as a customer, and wanted to be a cowboy like John Wayne.

Ep 124 CHEMICALS IN FASHION SUPPLY CHAINS

Ep 124 CHEMICALS IN FASHION SUPPLY CHAINS

What do you know about how chemicals re used to manufacture our clothes? How fashion is cleaning up its act? Chemistry in fashion is still not a mainstream topic, and most people have no idea about chemical use in clothing production. But the fashion industry has made headway.

The Greenpeace campaign succeeded in making fashion take action. Initially 6 brands got behind the formation of the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) programme, with the aim of removing hazardous chemicals from apparel and footwear supply chains by 2020. It’s called Roadmap to Zero.

Discover how it works, learn about the wins and find out what’s left to be done.

Ep 123 HELEN STOREY'S DRESS FOR OUR TIME

Ep 123 HELEN STOREY'S DRESS FOR OUR TIME

Meet UNCHR’s Designer in Residence. In 2015, in the run up to the COP15, Helen Storey turned a decommissioned refugee tent, that had once housed a family in Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan, into a travelling fashion statement on climate change. She called it Dress For Our Time, and debuted it in a London railway station. That dress has since travelled to the UN in Geneva, the climate strikes, and even been on stage at Glastonbury. But it is Helen who has travelled the farthest.

Today she is the UN Refugee Agency's first ever designer-in-residence. Hear how she works in Za'atari, which is home to more than 75,000 displaced people.

Ep 122 ANTI-WAR PHOTOGRAPHER GILES DULEY

Ep 122 ANTI-WAR PHOTOGRAPHER GILES DULEY

The power of human connection. Photographer Giles Duley is the CEO and founder of the Legacy of War Foundation, and an activist for the rights of those living with disabilities caused by conflict. But he started out working in music and fashion, shooting for magazines like Vogue, GQ and Arena.

Since 2004, his portrait photography has taken him all over the world, from Iraq and Jordan to South Sudan and Angola, documenting human stories, often in post-conflict zones or crisis situations. In 2015 he was commissioned by UNHCR to document the refugee crisis across the Middle East and Europe.

In 2011, while working as a photographer in Afghanistan, Giles himself was injured by an improvised explosive device (IED). He is now a triple-amputee. He was back taking photographs the following year.

Ep 121 ARTICLE 22 - UPCYCLING, PURPOSE & PEACE AFTER THE SECRET WAR IN LAOS

Ep 121 ARTICLE 22 - UPCYCLING, PURPOSE & PEACE AFTER THE SECRET WAR IN LAOS

Make jewellery not war. Can fashion really make a difference? Can artisans be agents of change? Could a humble bangle help make post-conflict land safe for the people who live there?

It sounds crazy to be talking about war and bombs in the same sentence as fashion and jewellery. But that’s exactly what Article 22, a New York-jewellery brand and social enterprise that’s handmade in Laos, seeks to do.

They upcycle shrapnel and scrap metal from The Secret War into jewellery, and they called their first collection Peace Bomb. For every jewellery item they make, Article 22 donates to MAG, the Mines Advisory Group - an NGO that’s on the ground clearing undetonated bombs so that local families can live and farm in peace.

Ep 120 Big Wave Surfer Laura Enever on World Oceans Day

Ep 120 Big Wave Surfer Laura Enever on World Oceans Day

On World Oceans Day, we meet Australian big wave surfer Laura Enever. Laura started surfing as a kid in Sydney. She spent 7 years surfing professionally on the Women’s World Tour . Now she’s decided to reinvent herself as a big wave surfer. And we mean seriously big - these waves are scary, dangerous and remote, they break way out to sea, or on shallow rock ledges and only a few times a year.

What has the ocean taught Laura about resilience and conquering fear? Could we all benefit from mastering our breath?