In episode 314, you’ll hear our first official roundtable format, featuring guests Beth Jones, YouTube star and creator of B. Jones Style, alongside Dounia Wone, the Chief Impact Officer at Vestiaire Collective, a platform that showcases luxury preloved fashion.
“It’s few and far between that the fast fashion holds up against vintage or really quality pieces maybe made by a designer or things like that … Even if it has a vintage look to it, there’s something about it that doesn’t hold up in a way. And honestly, I will be a little bummed. It’s Zara. I’d rather have the old Kathys of California blazer or dress. I end up not being excited about it, so often, I just go with something else instead.” -Beth
“Vestiaire is a 15 year old company. Our founders really believed in fighting overconsumption and overproduction back then in Paris … When I went to them and said ‘ok, let’s ban fast fashion,’ they were completely in … what we want is that it will educate the consumers on our platform. What we were looking at is the behavior … what we saw for the last year was actually people are staying on the platform, 70% of the people who were impacted by the ban stayed on the platform and actually reinvested more and bought less.” -Dounia
JANUARY THEME —
Fast Fashion, Consumption & Why Self Work Is Integral To Changemaking
When we talk about the messes of the fashion industry, a recurring theme we circle back to is – OVERPRODUCTION – especially with regard to fast fashion. Whether you’re super interested in sustainability and fashion or you’re new to the conversation, most people today are coming to the basic conclusion that fast fashion is problematic, due to its incessant mass production.
There has been a lot of commentary over the last 7 years, about I guess, the questioning of our moral compass, when it comes to how we shop for fast fashion. What do I mean by that? Let’s break it down.
We know that fast fashion is everywhere, and that so much of our clothing ends up in charity shops, where sadly, a great deal of it is destined for landfill.
So, to address this cycle, does it make sense to buy fast fashion from the secondhand economy? Can we then prevent these clothes from ending up in landfills?
It’s not that simple.
Other questions come up like –
“If we adopt the same shopping behaviors in the secondhand economy as we have with fast fashion, what really changes? Where do we draw the line?”
Or
Aren’t we just encouraging the fast fashion industry to churn out more *stuff* to feed the overproducing system it has generated?
In this week's episode, we chat with two incredible powerhouse women from very different realms of the fashion industry. They each contribute so much to helping dissect this tension –
We explore the layers of responsibility we hold as everyday individuals
The power organizations hold in enacting change
And how lobbying and legislation is an integral part of fashioning a better future for fashion.
We also discuss the power of personal style and how we can all start shifting our buying behavior by ‘Always Playing Dress Up’. Sound familiar? One of our guests coined that very phrase.
Tune in as we dive deeper into our January theme – Fast Fashion, Consumption & Why Self Work Is Integral To Changemaking.
Quotes & links from the conversation:
“Not-So-Fast Fashion: Embracing Responsible Consumption Through Online Activism”, article by Dounia that Nat mentions
B. Jones Style Website
Vestiaire Collective Website
Beth’s YouTube
Follow Beth on TikTok
Follow Vestiaire on TikTok
Follow Beth on Instagram
Follow Dounia on Instagram
Follow Vestiaire Collective on Instagram
Wafa Ghnaim of Tatreez and Tea & Dr. Tanveer Ahmed of Central Saint Martins on preserving culture, decolonial frameworks, and how intersectional reform can be a pathway toward sustainable fashion futu
Sustainable fashion podcasters unite — Emily Stochl of Pre-Loved Podcast & Stella Hertantyo of Conscious Style Podcast help us reflect on 11 years since Rana Plaza, celebrating collective movements
Upcycling artists Francisco Alcazar & Ella Wiznia of Series NY are redefining sustainable fashion while reimagining craft & challenging the gender binary
How gender plays into the devaluing of knowledge and its links to sustainable fashion & wellness with Megan Schnitker of Lakota Made and Niha Elety of Tega Collective
Celebrating the cultural tradition, past and present, of Palestinian Tatreez with artists / educators Lina Barkawi and Eman Toom & why sustainable fashion must include cultural sustainability
Intergenerational knowledge & sustainable fashion — how clothing is more than just aesthetics; it’s about the upholding of cultural practices and the amplifying of knowledge & traditions
Why self work is integral to advocating for transformation in fashion & why we must deeply question our personal values to truly get active in creating a more sustainable fashion future
Denali Jöel on fashion as an art praxis rooted in Afro-Indigenous philosophies, interrogating the emphasis placed on the *industry* & reminding us of the possibility of creating new ecosystems
Julius Tillery aka the "Puff Daddy Of Cotton" on the need to remix both the perception of the cotton industry and the business model
Cassandra Pintro of Consumption Project on welcoming her community to challenge their buying habits and question what is *enough*
Jeanell English on navigating the pressure to project a certain image in business & across climate spaces and balancing the worlds of activists & execs as a leader in impact
Muchaneta Ten Napel on utilizing tech as a tool to change how fashion does business, not a crutch that will *save us all* & preparing for the fashion policy changes that are on the horizon
*Breaking It Down* with Rachel Arthur, lead author of The Sustainable Fashion Communication Playbook, an actionable guide co-published by UNEP and UN Climate Change
Tameka Peoples of Seed2Shirt on rebuilding equitable + just cotton systems & fostering the reclamation of cotton acreage for Black farmers
Lisa Diegel, Global Sustainability Director, on Faherty's Native Initiatives, what mutually beneficial relationships can look like in practice, and the nuanced ways brands must take responsibility for
Eric Liedtke of UNLESS on pressing fashion to ditch the plastic ingredients and ideating on what it will take for corporations to truly change
A new era of storytelling at Conscious Chatter, meet our newest team member Natalie Shehata & what slow media means for us in practice
Jessie Frances (@cappuccinosandconsignment) on the complications with resale's *moment* — fast fashion addictions becoming secondhand addictions, luxury's obsession with exclusivity & the gentrifica
Winona Quigley of Green Matters Natural Dye Company on reimagining what *scale* means for natural dyeing & how accessibility and limits also play into the idea of *growth*
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