In episode 197, Kestrel welcomes Dr. Hakan Karaosman and Professor Donna Marshall to the show. A sustainability management professional and award-winning researcher, Hakan is also a fashion supply chain and sustainability expert at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Donna is a Professor of Supply Chain Management, Head of Research, Innovation and Impact, and the Director of the Centre for Business and Society at University College Dublin.
The European Commission recently awarded Donna and Hakan with the prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship award for their forthcoming project, FReSCH (Fashion’s Responsible Supply Chain Hub) to be conducted at University College Dublin.
“In times of uncertainty, bureaucracy doesn’t work, hierarchy doesn’t work — and we need to have these much more flat network systems, which seem to be much more innovative, much more agile — and that’s really about tearing down some of the cultures that are really embedded within the fashion industry at the moment. ”On this week’s show, both Hakan and Donna share more on how the fashion industry needs to work to take the ego out of the way they do business — and according to their research, this will actually be “good for business”.
Donna shares more on how simple shifts in the words we are using can make significant changes — that certain words reinforce hierarchical frameworks, while others can reinforce collaboration. For example, shifting the job role name from “buyer” to “relationship manager” made a massive positive impact on one multinational company that she and Hakan have worked with.
For both Donna and Hakan, transparency is important and a powerful first step, but it is absolutely not synonymous with sustainability, and must be looked at across every area of a supply chain.
The below thoughts, ideas + organizations were brought up in this chat:
“Unfortunately, fashion betrayed its own values.” -Hakan
“To me, the future will be something in which growth will not be measured only by financial terms — it will be really about a system that is socially just, economically inclusive, and environmentally regenerative.” -Hakan
“I say the solution will be shorter supply chains, which we can actually control.” -Hakan
Fashion Revolution Transparency Index
“One of the things that we’ve found again and again with multi-stakeholder initiatives that are being really successful and actually bringing radical transformation and change — both socially for people and environmentally for the planet — is around inclusiveness and representation.” -Donna
“And unfortunately this current fashion schedule that we all criticize, that should change, doesn’t allow us to listen to people, and unfortunately the leg of empathy is a bottleneck in the fashion industry, so people don’t really interpret or listen to what workers are dealing with.” -Hakan
Better Work Initiative
Greenpeace Detox My Fashion
“Transparency is now being seen by investors, by the big pension funds, as really a proxy for good business.” -Donna
“Brands will be remembered for what they did in this crisis.” -Hakan
Hakan will be curating and moderating a session on climate change and the circular economy for the forthcoming Fashinnovation Worldwide Talk on June 5th
Donna and Hakan will be giving a keynote for this online webinar co-organized by The Financial Times on June 18th
More on Donna + Hakan’s forthcoming project FReSCH:
FReSCH will be one of the first research projects to investigate economic, environmental and social sustainability to understand the trade-offs, tensions and outcomes between them in the transition to a low-carbon circular fashion industry. By using a novel methodology, simultaneous multi-level action research, with a brand name company and their supply chain, FReSCH will take a top-down and bottom-up approach by examining a fashion supply chain in transition to uncover the realities of SME suppliers and their workers. The outcomes of the project will provide insight into the economic and environmental demands placed on suppliers and how these impact working conditions and human rights practices. The project will also show how companies can use worker self-determination practices to solve problems in and across supply chains.
From The Intro: 18 FASHION PEOPLE RECOMMEND THEIR SUSTAINABILITY MUST-READS by Whitney Bauck
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
Vintage stylist Beth Jones & Dounia Wone of Vestiaire Collective on whether fast fashion brands fit into the resale experience
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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