In episode 225, Kestrel welcomes Chantel Keiko Ricks, the Distribution Manager & Sustainability Lead at Urban Native Era, to the show. Based in Los Angeles, Urban Native Era specializes in clothing design and content to increase the visibility of Indigenous Peoples.
“We pride ourselves in providing tools, resources, highlighting thought leaders, sharing about changemakers and being a source for Indigenous perspective on society’s current events — and that is us providing our community with what’s needed to reclaim one’s culture, reclaim identity and reclaim Indigenous story through accurate representation.”On this week’s show, Chantel shares more on how until COVID-19 arrived, she had been studying film in grad school at San Diego State. But, the pandemic paired with the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement led her to explore how she could help in some way in a social activism setting — this led her to reconnecting with Joey Montoya, founder of Urban Native Era, a friend of hers from college.
Kestrel and Chantel talk a bit about thrifting / vintage, and how that’s such a massive part of the way they both shop, because they love discovering unique pieces that nobody else has.
Additionally, Chantel shares more on some of the small steps she is helping Urban Native Era take to reduce their environmental impact, from removing all plastics from their packaging to integrating organic cotton and other lower impact fabrics into their future collections.
Project 333, minimalist fashion challenge that Chantel did to help explore her relationship with her clothes — listen to our Conscious Chatter episode with founder of Project 333 here
“The company actually came through first and foremost journaling these events [Indigenous-led movements], and the clothing part of the company was not in the original inception — which I find probably the most powerful part about the brand is that it’s about storytelling and awareness more than anything else.” -Chantel speaking about Joey, the founder’s story
Urban Native Era sustainability page >
Follow Chantel on Instagram >
Follow Urban Native Era on Instagram >
S03 Episode 121 | NEST + BUILDING A NEW HANDWORKER ECONOMY
S03 Episode 120 | THR3EFOLD, SOURCING ETHICAL FACTORIES + LOOKING BEYOND TRANSPARENCY
S03 Episode 119 | STATE OF FASHION + SEARCHING FOR THE NEW LUXURY
S03 Episode 118 | FIBERSHED + REGENERATIVE TEXTILE SYSTEMS
S03 Episode 117 | INDUSTRY OF ALL NATIONS + THE IDENTITY OF PRODUCTS
S03 Episode 116 | MARA HOFFMAN ROUND 2, AN UPDATE ON SUSTAINABILITY, GROWTH + EVOLUTION
S03 Episode 115 | OLORI + THE DIVINE RIGHT OF QUEENS
S03 Episode 114 | MODERN MACRAME
S03 Episode 113 | RESONANCE + CONNECTING ART WITH COMMERCE
S03 Episode 112 | NEO•THREAD, ONE-OF-A-KIND GEMS + COOL GIRLS CARE
S03 Episode 111 | ADITI MAYER, ADIMAY + REVOLUTION WASHING
S03 Episode 110 | BUY GOOD FEEL GOOD + ELEVATING ACCESS FOR SHOPPERS AND BRANDS
S03 Episode 109 | FINERY + MAKING USE OF THE WARDROBE YOU ALREADY HAVE
S03 Episode 108 | G-STAR RAW + THE MOST SUSTAINABLE JEANS EVER
S03 Episode 107 | SHOP GOOD + INTENTIONS FOR WELLNESS
S03 Episode 106 | CRAFTIVISTS + THE ART OF GENTLE PROTEST
S03 Episode 105 | THE CORDES FOUNDATION + SUPPLY CHAIN STORIES
S02 Episode 104 | WOOLN + GRANDMAS IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN
S02 Episode 103 | WHAT IS BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY + THE SOCIAL IMPACT ECONOMY
S02 Episode 102 | MELANIN & SUSTAINABLE STYLE + ETHICAL FASHION AS A PRIVILEGED WHITE GIRL THING
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