Conscious Style Podcast

110) "Sustainability is Not Just a Buzzword" | LIVE Panel Recording 18.03.2025 53min

We've all seen words like "sustainable" become buzzwords by Big Fashion, but what does it actually look like to do the work to ensure fair employment, responsible sourcing, and mindful production? Three conscious fashion founders weigh in.

109) How this Founder is Creating Solutions, Not Just More Stuff with Karen Poirier of Embrago 17.12.2024 46min

Fashion is rarely focused on fixing real problems for real people. But what if slow fashion did things differently? The thoughtfulness and attention to quality that is embedded into the slow fashion movement can be harnessed to make genuinely better products that make these options a no-brainer IF brands understand the true needs of their customer. In this episode, you'll hear from Karen Poirier, founder of Embrago, a bra-alternative that uses a new approach to built-in bust support that can ebb and flow with our changing bodies. Karen shares what is wrong with most undergarments today — it's not you, it's the clothes (or undergarments)! — and the potential health implications. Plus we discuss the often overlooked technicality to good fashion and how undergarments can add to the mental load for women (and how she is hoping to change that).

108) Inside the Decline of Sweater Quality — and What to Look for in a Durable Knit with Mari Medina 10.12.2024 42min

The declining quality of sweaters has been a big discussion, but what exactly is so much worse about today's sweaters and what has been going on behind the scenes that's made them so bad? And importantly, how can brands do better? What should we be looking for in a high quality knitwear piece?

107) The State of Circular Fashion with Cynthia Power 03.12.2024 41min

Where does circular fashion stand now, and where is it going? Fashion circularity expert Cynthia Power (EILEEN FISHER, Recurate, Molte Volte) is sharing her vantage point in this episode.

106) Behind the Greenwashing of "Artisan-Made", the Art of Collaboration, and Sustaining Yourself as a Creative with Anjali Purohit 19.11.2024 37min

When you hear the term artisan-made, what do you think of? Get ready to unpack all things "artisan-made" in this conversation with Anjali Purohit, founder and creative director of the home and fashion textiles brand Studio Variously.

105) The Blueprint for a Successful Circular Fashion Program 22.10.2024 50min

Nellie Cohen was the architect of Worn Wear, Patagonia's impactful, award-winning (and profitable) circularity program. In this episode, she's sharing her lessons learned on everything from the type of resale model that could be capable of reducing new production to how we can better engage customers in circularity.

104) How to Find & Build Slow Fashion Community 15.10.2024 1h 2min

Slow fashion *can* be joyful! So if you've been feeling discouraged, overwhelmed, or isolated on your sustainable fashion journey, it may be a sign to lean into community. In this episode, get tangible tips and encouragement to find or cultivate your own slow fashion community.

103) Where Does Slow Fashion Go From Here? 08.10.2024 48min

After what's been referred to as a "slow fashion recession", what's next for the movement? How can we come back stronger and make slow fashion so irresistible, that it becomes inevitable?

102) Leveraging Your Slow Fashion Skills To Make Money Beyond Products 26.03.2024 37min

For our first-ever Conscious Fashion Collective Membership panel discussion, we discussed a topic that is often taboo in the slow fashion space — money! We believe that financial sustainability is essential for creating a more just, and sustainable, fashion ecosystem with thriving businesses that care about people and the planet.

101) Demystifying Financial Sustainability in Slow Fashion 12.03.2024 51min

Financial sustainability is essential for creating a more just, and sustainable, fashion ecosystem with thriving businesses that care about people and the planet. But how do you go about actually making money in this space, especially when you care about not overproducing? Money-making is a topic that is all-too-often taboo in the slow fashion space, but our panelists Dani Des Roches, Mahdiyyah Muhammad, Jacqueline Schumann, and Aiste Zitnikaite are unpacking their experiences, transparently, in this episode!

5 Key Pillars for a Net Positive Fashion Industry with Holly Syrett of Global Fashion Agenda (Bonus) 07.11.2023 50min

How can fashion take action right now for a net positive future? From climate and biodiversity to worker livelihoods and fair wages to overconsumption and textile waste, the gaps between where we need to be and where we are right now feel… vast. But in this episode, we're discussing ways that fashion act right now — like tomorrow — on 5 key pillars that encompass both people and planet. These are areas where the research, and tools are readily available, even for implementing at a large scale. Ahead you'll hear my conversation with Holly Syrett, the Impact Programmes and Sustainability Director at Global Fashion Agenda, a nonprofit organization that accelerates measurable impact in the fashion industry.

100) What Would a Better Future for Fashion Look Like? 12.09.2023 36min

We have reached the 100th episode of the podcast! For the past 100 episodes, at the end of each episode we have asked our guests the same question: What would a better future for fashion look like, to you? This question is important, because it sums up exactly why the podcast exists in the first place — to unpack exactly what it will take to cultivate a sustainable and equitable future for fashion. To celebrate this 100 episode milestone, we decided to mark the occasion by sharing a montage of some of our favorite answers, from guests we have had on the show, over the years. Plus, we are sharing a few listener answers to this question too. And, right at the end, we’ll share our reflections on the topic as well. Enjoy listening to these visionary — yet practical — answers. Hopefully they’ll give you some food for thought and reflection points for your own relationship with fashion. And thank you for tuning in to celebrate 100 episodes with us!

99) 10 Lessons Learned From 100 Episodes 05.09.2023 49min

As you might have noticed, we are just one episode away from the 100th episode of the podcast! We're starting the celebrations early and changing up the usual format with this episode. Instead of interviewing a guest, this week we’re sharing 10 lessons we’ve learned from 100 episodes of the podcast that features interviews with some of the most inspiring changemakers in the fashion industry.

98) Should Resale Sites Ban Fast Fashion? 29.08.2023 38min

Is it green... or just greenwashing? This week, we’re sharing a recap of a few Green or Greenwashing topics we covered this season! Green or Greenwashing is a segment on the podcast where we evaluate if a certain sustainability measure is more green or whether it veers into more of the greenwashing territory. These Green or Greenwashing segments were previously published at the end of some prior episodes. The first segment we are resharing is whether third-party resale sites should ban fast fashion after a decision from Vestiaire Collective to do so. Then we will move into a recording where we discuss whether we really need "climate adaptive clothing". Finally, we evaluate if recycled polyester is truly circular.

97) Overlooked Policy Opportunities for Sustainable Fashion with Kenya Wiley 22.08.2023 47min

Policy is an important lever in creating a better, more sustainable, and equitable fashion system. But if we only focus on policy that explicitly talks about the fashion industry and sustainability, we may be missing some opportunities. In today's episode, Elizabeth speaks with fashion policy expert Kenya Wiley. Kenya is sharing behind the scenes on the processes behind legislation and regulation — and even explaining the difference between the two terms — and some of the current policies in the works that could involve fashion that the fashion industry isn't talking about. These could be potential needle movers to cleaning up fashion, but aren't being taken advantage of right now. Kenya is also discussing the much-anticipated Green Guides from the Federal Trade Commission to help reduce greenwashing, what recent US Supreme Court decisions mean for the fashion industry, a funding opportunity for sustainability-minded fashion organizations, and more.

96) Unpacking Climate Emotions with Isaias Hernandez of Queer Brown Vegan 15.08.2023 57min

After learning about climate emotions, and seeing climate doomism proliferated in the media, Stella knew she wanted to have Isaias on the show to unpack this and understand how it's connected to the fashion industry. In this episode, Isaias Hernandez (who you might also know as @queerbrownvegan on social media) unpacks the complexity of climate emotions and the harms of climate doomism narratives, and discusses why “evidence-based hope” is essential for reorienting action and working towards equitable solutions for the fashion industry - and how we can all cultivate this hope in our own lives. Hit play to dive in!

95) Carbon Offsetting: Green or Greenwashing? 08.08.2023 34min

Carbon neutral. Net zero. Carbon positive. You may have been seeing more and more claims like these lately from companies, including fashion brands. But in today's Green or Greenwashing episode, we’re diving deeper, beyond the surface of these claims, to see if they really can be trusted. Many of these carbon neutrality claims are asserted based on the company purchasing carbon offsets. This episode was inspired by the UK watchdog, Advertising Standards Authority, recently banning advertisements that claim products are carbon neutral through using offsets due to a growing concern that these claims are misleading consumers. This isn’t just about the fashion industry, but in case you missed it: many fashion brands are using these sorts of claims, especially as global awareness grows around fashion's environmental impact, including its carbon emissions. You may have seen various estimates of fashion's contribution to global carbon emissions ranging from 2 to 10 percent. The Apparel Impact Institute’s latest report puts that number at 1.8 percent. The reality is that the majority of fashion brands do not disclose their full emissions. Fashion Revolution's 2023 Transparency Index found that less than half (43 percent) of brands publish their annual value chain carbon emissions. So we're at the basics here. Over half of brands aren't even telling us what their carbon emissions are. When Fashion Revolution says “value chain”, they mean the full supply chain. So not just the corporate offices, but how these brands make their clothes. Many factories involved with textile production and garment and footwear production are still reliant on fossil fuels, like coal. About two-thirds of textiles are fossil fuel-derived synthetics like polyester. Brands are reliant on polluting shipping methods, and some — especially fast fashion brands — use the speedy but very carbon-intensive shipping method of air freight. So fashion should absolutely be talking about reaching carbon neutrality and decarbonization. But the question is: should their method of using carbon offsets be celebrated? Let’s get into the episode!

94) Can Slow Fashion Businesses Scale Without Encouraging Overconsumption? With Mahdiyyah Muhammad 01.08.2023 49min

How can we reimagine the traditional role of fashion designers in a world filled with fashion waste? And how can we rethink our primary role as consumers in a way that allows us to become contributors to collective wellbeing instead? It’s no secret that we live in a world with far too much clothing. If we are to work towards a more sustainable fashion industry, we need to unpack the ways that fashion brands and designers can pivot away from the mainstream business model of take-make-waste and embrace alternative sustainable fashion business models that limit waste. And our mindset as consumers plays a pivotal role in this too. In this episode, we hear from Mahdiyyah Muhammad who is a sustainable fashion designer, circular fashion strategist, and educator. We’re talking about the realities of designing, building a business, and engaging with fashion and style in our current fashion system where all we need is less — less resource extraction, less consumption, less clothing waste, less focus on passing trends, and less exclusivity. But, as you will hear from Mahdiyyah, to make this happen, we need more community. Cultivating community is essential for sharing resources and ideas, and creating meaningful connections, as well as making the slow fashion movement more accessible and inclusive. Hit play to dive in!

93) What If Fashion Put Workers First? 25.07.2023 24min

What if fashion brands put garment workers first? What if a fashion brand set the prices they pay to their suppliers based on ensuring workers were making a living wage, rather than negotiating the prices as low as possible to maximize profits? This is part of implementing more responsible purchasing practices — purchasing practices meaning not how the consumer buys something, but how the brand purchases their orders from their suppliers, since most brands do not produce their own clothes. The reality is that right now the system is set up with the wrong incentives. For example, Buyers at many fashion brands receive bonuses if they achieve larger margins with their orders they purchase from their suppliers — larger margins meaning they pay their suppliers less, and thus the supplier will have less money to pay their workers fairly or invest in sustainability initiatives like transitioning to clean energy. So we need a paradigm shift. True systems change. And one proposal for doing so is worker-centric pricing, which Stella and I are going to dive into in this episode!

92) From Extractive to Regenerative Fashion: Slow Growth, Climate Beneficial Textiles, and Cooperative Models with Laura Sansone of New York Textile Lab 18.07.2023 41min

What if designers could go all the way back to the source of the fibers their garments are made from? Many of fashion’s favorite fibers — and our favorite garments — begin on farms. From cotton to wool, hemp, and linen. But, often, designers are so far removed from the places where these fibers are produced. Bringing designers back to the source would result in greater transparency and traceability in fashion that would allow designers to make choices that are kinder to people and the planet. The fast fashion system thrives on building one, uniform, global fashion system that requires a lack of transparency and traceability to continue perpetuating its profit-seeking harms. On the other hand, a more equitable future of fashion will comprise multiple regional and local textile systems that are each in tune with the contexts of local communities. But what will it take to get there, in practice? Well, in today’s episode, Stella chats with Laura Sansone, who is passionate about creating regional and regenerative textile systems. Laura is an Assistant Professor of Textiles at Parsons School of Design and the creator of New York Textile Lab, a design and consulting company that supports environmentally responsible textile methods, and bioregional systems of production.