Lewis & Friends: Curious Conversations with Leaders in Sustainable Fashion

About Zem Joaquin:
Zem founded the Near Future Summit, a visionary event that seeks to scale solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. It is driven by leading tech founders, investors, inventors, and influencers. Prior to Near Future, she founded ecofabulous.com which became part of Huffington Post in 2015 and remains the reigning authority on stylish sustainability. Zem helped create, and is still an active board member of the Cradle to Cradle Product Innovation Institute. She executed the Dwell on Design show-houses for six years in a row, and is also an advisor. Additionally, she founded (alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Petersen) and chaired the Gorgeous and Green Gala for Global Green for 10 years. Zem has been an active advisor to NRG, eBay, Obvious Ventures and many other forward-thinking, inspirational organizations.
https://www.nearfuturesummit.com/

Linda Greer is a specialist in industrial chemical pollution, currently working as a Global Fellow with the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, the leading environmental NGO in China.  

A Ph.D. toxicologist by training, Linda has worked extensively to improve US environmental law and policy as well as on voluntary corporate sustainability initiatives.  She created Clean by Design, a green supply chain initiative to reduce the impact of the apparel sector with efficiency improvements that save money.  She has testified frequently before the U.S. Congress, authored many technical and policy articles, and served on numerous expert panels and boards.  

Lewis speaks with friend and industry "influencer" before social media became the tastemaker of our times.  Fashion industry veteran Julie Gilhart is Chief Development Officer of Tomorrow and President of Tomorrow Projects. In 2011, she founded Julie Gilhart Consulting to connect and grow fashion brands with a desire to have a positive impact, and merged her business with Tomorrow in 2019. Prior to establishing her firm, Ms. Gilhart was Senior Vice President Fashion Director at Barneys New York for 18 years. She is a frequent speaker and panelist on building sustainable businesses, engaging emerging talent, and advocating shared innovation in the fashion industry. Ms. Gilhart resides in New York City.

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About Apparel Impact Institute (Aii)
Aii identifies, funds, scales and measures proven quality solutions to accelerate positive impact in the fashion industry. At Aii, we look for scalable solutions and best practices that can be applied to the entire value chain. By improving upon the environmental footprint of the current industrial model we (know/recognize) the key to unlocking the future will involve new innovations of materials, manufacturing and business models. 
Learn more: www.apparelimpact.org

Lewis Perkins, President at Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) speak with sustainable fashion leader - Claire Bergkamp - the Chief Operating Officer at Textile Exchange. Previous to joining Textile Exchange she held the position of Worldwide Sustainability and Innovation Director for over eight years at Stella McCartney, leading the global environmental, human rights and innovation strategy for the brand. During her time at the brand she built a qualified, high-functioning sustainability department and team, a purposeful strategy and ambitious project portfolio.
 
Claire is a purpose driven leader and a systems thinker who delivers measurable results. She is passionate about identifying and accelerating solutions and believes that textile supply chains and raw materials systems must be radically transformed at scale.
 
Claire serves in advisory and leadership positions for a wide range of collaborative initiatives. Notably, she is currently serving on the steering committee for the UNFCCC’s Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action, where she is the co-chair for the Raw Materials Working Group. She also serves on the steering committee for the British Fashion Council’s Institute of Positive Fashion, is a senior advisor to the Stella McCartney board and CEO and is a trustee and board director for the Stella McCartney Foundation.

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About Apparel Impact Institute (Aii)
Aii identifies, funds, scales and measures proven quality solutions to accelerate positive impact in the fashion industry. At Aii, we look for scalable solutions and best practices that can be applied to the entire value chain. By improving upon the environmental footprint of the current industrial model we (know/recognize) the key to unlocking the future will involve new innovations of materials, manufacturing and business models. Learn more:
www.apparelimpact.org

About Textile Exchange 
Textile Exchange is a global nonprofit that creates leaders in the preferred fiber and materials industry.  In short, we build a community that can collectively accomplish what no individual or company can do alone. We develop, manage, and promote a suite of leading industry standards, as well as collect and publish critical industry data and insights that enable brands and retailers to measure, manage, and track their use of preferred fiber and materials. 
https://textileexchange.org/​

Eva Kruse is the former CEO of the Global Fashion Agenda, with its flagship event being Copenhagen Fashion Summit, the world’s most important forum on sustainable fashion. In 2013, Kruse gave a TEDx Talk on the topic “Changing the world through fashion.” In 2016, she put forward a new and ambitious strategy for Copenhagen Fashion Summit and created the overarching Global Fashion Agenda, which aims to take global leadership on creating a movement within fashion towards positive change and responsible innovation.

Watch Eva’s Tedx Talk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4VTP...​
Global Fashion Agenda - https://www.globalfashionagenda.com/
​Pangaia - https://thepangaia.com/

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The Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) identifies, funds, scales and measures proven quality solutions to accelerate positive impact in the fashion industry. At Aii, we look for scalable solutions and best practices that can be applied to the entire value chain. By improving upon the environmental footprint of the current industrial model we recognize the key to unlocking the future will involve new innovations of materials, manufacturing and business models. Learn more:
www.apparelimpact.org

In this episode, we speak to Kristy Caylor, long time apparel industry leader, and advocate for ethical and sustainable supply chains.  We worked together at Cradle to Cradle's Fashion Positive Initiative, when she was leading Maiyet, a luxury brand who was exploring circular and safe cashmere for their products, by applying better standards for production.  Today, Kristy is leading an apparel brand called For Days, which provides a subscription style approach to basic cotton tees.  Much more than a fashion brand, For Days is a new system and approach for how we will take, make and use resources in the future (with circular materials strategies built into the business model from day one).   
Learn more at Fordays.com.
Instagram: @for__days

About Lewis Perkins

Perkins is the President of the Apparel Impact Institute, an organization that identifies, funds and scales proven environmental impact solutions in the apparel and footwear industry.  He oversees the collaboration of brands and manufacturers on the forefront of global efforts to reach the industry’s sustainability goals. Lewis was previously the president of Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, where he launched the Fashion Positive Initiative for circular materials.     Follow him here:
Instagram: @lewisbperkins
LinkedIn: @lewisbperkins