In this final episode of the podcast, we speak with Liz Ricketts, Co-founder of The OR foundation to shed light on the last stage of life of our garments.  We dive deep into their work, and the economic systems that allow this whole mess to happen in the first place. 

The OR Foundation is a non profit operating out of the US and Ghana focused on addressing textile waste and supporting the local community of Kantamanto market in Accra, Ghana, the worlds largest secondhand clothing markets. Their work sits at the intersection of environmental justice, education and fashion. With the decline in quality and increase in overall production, the amount of garments with limited value and unsellable has ballooned, putting the onus to dispose of the remaining textile waste on the global south, where the problem did not originate and where proper waste management infrastructure doesn’t exist. This has created tremendous environmental and social problems for many communities in the global south.  The OR foundation work includes immediate relief through direct action on human rights and environmental abuses, educational programming and awareness and research and institutional advocacy to steer systems level policies and investment.  

In this episode we speak about: 

• Fashion brand’s role in over production, and the real end of life of our garments
• Waste Colonialism 
• Local circular ecosystem found at Kantamanto Market 

Check out their work here: theor.org 

The OR foundation is behind the ‘Speak Volumes’ campaign urging fashion brands to be held accountable for their over production, by leveraging extended producer responsibility programs to create a justice-led circular textile economy: stopwastecolonialism.org

Youtube: https://youtu.be/UkaoVe_fPzM

In this episode, we focus on what happens to our clothes post consumption.  We speak with Alex Husted the co-founder of Helpsy. 

Helpsy is  on a mission to keep clothing out of trash by enabling the collection, sorting and responsible distribution of secondhand clothing and shoes. They provide pick up, sorting, and distribution services across America. Once collected and sorted Helpsy sells off their second hand clothes to thrift stores and distributors around the nation, making sure that the garments have a new life through resale or go to the correct recycling initiative. 

In 2023 alone Helpsy collected over 31 Million pounds of clothes and shoes. That’s 100  items of clothing every minute. Helpsy is a certified B-Corp whose for-profit, social enterprise model has saved the municipalities they work with over $1.3 million in waste disposal tipping fees.

We discuss:

• The financial impact on municipalities of post consumer textile waste 
• The economic opportunities in handling post consumer products 
• The web of players handling your clothes post donation 

Check out their work with municipalties, thrift stores and their impact on their community: https://www.helpsy.com/

Youtube: https://youtu.be/f_CF0hpVGh0

In the 6th segment of this series, we take a look a company is helping extend the use phase of our garments post purchase. I speak with Rachel Sterling, the co-founder of Alternew. 

Alternew offers bespoke tailoring and repair services for brands by connecting them and their users to local tailoring shops. This allows customers to tailor their clothes upon purchase to ensure perfect fit easily. 

In this episode we discuss: 

• The business case of extending a garments life to reduce its overall environmental impact 
• Identifying opportunities in underserved segments of the supply chain 
• Support a declining trade and educating consumers around repair 

Poor fitting clothes are at top of the list for why clothes get returned (~70% of returns cite sizing was the cause of the return), many times never returning to the shelves for resale. By tailoring a garment, the fit is improved, meaning the user will wear and cherish that item for longer, extending its life and therefore reducing the need for further purchases, returns, or clothes sent to donation centers. 

Fun fact: wearing your clothes for an extra 9 months, reduces its carbon footprint by 20%. 

Check out their work here: https://www.alternew.com
 

In the 5th segment of the season, we speak to the founder of Beacon's Closet Carrie Peterson. Beacon’s Closet is a secondhand shop based in #NYC operating 4 locations where consumers can buy, sell and trade their clothes. Beacon’s has been around for almost 30 years in business and whose model inherently provides sustainable options for consumers by promoting the consumption of second hand items, and extending the life of garments in circulation. 

In this episode, we discuss:

-Importance of consumer choice 

-Environmental impact of buying secondhand

-Quality of material and construction of garments

Some key facts: 

-Secondhand clothing sales are set to double by 2027

-An anticipated 10% of global fashion sales are set to be within the secondhand segment 

Secondhand is expected to grow 3x faster than traditional retail 

Seeing the numbers behind secondhand’s growth, big brands are taking note, and including a resale program into their main distribution channels. Companies like Patagonia, Carhartt, Diesel, and more are integrating this channel to capture the growing demand of secondhand thanks to platforms like Archive and Trove.  

Beacon's Closet: https://beaconscloset.com/
Youtube: https://youtu.be/jkbzqoSCW8Y

In the 4th segment of this season we focus on addressing the textile waste created in the design and manufacturing of our garments. We speak with Jessica Schreiber, the founder of Fabscrap, an organization diverting textile waste from landfills and creating a system for reuse and recycling. Fabscrap focuses on responsibly managing the waste found between the stages of a garment's design and production.

In this conversation, we speak about:

• Forgotten waste components of garment design 
• Fashions burden on municipalities waste infrastructure
• Benefits of addressing a sustainability issue as a non-profit vs. a for profit organization 

Not so fun fact: textiles are the fastest-growing waste stream in many municipalities across the nation

Finding ways to extend our garments' life, and divert waste away from landfills and prolonging their useful life are cornerstones to sustainable business models addressing fashion’s negative environmental impact. Fabscrap bridges the gap between the brand’s operations, creating textile waste (think samples, swatches, etc.) and complying with increased regulatory and consumer pressure to reduce waste and greenhouse gas emissions. 

YouTube:
Fabscrap: https://fabscrap.org/

In the third segment of the season, we focus on brands, and their role driving this value chain. We speak with Carmen Gama, the Director of Circular Design for Eileen Fisher and the co-founder of Make ANEEW, a one stop shop for circular fashion that recovers value at scale from post consumer clothing. 

In this conversation we speak about: 

• Effective takeback programs at scale 
• Remanufacturing and creating new clothing from clothing waste
• A brands’ role in enabling smart consumer choices, and redirecting responsible supply chains

Only 1% of clothes are ever recycled back into new clothes according to the Ellen Macarthur Foundation. The amount of textile waste has doubled in just under 2 decades in the US alone according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

Brands play an outsized role in this supply chain, as they manufacture demand from consumers, and set the pace for the production of garments in the upstream supply chain. We now hear from a brand’s perspective on their role, how to design and market in a responsible way while taking responsibility for their product's end of life by enabling the largest single brand take back program in the country! 

Youtube: https://youtu.be/A6Ao85KgCgM
Eileen Fisher: https://www.eileenfisher.com
Make ANEEW: https://www.makeaneew.com

In the second episode of this season, we get to speak with Dan Robichaud-Carew,  the Head of software and product management at Unspun, an innovative fashion tech company creating 3D weaved garments through their proprietary Vega manufacturing system. In this conversation we speak all things:

• the stagnant manufacturing industry
• what makes the fashion industry so different to other sectors
• opportunities to innovate within the industry 

The manufacturing segment of the supply chain is fragmented, and results in huge environmental and social problems. 20% of the worlds waste water is derived from textiles manufacturing, and produces large amounts of material waste from the cutting process found in traditional manufacturing. 

Unspun reduces textile waste, by enabling brands to create custom products on demand, limited overproduction and unused inventory. All while ensuring the garments end of life is accounted for. Unspun is exciting also because of the opportunity for onshoring manufacturing, reducing the need for long transportation times.  offering opportunity for onshoring and near manufacturing 

With so much waste coming from the manufacturing segment, Unspun’s technology is a sign of life for an industry stuck in the past. 

Check out their work here: https://www.unspun.io
Youtube: https://youtu.be/moG-s7XdysI

In the first episode of GGV, we speak with Valentina Gomez, the co-founder of Werewool, a biomaterials company that develops fibers with tailored aesthetic and performance properties, derived form natural proteins found in nature.

We talk all things:

• Start up life (funding, idea incubation, perseverance)
• Material innovation (biomimicry, organic performance features, protein derived variations, designing for end of life)  
• Addressing fashion industries reliance on fabric blends, synhtetics and water intensive crops

This company is on the front lines of new age fiber and textile development, reducing the industries impact by eliminating the ecotoxicity of dyes, reducing the raw material impact of fiber production, and the end of life implications of synthetic fibers. 

With the bulk of the worlds performance wear coming from synthetic fibers, and the increased demand for cheaper materials, finding solutions for textile’s performance needs is business critical for so many companies. Finding ways to create those performance features without the need for fossil fueled derived products is crucial to moving this industry toward a circular future. 

Check out there work here: https://www.werewool.bio/
Youtube: https://youtu.be/_w-_uJ_xLEA

Too often we look at sustainability and issues of our climate in isolation. Achieving Sustainability in reality requires addressing our issues in a systemic approach, understanding how our actions impact those before and after us,  to ensure we are not passing down more problems and responsibility down the line. While each industry has its own unique factors, most supply chain's are fragmented, only enhanced through globalization, resulting in the most impactful stages operating in places with little environmental oversight and regulation.  Each segment has its own negative impact, both environmentally and socially, that makes this industry one of the most polluting and wasteful ones out there. 

Key facts about the fashion industry:

1. Approx.100 billion garments are manufactured each year, and 92% wil end up in a landfill within 12-18 months 
2. 4-10% of global GHG stems from the fashion industry 
3. Only 1% of clothes actually get recycled into new clothes...

In this season of the Growing Green Ventures podcast, we follow the life of a garment from inception to the end, and shed light on companies really making an Impactful difference in their segment. We take a look at the entire value chain, from its base inputs, to manufacturing, point of sale, all the way to its true end of life. We highlight entrepreneurs and professionals who are pioneering innovative ways to tackle their segment's problems. 

Youtube: https://youtu.be/R7mO7Esqlco

Season 1 Recap episode!

Today I go through the main lessons learned throughout season 1. I am fortunate to be able to interview 9 incredible entrepreneurs across different sectors from biomaterials, museums, footwear, sustainable fashion, agroforestry, packaging and more. Each have their own journey and story to tell but there are some underlying commonalities in each. Some key findings include:

Business: 'Sustainable' businesses create opportunities for impact outside of just positive environmental outcomes - simple innovations and rethinking our existing systems create ample business opportunities!

Personal Development: Self belief and courage underpin the journey one goes on when starting out for themselves and creating something new! Problems will inevitably come that challenge this self belief but one must stay committed while being flexible in their approach. 

Sustainability: Addressing core environmental issues can only be solved by thinking in systems. When it comes to physical goods, rethinking waste, and material composition are great starting points but considering its end of life and place in the larger context is integral. Professional services and knowledge sharing will continue to be important as we educate our stakeholders on their own sustainability journey. 

We discussed their business case, their personal journey, and of course the environmental components that drive their organizations. You can watch the recap episode here. 

More to come as Growing Green Ventures is working on season 2 right now so stay tuned! 

-Youssef