In episode 135, Kestrel welcomes Lydia Wendt, the Founder + Creative Director of Cloth Foundry, as well as Ashley Denisov, the Design Lead at Cloth Foundry + founder of womenswear label 1x1, to the show. In collaboration with nature, Cloth Foundry creates textiles and apparel in California.

"This is constantly the industry dilemma. Small brands are the most innovative and they don't have access to the best fabric because they can't support the volume that needs to be supported to create the orders for the mills to start up the mill and knit or weave the fabric." - Lydia Wendt, Founder of Cloth Foundry

In this episode, Lydia shares more on the origins of Cloth Foundry and how her collaboration with North Face for the Backyard Project inspired the early days of the company. She and Ashley dive into more of their thoughts on what a healthy wardrobe can look like, and how much it can impact our health in different ways.

Additionally, Lydia and Ashley share their thoughts on the difficulties that young designers have in sourcing sustainable fabric options. For Cloth Foundry, they truly want to help support smaller designers to give them access to smaller minimums and textiles with a more transparent supply chain.

The below thoughts, ideas + organizations were brought up in this chat:

• "A Healthy Wardrobe" - just as we think about wanting to put healthy food options into our body, the garments we wear can have an impact on our health as well

• "Our skin is our largest organ, and it's capable of absorbing up to 64% of the chemicals that come in contact with it from fabrics." -Ashley

• "There has been an increase in allergies - skin allergies in particular over the last few years." -Lydia

• PFCs (perfluorinated chemicals) - are often used for waterproofing fabrics, and have been found through studies to cause cancer, thyroid issues, and other health impacts

• Fire retardant chemicals that are required to be added to our upholstery, beddings and children's sleepwear are being found in the fetuses of newborn children, and in breast milk of mothers in the state of California.

• The Sustainable Cotton Project - a nonprofit that supports the farmers that grow cleaner cotton

• Cleaner Cotton - a brand of cotton that has eliminated the use of the 13 most toxic chemicals in cotton farming. They are not organic - they have not certified their land organic, but they are eliminating 50-70% of the toxins that are notoriously used in conventional cotton farming.

EVENT ALERTOn Saturday, October 13th from 6-10pm, the Pollima Material Revolution event will be happening in Los Angeles. The event is all about giving us an opportunity to touch, smell, and learn about how biology and waste are contributing to the next generation of materials, and tickets are free here >