On this episode of the Lead With Purpose podcast host, Tze Ching Yeung, talks to Rachel Sheila Kan, a fashion circularity expert, TEDx speaker, author and founder of Circular Earth and the Ecosystem Incubator, to talk about what circularity means to her.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Circularity is beyond the product. We could create a product that is circular, but it could create unintended consequences just in its coming to being. We have to think about all of the other things attached to it: locality, where it’s coming from, what kind of emissions and things are happening? Socially, what’s happening in the supply chain and the people that you’re working with? 
• Two decades ago the industry was about fast fashion, value and producing loads and loads of stuff that we knew wouldn’t ever be able to be purchased. We’re still seeing that now, of course. But I got to a point where I was actually sickened to design stuff anymore, so I moved into sustainability about seven years ago and started creating events bringing people together on a grass-roots level so you could find vintage or eco brands, and sew and swap stuff. 
• I try to apply sustainability to brands, either as they’re starting up or medium-sized brands looking to transition. I saw that whatever we were doing in that space was just plastering over the current economic system and the systems that we have in this world, and that it would never get to the level it needed to in order to reduce overproduction to make repair and upcycling a viable economic solution. I saw that individually those companies could do something, but maybe coming together might be a better or different way. So we built the Ecosystem Incubator to start that co-creation, to have businesses, sole traders, brands, garment techs, designers, growers, CMT units come together and co-create that new future.
• In the future, I see us moving away from centralised production to work more in a decentralised, locality way. You can see it already with reshoring back to the UK, creating new economies in different localities. But, that also needs to be balanced by reimagining economies in all the places we’ve extracted from for so many years. There needs to be a relocation of economics at the same time.

BEST MOMENTS

‘It’s interconnected between industries, I attend EDF Energy events and Thames Water events, it’s a continuous learning journey.’
‘It seems silly to over-buy a ton of stuff we don’t need. There are many brands with stock sitting in their warehouses, and that’s not helping anyone in the environmental space or otherwise.’
‘We can’t keep doing the same things that we did before. We can’t keep extracting all the nutrients from one place to be able to push it into our world and extract economic growth from it.’
‘The Ecosystem has always been in the mindset of a forest: Each tree has its own niche and speciality but underground they’re sharing collective knowledge and nutrients.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Rachel Sheila Kan: I have been working in the fashion Industry for over 2 decades in design and design /project management.  Very much a hands-on practitioner working with supply chain, and designing brands from identity, through to development, supply, landing and into promotion.  I have worked on multi products with a specialist knowledge in kidswear and womenswear. I was used to working with team designers, technicians, and marketing personnel.

I moved into sustainability around 5 years ago where I developed in action with brands and small businesses, and I then finally focused on my consultancy Circular Earth. At Circular Earth we help brands to create parallel sustainable brands or start up with sustainability at the heart – let us be your mission control.  I also lecture on sustainability and ethics in business at university level.

Throughout my studies I realised that the very things that we were creating in the sustainability space were a mere sticking plaster to the systems that we were standing on, therefore often counterproductive and coming back to the old systemic ways that do not have them thrive. Indeed, fashion can be a competitive cut throat industry, so we wanted to turn this on its head and have many come together for lasting change.

So, I started to work with regenerative structuring and new economics that I had learnt in my studies to create a collaborative called ‘’The Ecosystem Incubator’’ where different players in the small fashion and business space start to collaborate on many of the things that they find tough to do in isolation.  The Ecosystem is based on living systems thinking where we model the workings of a forest – to create a forest of fashion – in a metaphorical sense.

Website: https://rskan.com/ 

ABOUT THE HOST

Tze Ching started her entrepreneurial journey back in 2007 with the launch of a sustainable clothing and home furnishing ecommerce business. Next, she created a sustainable fashion brand.

In 2019, she launched a social enterprise to help raise awareness about the negative impact of fashion at schools and colleges. 

Through the 15-year journey, she learned so much, but easily the most meaningful lesson learned was about the importance of marketing. She now focuses on channelling those insights to help others succeed, through We Disrupt Agency, a business coaching, mentoring and digital marketing company. 

Tze Ching’s mission is to create a community of global change makers and to contribute to positive change in both people and planet.

CONTACT DETAILS

Tze Ching’s website: https://wedisruptagency.com 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wedisruptagency 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wedisruptagency/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/wedisruptagency 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tzechingyeung/