Speaker 1: You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talks.
Speaker 2: Jacomo demands start and Empire's.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Welcome back to the show. This
Speaker 1: is the week in Collective and Beverage. By the way,
Speaker 1: fascinating chat actually with our callers as well and some
Speaker 1: of the texts coming in, but our interviews with a
Speaker 1: mart Mature they're on the on the Fiums publition orders
Speaker 1: and also our chat with Jeffrey Miller the around you know,
Speaker 1: what's the way back for the Europe Ukraine USA relations
Speaker 1: and who's going to be the conduit for that and
Speaker 1: how it's how's it going to end? It is? It's complex,
Speaker 1: it's a little frightening but also fascinating at the same time,
Speaker 1: isn't it. So you can check it out by going
Speaker 1: and listen to our podcast and the News Talks at
Speaker 1: the website, just look for the Weekend Collective so you
Speaker 1: can check that out. But right now, welcome to the
Speaker 1: health Hub and so slightly different change of pace. We
Speaker 1: have a new guest as well on the health Hub
Speaker 1: today and it's in connection with the popularity of ethical
Speaker 1: and sustainable lifestyles which has been on steady rise for
Speaker 1: years now, and more broadly speaking on the health front,
Speaker 1: I guess it's how we eat and the sort of
Speaker 1: products that we use. More cynically speaking, you want to
Speaker 1: avoid products are actually not safe for you either, regardless
Speaker 1: of the environment. But it also there's the potential that
Speaker 1: it could be out of reach for people because either
Speaker 1: they don't understand what it takes to sort of make
Speaker 1: ethical choices around your living, or they can't afford it.
Speaker 1: There's a great quote in My Fair Lady, which is
Speaker 1: an old West End Broadway musical, where Eliza doolittle father
Speaker 1: at the dustman Alfred Doolittle, who's a bit of a
Speaker 1: sort of pub philosopher. He gets he basically asks is asked,
Speaker 1: don't you have any morals? That's right? He says something
Speaker 1: a little bit cheeky, and one of the characters says,
Speaker 1: goodness me, man, don't you have any morals? And he
Speaker 1: goes morals, God, No, I can't afford them. Actually think
Speaker 1: it can be a little bit like that at times. Anyway,
Speaker 1: to discuss these issues, Kate Hall is the founder of
Speaker 1: Ethically Kate, and she's joining us to discuss how you
Speaker 1: can approach your life and your health ethically, and she
Speaker 1: joins me, Now, Kate, Hello, Hi Tim, how did you
Speaker 1: get involved in? How did you get involved in the
Speaker 1: whole ethical thing?
Speaker 3: So it first started when I was thinking about ethical fashion.
Speaker 3: So about twenty fifteen, I watched a documentary called The
Speaker 3: True Cost. And I wasn't really someone who overshopped at Maul's.
Speaker 3: That wasn't a place I love spending time in. But
Speaker 3: I hadn't really looked at my clothes came from what
Speaker 3: they were made from, and ask questions like that. So
Speaker 3: after watching that documentary, I thought, Oh my goodness, you know,
Speaker 3: we're all wearing clothes. Where do my clothes come from?
Speaker 4: Where we go?
Speaker 3: Yeah, all those types of things, and I think you
Speaker 3: kind of can't really ask that question about your clothes
Speaker 3: without then asking, okay, what about my food? What about
Speaker 3: O water? And it just kind of snowballed from there.
Speaker 4: Really.
Speaker 1: Yeah, actually, the fashion thing, I mean, it's it's sort
Speaker 1: of that we have an overlap with health and then
Speaker 1: we get outside the health sort of aspect. But I
Speaker 1: remember when I saw the headline around or you know,
Speaker 1: the first news stories about the problems I think it
Speaker 1: was to do with it came from probably somebody pointing
Speaker 1: out that the red there's this sort of red carpet
Speaker 1: hypocrisy where everyone gets up in these amazing gowns and
Speaker 1: things and talk. But at one stage they'll be talking about,
Speaker 1: you know, how to treat the planet ethically and stuff.
Speaker 1: And then yet the fashion industry itself is responsible for
Speaker 1: actually huge amount of wastage and landfill and all sorts
Speaker 1: of things, isn't it.
Speaker 3: Oh? Absolutely, I mean we're also it's something I meant
Speaker 3: similar to the food industry. We are all part of it,
Speaker 3: you know, whether we care about what we're wearing or not.
Speaker 3: We wear clothes at some point in our day, and
Speaker 3: it's you know, it's we're talking about the social impacts,
Speaker 3: you know, the people who make it. I think that
Speaker 3: is a health concern when you think about the you know,
Speaker 3: they say that you can tell what trend, what colors
Speaker 3: are on trend, when you look at the color of
Speaker 3: river Weys in certain parts of the world, which is
Speaker 3: pretty devastating, and think about, yeah, the fumes from all
Speaker 3: the toxic chemicals. A lot of our clothes are made
Speaker 3: from plastic polyester these days. And then there's you know, yeah,
Speaker 3: there's a there's a human there's social, there's environmental parts
Speaker 3: to it, and honestly, I feel like even when you
Speaker 3: know watching that documentary, the true cost and reading and
Speaker 3: learning so much since sometimes you know that's the stuff
Speaker 3: we know about it too, but there's so much that's
Speaker 3: just not transparent and not traceable, and so I hate
Speaker 3: to think of the actual devastations and impact that you
Speaker 3: know just aren't recorded and what that's going to do
Speaker 3: to us long term.
Speaker 1: Did you start so? You? I gather you so you
Speaker 1: sort of started from the etheric point of view looking
Speaker 1: at clothes and the fashion industry. How far did you?
Speaker 1: I mean, because obviously we're a company like ethically, Kate,
Speaker 1: you must have some guilty pleasures, I'm guessing where you're like,
Speaker 1: h but how did you extend that from the fashion
Speaker 1: industry to making other choices in your life that were
Speaker 1: around ethics?
Speaker 3: Yes, so my philosophy has always been do what you
Speaker 3: can and do not do it perfectly, because otherwise you're
Speaker 3: going to fail if you have you set up with
Speaker 3: that intent. So I guess everything I've I've learned, I've
Speaker 3: done quite slowly and thoughtfully to make sure that it
Speaker 3: is instilled as a habit and a value and a
Speaker 3: core belief rather than you know, a moment that I'll
Speaker 3: kind of just catch onto that trend because I watched
Speaker 3: that documentary and it will you know, when it becomes hard,
Speaker 3: I'll stop doing it.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So I've always given myself and my readers and listeners
Speaker 3: may work a lot of grace because you know, it's
Speaker 3: I believe it's a privilege to live within your values.
Speaker 3: And you talked about, you know, the expense of it,
Speaker 3: but there's also the convenience of it. I think I
Speaker 3: can bust if you missed around the expense.
Speaker 1: Well, actually, I think because but I would say that
Speaker 1: the shift to an ethical choices around clothing is actually
Speaker 1: one of those ones where actually it is financially an
Speaker 1: easier decision to make, because I mean, I've for instance,
Speaker 1: I was involved in a concert last night when one
Speaker 1: of my guests dressed absolutely stunningly, but all her outfits
Speaker 1: were recycled, and you know, she was boasting about how
Speaker 1: little her seemingly thousands and thousands of dollars of outfits
Speaker 1: and gosp but in fact that, in fact, that's probably
Speaker 1: the first change you can make, is with just the
Speaker 1: choices you make on clothing isn't it.
Speaker 3: Absolutely. I think I was a student back in twenty
Speaker 3: fifteen when I first thought, okay, I want to know
Speaker 3: who made my clothes before I purchased something. It was
Speaker 3: really hard to look at a seventy dollars organic cotton,
Speaker 3: fairly made black tank top single it from Koto, and
Speaker 3: then look at a mall and find one that's seven
Speaker 3: dollars And it was a hard decision. But that tank top.
Speaker 1: I still have the seventy dollars one, the.
Speaker 3: Seventy dollars one, and you know that's ten years ago
Speaker 3: and I've worn a lot. Cost per wear is probably
Speaker 3: much lower than if I had bought that seven dollars
Speaker 3: one from the mall.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because because I lasted five seconds and then you
Speaker 1: would have thrown it out and then we go exactly.
Speaker 1: But also that thing about it, sorry, carry on, all right.
Speaker 3: I paid money for it, so I invested in it,
Speaker 3: so therefore I'm going to care for it better. I'm
Speaker 3: going to repair it if it needs repairing. If it's broken,
Speaker 3: it's been very hearty and doesn't need that, but I'm
Speaker 3: going to wash it carefully and actually follow care instructions.
Speaker 3: So I think when we buy cheap clothing, we just
Speaker 3: think of it like a disposable kind of snakeskin, you know,
Speaker 3: that we can just shed and replace and just kind
Speaker 3: of not think about it like we do with bigger
Speaker 3: appliances or bigger investments. So cost per bear I talk
Speaker 3: about a lot, because that's when sustainable fashion actually becomes
Speaker 3: far more affordable, because firstly, you're probably not buying it
Speaker 3: in the first place, because you're using something you already have,
Speaker 3: or like your friend, you're using up cycle things or
Speaker 3: things from up shops. And then if you look at
Speaker 3: cost per bear, generally obviously not everything that's ethically made
Speaker 3: is quality, but generally it actually does saving money.
Speaker 1: I guess for some people who have got kids and
Speaker 1: families and things, that is a harder investment to make though,
Speaker 1: because it involves a bigger out, a higher investment, doesn't it.
Speaker 1: I mean, did you start your ethical decisions around how
Speaker 1: you're clothing yourself with recycled on you? Because recycled is
Speaker 1: an easy argument, doesn't it? Because it's already there if
Speaker 1: you're stopping at going to landfill. The more the more
Speaker 1: people who wear it, what's your starts on that stuff?
Speaker 1: And where do you sit in that argument.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, you know, there's different people who will
Speaker 3: fiercely only buy things that are secondhand or third or
Speaker 3: fourth hand, the things that aren't new, and then there's
Speaker 3: people who only buy New Zealand made things because you know,
Speaker 3: they want to support a local economy. I kind of
Speaker 3: I sit and double in all spaces because I'm also
Speaker 3: passionate about ensuring that where a lot of our clothes
Speaker 3: are made, places like India and Bangladesh, that there are
Speaker 3: fair wages and workplaces for people there. So I sput
Speaker 3: a lot of companies like Hollybully and Recreate Clothing who
Speaker 3: they employ people over there and give them awesome workplaces
Speaker 3: they can feel really proud of their work. It's training systems,
Speaker 3: it's you know, a really pleasant place that any one
Speaker 3: of us would would love to work. And buying those clothes,
Speaker 3: you're supporting that huge change in the villages and places
Speaker 3: where those factories are. So I'm passionate about that and
Speaker 3: supporting that type of kind of fashion industry that grows
Speaker 3: and changes and moves forward. But I also am very
Speaker 3: aware that there are so many clothes that already exist.
Speaker 3: So I personally go I double in New Zealand made ethically,
Speaker 3: made overseas and secondhand, and I really respect that some people,
Speaker 3: you know, fiercely hold on to one of those, because
Speaker 3: that's strong value they hold on to. And that's why
Speaker 3: I called my brand ethically cap because we all have
Speaker 3: you know, even you and I have different ethics, and
Speaker 3: there's no black and white or right wrong, and I
Speaker 3: think it's just important to respect each other's ethics and
Speaker 3: to yeah, trial best to align our actions with what
Speaker 3: we decide is right.
Speaker 1: Okay, look, we want to take your calls on this.
Speaker 1: By the way, I we eight hundred eighty ten and
Speaker 1: eighty about do you consider the ethics of stuff you consume?
Speaker 1: And of course, while this is the healthub and things
Speaker 1: that we're taking a broader sort of approach to things
Speaker 1: because obviously food wastage is a huge thing and where
Speaker 1: you shop and buy your food and what sort of
Speaker 1: products and do you care about how it's grown. And
Speaker 1: I'm not going to get into the whole pesticide sort
Speaker 1: of thing like that because that can become a very
Speaker 1: science based argument as well. But we want your calls
Speaker 1: eight hundred eighty ten eighty text on nine two nine
Speaker 1: two do ethics matter for you when you're making your
Speaker 1: decisions around consumption and what you wear, what you eat,
Speaker 1: et cetera. Give us a call on eight hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty ten eighty. We're with Kate All, she's the founder
Speaker 1: of Ethically Kate will be back with Kate in just
Speaker 1: a moment, but give us a call. Eighteen past four,
Speaker 1: this news talk said, be we're with Kate All, she's
Speaker 1: the founder of Ethically Kate talking about making a few
Speaker 1: more sort of sustainable or ethical choices. I guess, Kate,
Speaker 1: are there particular when it comes to clothing. Let's keep
Speaker 1: that thing going for a bit. Are there particular materials
Speaker 1: that are less troublesome than others? So, for instance, I think, well,
Speaker 1: cotton is generally seems like it's an organic sort of product,
Speaker 1: but by the time we wear it, what's the story
Speaker 1: with that?
Speaker 3: So there are I mean, not all cotton is made equally.
Speaker 3: When you think about the environmental impact. Some cotton is
Speaker 3: made just from rain water, so grown just with you know,
Speaker 3: seasonally when the rain happens, rather a whole lot of
Speaker 3: water added a whole lot of pesticides and things. So
Speaker 3: organic cotton that has been grown with rain water is
Speaker 3: fairly sustainable in my opinion. There's a lot of politics
Speaker 3: and contention about all sorts of different fabrics, but I
Speaker 3: think that's a pretty safe one when you know it's
Speaker 3: organic cotton, which is also great for your health too,
Speaker 3: because you know things are grown with pesticides and potentially
Speaker 3: dyed with all sorts. Then you know who wants to
Speaker 3: put that close to their body? Not me particularly, So I.
Speaker 1: Mean it's a difficult one, isn't it, Because I guess
Speaker 1: if I mean, there are a lot of people who
Speaker 1: don't care about the sort of pesticides aspect, and depending
Speaker 1: on the nature the kind of pesticides on us, it's
Speaker 1: becomes a bit of a scientific argument as to what
Speaker 1: the bad ones are and the good ones are. What
Speaker 1: sort of how do you discern? I mean obviously the
Speaker 1: website sort of dedicated to that, isn't it, But how
Speaker 1: do you discern whether something's got the sort of cotton
Speaker 1: that is it? Basically just on those things you've outlined
Speaker 1: in terms of it. But how would pete the average
Speaker 1: person find out which brands maybe you're the safer ones,
Speaker 1: because there'll be a lot of people are listening to go, well,
Speaker 1: how I'm not in a position where I'm going to
Speaker 1: pay eighty bucks for a T shirt.
Speaker 3: It's really really hard to be honest to find out
Speaker 3: where your fabric is grown. You know where it's come from,
Speaker 3: even because we look at the label and it may
Speaker 3: say made in New Zealand, but you know, have you
Speaker 3: seen a cotton farm here in New Zealand or we
Speaker 3: just we don't really produce cotton here, so it's often
Speaker 3: come from overseas, and the transparency behind the brick is yeah,
Speaker 3: generally not there. So what I would say is look
Speaker 3: for a transparency when you're looking at a brand and
Speaker 3: you want to purchase something. Also know that you can
Speaker 3: ask questions. I think a lot of us become really
Speaker 3: passive consumers and forget that we can ask questions, and
Speaker 3: as a customer, it is our right to know these things.
Speaker 3: We can look for different certifications, so they may have
Speaker 3: a fair Trade symbol, BCA, Cotton Initiative symbol. Again, all
Speaker 3: these certifications have pluses and minuses, and they also cost
Speaker 3: a lot of money, so a lot of small companies
Speaker 3: actually don't have the money to have these certifications, which
Speaker 3: is again really really hard. That's why I've built my
Speaker 3: directory so that people can know. I've asked these companies
Speaker 3: and gone back and forth phone calls, emails with a
Speaker 3: whole bunch of questions because I know it's really difficult
Speaker 3: for the everyday.
Speaker 1: Person honest to these companies. I mean, how hard you
Speaker 1: dig into it because there are people who like to
Speaker 1: make claims and you find out, okay, well five percent
Speaker 1: of it they didn't tell us about the other ninety
Speaker 1: five percent, which was sourced from X because they had
Speaker 1: supply problems.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I So I've formulated a list of questions which
Speaker 3: I've adapted over the last ten years, and I can
Speaker 3: immediately tell in the answers if they have said things
Speaker 3: like well, we're one hundred percent sustainable, you know, our product.
Speaker 3: When they're making big, broad claims like I'm perfect, that
Speaker 3: is a red flag for me because every single company
Speaker 3: has an impact and every single company has something they
Speaker 3: can work on. So if they're not ready to own
Speaker 3: up to those things and be transparent about them with me,
Speaker 3: then that's like pretty much a no go for me.
Speaker 3: So I don't you know, all the brands are my directory.
Speaker 3: They're not perfect brands. They're brands who are always working
Speaker 3: to innovate and to you know, we're also discovering new things, right,
Speaker 3: Like there's different things Like bamboo is a fabric. You think, okay, cool,
Speaker 3: it's great, it's natural, it can break down, it's really soft.
Speaker 3: But we know that not all bamboo is created equally,
Speaker 3: and actually bamboo can be not such a great thing.
Speaker 3: It can involve a lot of chemicals to break that
Speaker 3: really strong plant down into a lovely soft fiber. And
Speaker 3: if those chemicals aren't kept you in a closed loop system,
Speaker 3: then they're destroying the environment somewhere and leaking out. So
Speaker 3: the companies who are transparent and able to own up
Speaker 3: to the stuff that they don't do, right, I am
Speaker 3: some more likely to purchase from or work with and
Speaker 3: have them on my website than the ones who are
Speaker 3: trying to claim that they do everything.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, let's take some calls ethics and you
Speaker 1: know what role do the dos ethical considerations play in
Speaker 1: your shopping decisions, whether it come to clothing or food
Speaker 1: or whatever. Weight one hundred and eighty ten eighty Natalie Gooday.
Speaker 5: Oh, hi, hi Kim, how are you good?
Speaker 1: You're with Kate Harf ethically Kate as well? You have
Speaker 1: a question or an opinion.
Speaker 3: Ah, yeah, Well.
Speaker 5: I took clothing and textiles at high school as a subject.
Speaker 5: But I don't know a hick of a lot about
Speaker 5: this subject.
Speaker 1: Well, you know more than some might I at least
Speaker 1: if you're studied it in some level, even if it's
Speaker 1: just at home.
Speaker 5: What they're organic growing kiwi fruit and orange and that
Speaker 5: kind of thing.
Speaker 1: Well, I would have thought that would be a good idea,
Speaker 1: wouldn't it, Kate, Growing your own, that's got to be
Speaker 1: a win.
Speaker 3: I think growing your own is probably the best thing,
Speaker 3: because that's not only good for your body, but it's
Speaker 3: also has great things. You're outside, you're tending to.
Speaker 5: Something, the apples, you're gonna spray them all with the
Speaker 5: fruit for the Yeah, you want to eat it?
Speaker 3: Yeah, But we know like Haber's just on the food
Speaker 3: farm in Amberley, just north of christ Church yesterday and
Speaker 3: they have amazing fruit trees. They use permaculture theories and
Speaker 3: they don't use any sprays or pesticides or you know,
Speaker 3: things that are going to damage the environment. And it's
Speaker 3: amazing to see how life and fruit and food can
Speaker 3: just flourish under those conditions.
Speaker 1: It is a difficult one, isn't it. Cake because they
Speaker 1: say if it weren't for using modern pesticides and ge
Speaker 1: for instance, is that one where people get quite triggered
Speaker 1: by it. But that does enable a hell of a
Speaker 1: lot of food production as well that are more resistant
Speaker 1: to either they better at caping a drought and disease
Speaker 1: and things like that. Where are you on that personally?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I am in quite an investigative kind
Speaker 3: of mode absorbing a lot. But from what I know,
Speaker 3: I have the privilege of visiting a lot of farms
Speaker 3: like the one yesterday, who have yeah, permaculture and kind
Speaker 3: of you know, they're very steering clear from adding anything
Speaker 3: or doing anything that nature kind of doesn't already already do.
Speaker 3: And I see it work so brilliantly, and so it
Speaker 3: feels much more sustainable in the sense that it can
Speaker 3: keep on happening. So when you think about all the
Speaker 3: interventions and things we're doing to make lots of food
Speaker 3: and make it now for you know, all the people like,
Speaker 3: what are the long term effects of that? Over time,
Speaker 3: we're going to see what we have seen degradation in
Speaker 3: our soil. You know, we're seeing a change in nutritional
Speaker 3: value of our food. So we're again we're thinking about
Speaker 3: that upfront. Okay, you know what's easy, what can we
Speaker 3: do now to get a whole lot of food? But
Speaker 3: actually we're losing out on the nutrition. We're losing out
Speaker 3: on a long term system that if we just you know,
Speaker 3: paused a little bit and thought about how can we
Speaker 3: do this, you know, in the long term and work
Speaker 3: with nature. I see it work really really well, even
Speaker 3: with market gardens where they are, you know, creating a
Speaker 3: lot of food for a lot of people, even mangedoa
Speaker 3: farms and upper Hat it's possible. I see it with
Speaker 3: my own eyes. So doing on a much larger scale,
Speaker 3: I think we're finding that it actually does work.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, let's take some more calls.
Speaker 6: Peter, Hello, Yes, and then your guests. I'm ringing up today.
Speaker 6: I'm wearing a shirt which is the brand of Dynasty,
Speaker 6: and I've got a swing ticket that had was on
Speaker 6: the garment. This garment is made from twenty four recycled
Speaker 6: plastic bottles. And I thought, well, that's another another thought
Speaker 6: for us. I work in the in a a second
Speaker 6: hand shop, you know, an op shop there, and yes,
Speaker 6: I'm selling reselling items there all the time. But I thought,
Speaker 6: this is a good point also that garments can be
Speaker 6: made from recycled plastic bottles.
Speaker 1: Yeah. That's interesting, isn't it, because well, we don't like
Speaker 1: plastics as much recycling. No where are you on that one, Kate?
Speaker 3: Yeahhpe Peter, thanks for calling in. Okay, I have yeah myself,
Speaker 3: I have some active wear that is made from recycled plastics,
Speaker 3: from recycled plastic bottles or just guarded fishing nets. And
Speaker 3: I think, you know, especially for things like active where
Speaker 3: that you need that fabric to be a certain way.
Speaker 3: You may not want an ultra marathon runner and things
Speaker 3: like that may may not be able to do what
Speaker 3: they need to do in cotton and things that are
Speaker 3: under suitable. And it's a great it's a great material
Speaker 3: that we have discovered very recently. However, you know, like
Speaker 3: anything there comes with some question marks around its sustainability
Speaker 3: in the long term. For example, the fact that we
Speaker 3: are still you know, even if it's made from recycled plastics,
Speaker 3: if you're still washing it, there's microfibers, microplastics getting into
Speaker 3: our waterways, which is becoming quite a big issue that
Speaker 3: we're seeing macroplastics everywhere. And that garment again when we're
Speaker 3: talking about those bottles that have been recycled turn into
Speaker 3: some pants or a T shirt. That garment generally can't
Speaker 3: be recycled again and put back into the resource loop.
Speaker 3: So when we when we think about recycling that's kind
Speaker 3: of only been reused once, you know, it's been a
Speaker 3: bottle and then it's been a shirt, and then can't
Speaker 3: really move on from that point. So it's it's I
Speaker 3: love the innovation behind a lot of these pieces of
Speaker 3: clothing that are made from recycled things, but I think
Speaker 3: we're going to figure out how we can continue in
Speaker 3: this wavelength in a more sustainable way with all the
Speaker 3: other impacts too.
Speaker 1: Actually got a text It just says Peter can't win
Speaker 1: because he's trying to do something good, recycling something. But
Speaker 1: then there's a problem with that. I mean, is that
Speaker 1: the problem is that there's everything's problematic ultimately or is
Speaker 1: obviously obviously oversimplifying it.
Speaker 3: No, you're not you can't win. But are we? You
Speaker 3: know what are we trying to win? Right? We are?
Speaker 3: We're learning, we're discovering we can't. You know, I by
Speaker 3: no means have a plastic perfect pantry. You know. I
Speaker 3: people I think think that my life is perfectly sustainable
Speaker 3: and ethical. But you know what is that I think
Speaker 3: if we all keep an open mindset and understand, you know, yeah,
Speaker 3: it is really cool that something's made from plastic bottles,
Speaker 3: but not just kind of take that. Let's make all
Speaker 3: of our clothes from plastic bottles from now on and
Speaker 3: move on. We always I mean, that's how we've survived
Speaker 3: on this earth as a species, isn't it that we're
Speaker 3: always learning and innovating and changing. And also, I think
Speaker 3: in the sustainability space, and that's why I really enjoy
Speaker 3: my work, and I think why a lot of people have,
Speaker 3: you know, listen and follow on with my Instagram account
Speaker 3: and my daily life is that there's no absolutes and
Speaker 3: that we shouldn't be saying, oh, you know, but you're
Speaker 3: wearing a recycled plastic top and it's going to leach
Speaker 3: to micropastics. That's that's a fact, and it's not great,
Speaker 3: but we're still learning and evolving and it's not necessarily
Speaker 3: it's not about winning. It's about exploring and discovering and
Speaker 3: actually being okay when we're wrong, and and just having
Speaker 3: all the different sorts of options too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that'd be a pretty depressing conversation at a party,
Speaker 1: wouldn't it. I love your birds, but I hope they're recycled.
Speaker 3: I know, and we should never say that too. Like
Speaker 3: I think a lot of people, you know, I try
Speaker 3: to encourage people, you know, like, don't look at someone
Speaker 3: else's supermarket trolley, you know, don't focus on what you
Speaker 3: can control and what you're comfortable with. And imagine if
Speaker 3: we all did just so much more of that rather
Speaker 3: than there's there's just too much, too much kind of
Speaker 3: absolutes and if you care about sustainability, you have to
Speaker 3: do this, this and this, and it's really damaging to
Speaker 3: people who just want to try their best and yeah,
Speaker 3: interested in different things.
Speaker 1: Hey, how does your website work? Just so people know
Speaker 1: what's what's the story behind that and what you do.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Solicate dot com has a few functions. The main
Speaker 3: one is the shop good brand so I ordit companies,
Speaker 3: you know, their fashion brand, food brands, even some eco
Speaker 3: accommodation options. All sorts that are on there, and you
Speaker 3: can search. You could type in T shirt or may
Speaker 3: come up with ten different options. So that's a place
Speaker 3: where I've done the work. I've done the research and time,
Speaker 3: and I'm always rechecking into these brands as much as
Speaker 3: possible too, So yeah, do that shopping.
Speaker 1: So you have a commercial relationship with each company you've
Speaker 1: gone into, So it's sort of a symbiotic sort of
Speaker 1: thing where you're presenting them to the audience who wants
Speaker 1: to shop ethically, and that's your commercial sort of connection
Speaker 1: with those companies.
Speaker 3: Yep, exactly. And then I have a blog space too
Speaker 3: where I write different blogs that may be you know,
Speaker 3: fifteen sustainable, also make companies, or my thoughts on carbon
Speaker 3: offsetting and things like that. So that's those main functions of.
Speaker 1: The same stuff. Okay, let's tell you let's take another call.
Speaker 1: Where are we up to? Richard?
Speaker 4: Hello, Hey Tim, how are you doing good?
Speaker 1: Thanks?
Speaker 4: Thanks, thanks for the segment. Case. It's a I'm really
Speaker 4: interesting top so just a bit of a background. I'm
Speaker 4: a sheep and beef farmer, so yeah, the topic today
Speaker 4: sort of hits quite close close to home for me
Speaker 4: and my business. I was just curious, what's your position
Speaker 4: on New Zealand wools. I have been in and out
Speaker 4: of the ute, so I may have missed you discussed this,
Speaker 4: but to me, it's in their perfect fiber to be honest,
Speaker 4: it's natural, it's biodegradable, it's flame retardant. We grow it
Speaker 4: on sort of the whole country of New Zealand where
Speaker 4: you can't have cropping cotton and the like. So would
Speaker 4: you endorse wider use of New Zealand woolf.
Speaker 3: Hey, Richard, good to hear from you. And I was
Speaker 3: fist pumping and going yeah as you said those things,
Speaker 3: because I'm totally in agreement with you, that's fine. I
Speaker 3: like where this in a nutshell. I have a lot
Speaker 3: of WILL. My pillow is filled with will from kind
Speaker 3: face wise will, and yeah, I wear and use a
Speaker 3: lot of WILL. I have a baby on the way
Speaker 3: and I am am looking forward to using a lot
Speaker 3: of wool products with that little creature, too, wool carpets.
Speaker 3: I even had a woolen dog at one point. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I think I've I have a few friends who are
Speaker 3: sheep funders, and I know that will has been a
Speaker 3: really tough commodity to sell in a really space to
Speaker 3: be And I heard some good news, which I'm not
Speaker 3: sure how far and wide this good news has affected people,
Speaker 3: but that wool was on the uptake, on the increase
Speaker 3: I'm not sure. Maybe Richard, you have some more pots.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, when you're coming from such a low base,
Speaker 4: a teen or fifteen percent increase, while it is positive,
Speaker 4: it's not going to turn things around completely. I'm just
Speaker 4: a bit of a background. So the beauty of sheepherds
Speaker 4: are you're purpose animals, so you get the income from
Speaker 4: the from the meat, but also also the fiber. So
Speaker 4: Marino will finer will that it is certainly and has
Speaker 4: always fetched a premium. But the vast majority of New
Speaker 4: Zealand sheep are strong walled and that's the wall. That's
Speaker 4: that's really struggling.
Speaker 1: Is that the carpets and stuff the strong wall or what.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So primarily it's carpets and insulation, which yeah, and
Speaker 4: we're directly competing with synthetics, which is really frustrating. I mean,
Speaker 4: it can be used for clothing, probably preferably not against
Speaker 4: the skin, but it's just and you must come across
Speaker 4: this quite a bit kate. People will say the right
Speaker 4: thing and say they support support sustainability and things like that,
Speaker 4: but when it comes to their willingness to pay, it's
Speaker 4: not always there. And look to me, that's understandable.
Speaker 1: Their ability to be fair Richard. For instance, I'll be
Speaker 1: completely honest. We have to recarpet our house at some stage,
Speaker 1: and there's unlikely I'm going to go wool because I
Speaker 1: can't afford the extra sixty percent to do the job.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and in a global recession and the people are
Speaker 4: struggling to put food from the table. That yeah, possibly understand.
Speaker 1: I love a woolen. I love a good woolen jersey
Speaker 1: and I hat and all that sort of stuff. But
Speaker 1: it does get back to that slightly cheeky proposition is
Speaker 1: that the ethics are fine up to a point that
Speaker 1: you can afford them.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely, And Kate must come across that quite often.
Speaker 4: I assham, she might.
Speaker 1: Have been up on me. Now have you still.
Speaker 3: Yeah? I hung up.
Speaker 1: Gone, Yeah, So I carry.
Speaker 3: On the will thing. It is difficult, and I think
Speaker 3: in the ethical space too, a lot of people, you know,
Speaker 3: we're talking about the cost set of things, but a
Speaker 3: lot of people also assume that I'm vegan and wouldn't
Speaker 3: touch animal products, and that's a false assumption. I am
Speaker 3: very much for you know, utilizing animals in an ethical way,
Speaker 3: and happy to know Richard. I hope I've done my
Speaker 3: part in sharing about my will carpet and my will
Speaker 3: clothing and things with thousands of people at least at
Speaker 3: least monthly, often weekly. So I'm trying my best to
Speaker 3: help the wool industry. But yeah, I think when done
Speaker 3: in an ethical way, it can. You know, just just
Speaker 3: like you said, I agree with with all your points.
Speaker 3: And when it comes to the with the cost factor
Speaker 3: to you know, I am totally aware that I am.
Speaker 3: I'm currently child free, live with my husband. You know,
Speaker 3: we were able to afford things like amazing wool products,
Speaker 3: and even you know, even if the cost per weeer
Speaker 3: is lower, it is that upfront, you know, we're not
Speaker 3: living week by week. We have the money to invest
Speaker 3: in good quality fibers. But I think there are ways.
Speaker 3: Often when I talk to people about budgets and living
Speaker 3: more sustainably, you know, they go, Okay, I'd love to
Speaker 3: live like you, but I just don't have the money.
Speaker 3: And then I watch them spend money on just different priorities.
Speaker 3: So generally, a lot of what people say to me,
Speaker 3: and this is keep you in mind totally. I understand
Speaker 3: the people who can't afford in a thinking week bay week,
Speaker 3: but they don't mean they can't afford it. They're just
Speaker 3: unable to prioritize it, and they're locked into a certain
Speaker 3: mindset or framework around what something should cost. So I
Speaker 3: really challenge people. Maybe yourself included him around your carpet, Yeah,
Speaker 3: but I challenged people to think about is it that
Speaker 3: I can't afford it or is it that I can
Speaker 3: actually get more creative with where I'm prioritizing my resource.
Speaker 1: Well, we could keep the old nineteen sixty nine champagne
Speaker 1: pink nylon carpet, but it's going to have to go,
Speaker 1: I'm afraid. But hey, thanks for call Richard. I really
Speaker 1: appreciate it. We'll be back in just a moment. It's
Speaker 1: nineteen minutes to five. Yes, welcome back to the Health
Speaker 1: Hub and we're with Kate Hall. She's the founder of
Speaker 1: Ethically Kate. Hey, Kate, I do have a question. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure if I want to mention the brand. But
Speaker 1: there's a certain brand of exercise where which is it
Speaker 1: is know and almost by its brand universally because it's
Speaker 1: so popular, but those you know the sort of brand, Oh,
Speaker 1: it's Lululemon. Let's just say it. I yeah, okay, where
Speaker 1: are we at with exercise clothing? Whether it be that
Speaker 1: brand or other stuff, because it does look like, while
Speaker 1: it might not necessarily be fashionable forever, it does look
Speaker 1: sort of like nuclear in tournaments in terms of its
Speaker 1: half life.
Speaker 3: I personally stay as far away from that brand as possible.
Speaker 1: As ethically possible, humanly possible.
Speaker 3: As humanly possible, as physically possible.
Speaker 1: You've got your work cut out, because it's it's almost
Speaker 1: I mean, I just drive home today, I'll probably see
Speaker 1: you probably fifty percent of everyone who's going for a walk,
Speaker 1: at least with women who are wearing that, wearing that
Speaker 1: sort of exercise clothing. That's a hard trend to break.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is a hard trend. And again I try
Speaker 3: to focus less on you down with Lulu Lemon because
Speaker 3: it's it's a huge company and everyone's so so I
Speaker 3: like to you know, at the moment, I am wearing
Speaker 3: some second hand exercise pants which no idea what brand
Speaker 3: they're from. I think the brand's worn off from the
Speaker 3: multiple people who have worn it before me.
Speaker 1: So is it all like, what is it actually made from?
Speaker 1: Because it does well, it wasn't around it seems like
Speaker 1: it wasn't around a few years ago, and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, it's this flattering sort of exercise where yeah.
Speaker 3: A lot of it is nylon, polyester, stand deck all,
Speaker 3: you know, plastic based materials. And you know, even the
Speaker 3: secondhand stuff I wear is still nilo and a lot
Speaker 3: of it. Some people wouldn't choose to do that for
Speaker 3: health reasons, you know, just having it on their body,
Speaker 3: but I personally am okay with wearing second hand synthetic clothing.
Speaker 1: Well, so we all make up our own. As you
Speaker 1: said at the start, everyone no one's perfect. I always
Speaker 1: think that if you, if you're aware of things and
Speaker 1: you make a few decisions, at least as long as
Speaker 1: you know what the decision you're as you're making, rather
Speaker 1: than just blithely sort of going on and go, oh,
Speaker 1: I wish i'd known that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, And as long as we're not just following
Speaker 3: a kind of trend, kind of cult brand as it were,
Speaker 3: just because the ten other people in the gym were
Speaker 3: in the same thing, you know. So that's what I
Speaker 3: try to do when I share my everyday life online
Speaker 3: on Instagram is to be like, Okay, you can actually
Speaker 3: look really cool secondhand exercise where you can also buy
Speaker 3: it from places who make it from recycl plastic bottles
Speaker 3: like Xenia and lead active where from bamboo you can
Speaker 3: you can also probably have less active where. I know
Speaker 3: a lot of people who you know you Yeah, you've
Speaker 3: got a lot of tights, a lot of tops, and
Speaker 3: I generally just have one or two in my life,
Speaker 3: even though I exercise every day. So it's just being yeah,
Speaker 3: practical and heroing a good side of things. That's my whole.
Speaker 1: Ask a quick question just as a bit of advice
Speaker 1: on things, because if you are using second hand clothes,
Speaker 1: theres a lot of people people would be look, I'd
Speaker 1: want to make sure that I put that through the
Speaker 1: fire of hell in terms of getting rid of any
Speaker 1: anyone else's sort of stuff, cleaning them, you know, making
Speaker 1: sure it's clean so you feel like I can make
Speaker 1: this my own now.
Speaker 3: Yep, I definitely, to be honest, I wash all of
Speaker 3: my clothes in either thirty degrees or less, just colder,
Speaker 3: because it means my clothes lasts much longer. I do
Speaker 3: a lot of spot washing. I use the sunshine. I
Speaker 3: know that sounds also like you know, borderlining on that
Speaker 3: happy use the sunshine to clean your clothes, but scientifically
Speaker 3: it's actually.
Speaker 1: In terms of drying them.
Speaker 3: You may, yeah, to dry them, but it's also just
Speaker 3: great antibacterially to you know, have them outside. You can
Speaker 3: get stands out really really well that haven't come out
Speaker 3: even with laundry products you're trying to use.
Speaker 1: Well, I hang on, did you mean Sunshine the soap
Speaker 1: or you mean Sunshine as in sunshine?
Speaker 3: I mean the sunshine that I'm seeing as I look
Speaker 3: out my.
Speaker 1: Mind, because there is a brand of soap there called
Speaker 1: Sunshine in fact, one of those old school Yeah, yeah, okay, hey,
Speaker 1: look sorry, carry on.
Speaker 3: I definitely I definitely washed my clothes after being in
Speaker 3: a second hand shop. And I know some people, some
Speaker 3: people would never buy certain things from a second hand shop,
Speaker 3: like Active Where maybe, But honestly, a lot of the
Speaker 3: Active where I see in second hand shops it's there
Speaker 3: because no one has worn it. If they've worn it
Speaker 3: and thrashed it, it likely hasn't made it to a
Speaker 3: second hand shop. You know, it's made it to unfortunately
Speaker 3: the bin, but it's been worn and worn and worn
Speaker 3: and used. So there are particular items, and I would
Speaker 3: say Active were would be one of them that you
Speaker 3: can find often even brand new pieces that have really
Speaker 3: been worn because people had a great idea in the
Speaker 3: new year that oh yeah.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, of course you know the sort
Speaker 1: of warms. Yes, given there, that's.
Speaker 3: A great category of clothing to phone second hand.
Speaker 1: Okay, look, we might have time to squeeze another call,
Speaker 1: but we just got to have another break. We'll be
Speaker 1: back in a take. It's nine minutes to five. It's
Speaker 1: news Talk, z'd be. We're with ethically Kate. Kate Hall
Speaker 1: is with us and got time for one very quick
Speaker 1: call Helen. Hello, Yeah, Hi, Hi.
Speaker 7: Tim and Kate. Now, given the problems with synthetics and cotton,
Speaker 7: why are we not using alternative fibers like hemp and
Speaker 7: flax harakeke. In fact, you could actually have buss plantings
Speaker 7: called ke flax along rapirian plantings, which would also protect
Speaker 7: the rivers. But why are we not using these alternative fibers.
Speaker 1: Well, I imagine we are, Helen, But let's ask Kate
Speaker 1: about that. Good, right, Kate, that's a great.
Speaker 3: Question, Helen, and you'll be happy to know that we
Speaker 3: are using them far more than ten years ago when
Speaker 3: I started in this space and was investigating we see
Speaker 3: kind of transitioning, So I see a lot more hemp
Speaker 3: cotton blends. The unfortunate thing, especially being in New Zealand,
Speaker 3: is companies are so small and infrastructure to process those
Speaker 3: types of fibers is really difficult to come across. And yeah,
Speaker 3: difficult to kind of have that upfront cost which is
Speaker 3: huge to get that machinery to turn a plant into
Speaker 3: a fiber. So it is growing those spaces of I
Speaker 3: think hemp is amazing. Having worn it as a consumer too,
Speaker 3: It's a really, really incredible product. So I'm hoping that
Speaker 3: we just see a continuing incline of those uses of
Speaker 3: different fibers.
Speaker 1: Good stuff. Hey, thanks for your call, Helen. Hey, Kate,
Speaker 1: thanks so much. Fascinating conversation. Isn't an ongoing one about
Speaker 1: the whole sustainability and ethical choices. We had to touch
Speaker 1: the sides on the food side of things, but there
Speaker 1: we go.
Speaker 3: We could talk for hours and hours. I'm really grateful
Speaker 3: to have this chat with you.
Speaker 1: Tim, good stuff, Hey, thanks so much. That is Kate Horse.
Speaker 1: She's from Ethically Kate. You can check them out. Their
Speaker 1: websites very easy to find and you just google it
Speaker 1: and we'll be back shortly. With Smart Money. Max whiteheads
Speaker 1: with us. He's an employment relations expert, looking at well,
Speaker 1: looking at the little signs you may give people that
Speaker 1: might just an employer go oh no, not that person,
Speaker 1: and you go, what did I do wrong? The CV
Speaker 1: looks great, doesn't it? What are the little things you
Speaker 1: can do wrong? And we'll be taking your questions and calls,
Speaker 1: of course, on any of your employment or at whether
Speaker 1: you be a boss or an employee. Give us a call.
Speaker 1: Max will be in the studio next eight hundred eighty
Speaker 1: ten to eighty News Talk SEDB For more from the
Speaker 1: weekend collective. Listen live to News Talks EDB weekends from
Speaker 1: three pm, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio