Speaker 1: All right, Well, it is the season of giving. We're
Speaker 1: getting into it in a real way. Let's take a
Speaker 1: minute to think about how we're doing it. Jessica Haniger
Speaker 1: is here with me, Back with me, founder and CEO
Speaker 1: of Noonday Style, author as well. She's based down in
Speaker 1: much warmer Austin, Texas, but lucky for us she's here,
Speaker 1: maybe not so lucky for her in the frigid Northeast.
Speaker 1: Great to see you, It's great to be back. All right.
Speaker 1: So this is so timely, obviously, which is part of
Speaker 1: the reason that you're here. But I do feel like
Speaker 1: here in and this goes back to a conversation we
Speaker 1: had in this studio. People are being a little bit
Speaker 1: more thoughtful, more holistic about what they're giving, where they're
Speaker 1: sourcing their gifts. But the question is how do we
Speaker 1: actually do that. You've got an answer. Gifting is so personal,
Speaker 1: and when we can gift something that is handmade and
Speaker 1: has a story and a connection to it, I think
Speaker 1: the gift receiver not only receives that gift, but also
Speaker 1: gets to receive this story that goes along with that gift.
Speaker 1: And what's so powerful is we're primarily an accessories brand
Speaker 1: and so when you're able to give a handmade accessory
Speaker 1: made by a woman in another country through Noonday Collection,
Speaker 1: you actually empower that gift receiver to become a storyteller
Speaker 1: for that product as well, Right, because we all love
Speaker 1: to be able to tell someone something about what we're wearing,
Speaker 1: or what we're reading or or whatever it is. So
Speaker 1: remind us how this works, sort of how you created
Speaker 1: this network and what it looks like. Yeah, So Noonday
Speaker 1: Collection is a socially responsible fashion brand and we're creating
Speaker 1: meaningful economic opportunities for people around the world. We partner
Speaker 1: with thirty artists and businesses and some of the world's
Speaker 1: most vulnerable communities that have traditionally been left out of
Speaker 1: the marketplace, and we create a marketplace for these beautiful
Speaker 1: handmade goods. And we do that through a network of
Speaker 1: social entrepreneurs that we call Ambassadors. So it's a direct
Speaker 1: selling model. So we're creating economic opportunity for women across America.
Speaker 1: These women gather in their homes, they have their friends,
Speaker 1: gather friends in their homes, and they are stylists and
Speaker 1: storytellers who gather. They earn an income while making an
Speaker 1: impact on these artists and partners, and so tell me
Speaker 1: a little bit more about the artisans themselves. How do
Speaker 1: you find them, because obviously they're not necessarily just easily.
Speaker 1: You can't just pick up the phone. Yeah, necessarily. I
Speaker 1: know you travel a lot, so we do you do it.
Speaker 1: We're nine years in and so we have been able
Speaker 1: to scale businesses that might have started off as boutique,
Speaker 1: small mom and pop shops. But we've come alongside these
Speaker 1: businesses and we have helped them with upfront capital, We've
Speaker 1: helped them with collaborative design, We've partnered with them over
Speaker 1: the long term, and so now we have a name
Speaker 1: in the marketplace. A lot of the ways we find
Speaker 1: people now is they it's inbound people come to us.
Speaker 1: The outbound is more if we're really wanting to make
Speaker 1: an impact around a certain social issue. So for instance,
Speaker 1: the Burmese and Thai border, we have been able to
Speaker 1: work with a small group there that works with refugees
Speaker 1: um that have come out of Burma, and now they're
Speaker 1: making small, little porcelain gifts for us. And we start
Speaker 1: small with people and we might try one skew see
Speaker 1: how it does, and then we slowly scale back in
Speaker 1: the day when it was just me in my living room.
Speaker 1: We I first started with a young couple Jollia and Daniel,
Speaker 1: and they were a mom and pop artisan small group,
Speaker 1: and we scaled them. Now they have a hundred full
Speaker 1: time employees. So that process of how we partner and
Speaker 1: find people has changed as New Day Collection has scaled.
Speaker 1: I do love the idea that we throw around the
Speaker 1: term mom and pop and in your case, like you
Speaker 1: literally are talking about like moms and pops. Yes, I
Speaker 1: am in a very specific and literal way. So talk
Speaker 1: to me a little bit about this sort of broader
Speaker 1: trend of ethical giving, because you know, whether it's talking
Speaker 1: with someone like Dana Thomas, who was on our show
Speaker 1: earlier this week, who's just wrote a book called Fashionopolis,
Speaker 1: like we're thinking a lot more about where things come from.
Speaker 1: Is that a sort of permanent change? Do you think? Like?
Speaker 1: Is that one of those things sort of like once
Speaker 1: we learned we started to learn about where our food
Speaker 1: comes from, we started to be more mindful about that.
Speaker 1: Is that same sort of thing happening in apparel and accessories?
Speaker 1: You think right now? Absolutely? And I feel like Noon
Speaker 1: Day Collection has been one of those brands that has
Speaker 1: led the way once you know you can't unknow and
Speaker 1: when you realize that you can actually use your purchasing
Speaker 1: power to affect change. Not just make a donation to
Speaker 1: a favorite charity, but how can you have drive those
Speaker 1: dollars into a way that's empowering other people to start
Speaker 1: their own businesses. That is, it's a powerful tool that
Speaker 1: a consumer now has. And yes, in the same way
Speaker 1: that the food industry has become much more transparent farm
Speaker 1: to table, I do believe there is a slow fashion movement,
Speaker 1: a movement, a conscientious fashion movement, where people are willing
Speaker 1: to make more mindful choices around how they're going to
Speaker 1: spend their dollars. Well, it was interesting to hear Dana
Speaker 1: Thomas talk about this too, because she was saying, you know,
Speaker 1: it's not just about looking at the label, and this
Speaker 1: goes to your point of storytelling, like you sort of
Speaker 1: got to go underneath it a little bit because listen,
Speaker 1: there are sweatshops in l a and in Texas and
Speaker 1: probably New York, uh right near here as well, so
Speaker 1: sort of really understanding the story behind it, and people
Speaker 1: do to your point, sort of appreciated story. I mean,
Speaker 1: it is a counter narrative in a lot of ways
Speaker 1: to this like quick, superficial, you know, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
Speaker 1: Life that we lead wanting to know that narrative a
Speaker 1: little bit more. There isn't a lot of transparency around
Speaker 1: the supply chain in the fashion industry. I think it
Speaker 1: can be a little bit overwhelming for a consumer, which
Speaker 1: is why Noonday Collection really leads with not what we're against,
Speaker 1: but what we're for. And we're for creating empowering economic
Speaker 1: opportunities through artisan crafted goods that are made with fair
Speaker 1: trade principles. All right, we are Bloomberg, So I gotta
Speaker 1: ask you your business growing? It's growing, Yeah, yeah, we have.
Speaker 1: We grow through ambassadors. We grow through New Day Collection ambassadors,
Speaker 1: and we have more ambassadors this year than we've had
Speaker 1: last year. So I'm on here to let the world
Speaker 1: know about this amazing business opportunity. To where can they
Speaker 1: check it out? Noonday Collection dot com. All right. Jessica
Speaker 1: Hanager is founder and CEO of Noonday Collection. Here with
Speaker 1: us in New York City. She is spreading the word,
Speaker 1: leaving the warm confines of Texas to join us here
Speaker 1: in New York City. We really appreciate it's always also
Speaker 1: the author I should point out it's a really terrific book.
Speaker 1: I was able to get a copy of it. Imperfect
Speaker 1: Courage Live a life of purpose by leaving comfort and
Speaker 1: going scared came out in It's really terrific. Also a
Speaker 1: great gift idea for this holiday season.