WEBVTT - Lab 053: Unsustainable 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:04.600 I'm t T and I'm Zakiah and from Spotify. 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:26.720 This is Dope Labs. 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:35.680 Welcome to Dope Labs, a weekly podcast that mixes hardcore science, 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:36.839 pop culture. 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:39.280 And a healthy docent friendship. So last week we talked 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:42.400 all about how the landscape of fashion and e commerce 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:45.720 and shopping has changed completely. Yes, but there was an 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:47.680 aspect of this that we touched on. 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:50.600 Very lightly that we knew that we needed to dig 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:52.360 into in today's lab. 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:56.320 And that is the idea of sustainability in fashion. So 0:00:56.440 --> 0:01:09.120 let's get into the recitation, all right, So what do 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:09.440 we know? 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:12.440 One thing that I know from a Mackenzie study that 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:15.520 I've read is that clothing production from the year two 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:18.839 thousand to the year twenty fourteen has doubled. 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:21.520 What we also know is that a lot of the 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:24.440 clothes that we purchase aren't made in the US right. 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:27.520 A lot of it is coming from China, and China 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:30.520 actually accounts for thirty percent of world apparel. 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:35.680 Wow, So we know we have a huge clothing industry. 0:01:36.160 --> 0:01:38.839 There's a lot of clothes being made. People are buying 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:41.880 way more I guess pieces or garments per person than 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:43.800 they used to. How do we take all of that 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:46.880 and make it tie into sustainability. How do we shift 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:49.160 what's going on? That's a great question. 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:52.000 Another thing I think we want to know is what's 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:56.360 happening when the life of your clothing comes to an end? 0:01:56.960 --> 0:02:01.040 What are folks doing with their old clothes? And if 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:05.360 we are generating waste from clothes, what is happening to it? 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:09.240 Well, I know the global population hasn't doubled or increased 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:13.760 sixty percent to match production or purchasing power that we see, 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:15.520 So I want to know when we got so greedy? 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:18.200 You know, what's happening if we're all buying so much 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:20.520 more clothing? Are we just hoarding it? Are we hanging 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:23.120 on to it? Are we turning it over quicker? Is 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:25.840 it wearing out? I have questions. Okay, so we've talked 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:27.200 about fast fashion. 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:30.040 I want to know what is the opposite of fast 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:33.359 fashion and how can we make things better for our 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:34.760 global community. 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:38.360 We're really focusing on ourselves as consumers, But what are 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.760 the companies doing? Because at sixty eight garments of person, 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:45.040 there's only so much impact that I can make, you know, right, 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:46.919 it kind of has to start at the top two. 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:49.720 They have to be doing the right things and doing 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:52.359 them ethically before it even gets to us for us 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:54.079 to really have a major impact. 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:56.760 That's right. And then what about accessibility to everyone? 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:59.800 It seems like sustainable fashion is on the tip of 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:03.760 everyone's tongue these days, but does everybody have access to 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:20.880 these things? Let's get into the dissection. Today's guest expert 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:22.040 is Drew Heifitz. 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:24.440 What's up, guys. My name is Drew Heifitz. I'm the 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:27.000 owner of Frankie Collective and I have a couple other 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:30.639 companies called Fison, frank Vintage, and the Rag Machine. 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.720 Frankie Collective is an online retailer that sells vintage and 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:34.760 reworked clothing. 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:38.640 So what that means is we take secondhand in vintage 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:42.720 clothing that typically would end up in the landfill or 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:46.480 discarded or wherever it ends up most of the time 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:49.760 the landfill, and we cut it and re sew it 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:53.680 into new clothing to give it a second life, maybe 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:56.720 update the fit, update the style, and bring it back. 0:03:56.960 --> 0:04:01.920 Another name for reworked clothing is up cycling or upcycled clothing, 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:06.360 and Frankie Collective estimates that they have saved or upcycled 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:10.720 sixty five thousand pounds of clothes every year. 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:12.240 That's a lot of clothes. 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:16.360 That's probably more clothes and is in like Mariah Carey's closet. 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:20.440 I'm really hoping we can help our listeners visualize what 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:25.919 we mean when we say upcycling, and specifically upcycling the 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:28.039 way Frankie Collective does it. Mm hmm. 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:31.520 They're taking old clothes and making them like brand new, 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:34.960 and not just brand new, but unlike anything you would 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:38.080 see in the store, So you're getting something that almost 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:40.520 feels one of a kind. So let's rewind a little 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:44.040 bit here, because I think to really understand why Frankie 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:46.240 Collective is doing this, you have to kind of have 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:50.520 an overview of the environmental impact of fashion, starting with 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:58.159 your closet. How often do you do like a clearout 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:00.479 of your closet? You know, a couple of year back, 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:03.760 was at the beginning of the pandemic, Maricondo was I 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:05.920 felt like she was in my house. 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:09.719 Okay, she needs to come to mind. He was not there. Okay, 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:12.440 she's not a friendly she's not welcome in my home. 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:16.280 I was saying goodbye to so many things. I was 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:19.279 having little conversations. Listen, I appreciate you shirt, you served 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:22.480 your purpose and I'm grateful for you, but your time 0:05:22.560 --> 0:05:22.880 is done. 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:26.839 You must go. Thank you. I think each season I 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:29.560 kind of go through this purging process. But you also 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:31.400 know tt that I move a lot. 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:35.560 Yeah, my friend cannot stay in one place. She loves 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:38.120 to be moving out of a place and moving in 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:42.000 it seems yes, And so you know, just by that process, 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:44.880 I'm purging quite a bit and going through things. I 0:05:44.920 --> 0:05:48.040 know that some people do like different things with their clothes. 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:50.440 There's things where you can like sell your clothes. 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:53.440 I would just take backs to Goodwill. What happens to 0:05:53.480 --> 0:05:55.680 that stuff? I'm always looking to see, does somebody have 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:59.120 on my outfit that I donated, Like, what happens to it? 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:01.560 I put my thing in that drop box and it's 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:03.080 just kind of like out of side, out of mind. 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:04.680 I'm like, those clothes disappeared. 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:07.760 Most of our clothing gets donated. Everyone knows those bins 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:11.080 you donate and it's like salvation army bin or wherever 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:13.000 they are, or you can drop it at the back 0:06:13.000 --> 0:06:16.040 of a thrift store. Right. This is where the public 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:19.200 perception gets blurry, because we typically think that all those 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:21.480 clothes were donating goes right into that thrift store and 0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:24.320 gets sold. In reality, I think it's only something like 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:27.800 five or ten percent of what we donate goes into 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:28.680 those thrift stores. 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:31.919 Yeah, according to the EPA, about eighty four percent of 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:35.400 our clothing ends up in incinerators and landfills. 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:38.440 They get so much more clothing than they can actually 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:41.440 process so that the public can consume. And also they 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:44.159 don't want to put out dirty things, stain things, rip things. 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:46.400 People donate one leg of a gene, you know, they're 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:47.360 just like, what do I do with this? 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:50.560 Then I'm really curious about how these clothes end up 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:53.600 in landfills, Like, what is the process from my donation? 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:57.160 Who's judging them and saying, mmmm, it's the key it 0:06:57.200 --> 0:06:59.640 brought us? This not good enough? This is trash. Yeah, 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:01.640 that's rude. 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:11.080 Drew says that many places that accept clothing donations will 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:15.120 send unwanted clothing to facilities that will sort and package 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:18.320 it by size and then sell the packages by the 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:21.200 pound to international markets where it can be resold. 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:25.760 Pakistan, India, Africa have huge street markets where they sell 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:29.920 primarily American and European secondhand clothing. Pop culture is so 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:32.880 based in America. People to watch American movies and TV shows, 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:35.160 and they want those brands that they're seeing on TV 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:37.040 and the movies and all these things. But again, a 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:39.920 huge portion of that stuff, like in this whole process, 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:42.320 just gets tossed because it doesn't fit the grade that 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:45.960 people want, it's damaged, whatever happens, They put them in 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:49.840 these huge thousand pounds biales compress clothing and they go 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:52.880 to landfill. And there's whole clothing landfills in Africa that 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:55.760 are like taking up massive amounts of space, and then 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:57.280 tons of it goes to American landfills. 0:07:57.400 --> 0:08:00.280 The Council for Textile Reporting estimates that the average US 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:04.200 citizen throws away or donates seventy to eighty pounds of 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:08.440 clothing and other textiles annually. Seventy to eighty pounds every year. 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:10.559 How many pairs of genes is that? And it says 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:14.120 other textiles too, So that's like towels. Let's do the math. 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:17.520 Eighty four percent of seventy five pounds of donated clothing. 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:19.760 That's sixty three pounds of. 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:23.160 Clothing that I thought was getting resold at a thrift store, 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:26.000 but it's probably sitting in a landfill somewhere. 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:29.920 And that's really sobering to think about, what are some 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:32.199 of the alternate things we can do with the clothes 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:34.080 we don't want to use anymore, especially now that I 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:35.640 know they're going to the landfill. 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:38.000 You're much better off giving your clothes to a friend 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:39.719 who's gonna use it, or if you have kids clothes, like, 0:08:39.760 --> 0:08:42.000 give it to an expecting mom, whatever it is, because 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:44.240 at least you know that it's most likely going to 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:46.600 get used and passed on and not end up in landfill. 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:47.000 Yeah. 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:49.160 So sometimes I do that with my sisters. Like if 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:51.400 I have stuff that I'm like, Okay, I've worn this 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:54.000 once or twice and I don't want it anymore. Or 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:57.160 I bought this thing it's really nice, but it wasn't 0:08:57.200 --> 0:08:59.600 the right size. I might ask my little sister, Hey, 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:00.920 what do you think this, and I'll give it to 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:03.800 her so she can have it. Also, you can donate 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:08.439 to local shelters or nonprofit organizations, Yeah, in your neighborhood. 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.800 So how do we accumulate all of these clothes in 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:15.920 the first place? When you think about donating sixty or 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:18.680 seventy pounds of clothes, that means you had to get 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:21.960 at least sixty to seventy pounds of clothes. So that 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:24.439 goes back to a lot of what we were talking 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:27.560 about with doctor Kahn. How we shop is kind of changing, 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:31.440 and we wanted to get Drew's perspective on fast fashion 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:33.000 and what it is. 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:39.120 First of all, it's driving down prices so deeply discounted 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:42.560 that they can just have people buy and buy and 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:45.240 not be concerned with the amount of waste they're creating. 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:49.200 Quality gets compromised, which means that you end up throwing 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:52.760 these things out after two three maybe one where they're 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:55.400 putting out new stuff so fast, so fast, you know, 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:58.280 a weekly basis, daily basis. Typically, when we look at 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:02.920 fashion from a historic perspective, companies would have seasonal collections. 0:10:02.960 --> 0:10:05.440 This is my spring collection, this is my summer collection, 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:08.439 this is my fall collection. Now it's like, this is 0:10:08.520 --> 0:10:10.719 Monday's drop, this is Tuesday drop, this is Wednesday drop, 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:12.880 this is Thursday drop. And you're like, okay, you're coming 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:13.360 at me so. 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:15.760 Fast, you know, And I think the question becomes, what's 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:19.319 the opposite, right, right, how do we slow down this train? 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:22.720 How do I still look good? But right, it's slow 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:24.600 fashion A thing I think it kind of. 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:28.080 Is slow fashion to me would be brands where you 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:31.680 could buy something and you can guarantee that they're going 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:33.960 to last you. You know, maybe something that has a 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:36.440 lifetime warranty that they'll fix it for you if it 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:40.920 doesn't stand up to your standards, or a brand where 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:43.840 the clothing is built to last you a few years. 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:46.200 So it's like you can go buy one pair of 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:48.960 pants that you know is going to like hold up 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:52.040 for like three four years or two years, or you 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:55.600 could buy ten pairs of fast fashion pants right and 0:10:55.800 --> 0:10:58.040 in the end, you would spend less on the one 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:01.800 good pair than the ten pairs, even though in the 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:04.800 moment you're like, well, I only paid thirty for those jeans. 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:07.320 And it feels like some brands are trying to write 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:10.079 the ship. One that I've seen is like Universal Standard 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:13.600 and they are super sized inclusive, and they even have 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:15.880 a program where if you order things and let's say 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:19.280 your weight changes or your size changes within a year, 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:21.800 they will ship you the size you want, like you 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:24.520 can ship it back, they will exchange the sizes for you. 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:27.240 I think there's also been a push but folks on 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:30.240 Instagram who have been talking about capsule collections, and that's 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:32.679 something that I really am kind of into It's like, 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:34.880 these are the things that I'm gonna wear. I have, 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:38.240 you know, a good pair of black jeans, a pair 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:39.880 that I know I can go to, not like, oh 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:41.920 this doesn't look right. It kind of fits, but sometimes 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:44.520 you know how that is. Yeah, I've seen people do that. 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:46.520 And one of the people that I follow, she has 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:49.959 like a clothing rail and those are like her staple things. 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:52.960 Like She's like, I always have a nice jean jacket. 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:56.920 These are my staple blue jeans. This is a blazer 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:59.320 that I really like. Yes, this is a button down 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:01.520 shirt that I really like. And so she has like 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:04.120 eight or nine pieces that she loves that are really 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:04.720 good qualities. 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:06.880 So then you're not really buying for the trends. If 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:09.640 leopard is in, you may accessorize with leopard, you know, 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:11.240 or you may do something like that, but you don't 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:15.920 find yourself moving through each season. You're now I got 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:18.680 to get Poka dout pants. Now it's time for bootcut jeans, 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:19.920 which are those back? 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:22.319 I saw somebody wearing low rise jeans and I felt 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:25.640 like I could weep. No way will I ever go back. 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:37.360 I like my genes to fit like a turtleneck in 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:40.920 addition to the efforts on the consumer side around like 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:43.640 you know, capsule collections and just buying things that really fit. Yeah, 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:45.760 you know, we're seeing a lot more marketing, you like 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:50.080 the Little Green Leaf brand saying that they are selling 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:53.120 us clothing that's sustainable or ethically sourced. 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:56.120 And ethically sourced means that the workers, the people that 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:58.880 are making the clothing are not in environments that are 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:03.200 unsafe this non sweatshop situation, and that like if they're 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:05.280 working with anything that has to do with like dye 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:08.840 or chemicals, that they have the right personal protective equipment 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:11.199 or ppe to do their job safely. 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:13.760 So when you actually break it down, something that is 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:17.120 sustainable means we can do it forever and ever and 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:19.600 ever and ever, and the resources for that are never 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:22.800 going to be depleted and it will keep replenishing itself. Right. 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:25.000 I don't think any of it is sustainable. I don't 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:27.160 think the whole industry. I don't think what we're doing 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:31.360 to a degree is completely sustainable. You know, there's always 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:34.320 some kind of waste, and there's always something that's not perfect. 0:13:34.440 --> 0:13:37.560 Some people in the clothing industry are trying to steer 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:40.920 away from using the term sustainability, and a lot of 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:44.880 environmental scientists and researchers are encouraging them to do. So. 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:48.560 The sustainable term is a blanket term where everyone's like, ooh, 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:51.160 that sounds great, that's cool, maybe I'll buy that. That 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:53.840 doesn't say anything, right, and then when you break it down, 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:58.680 like you said, into sustainably sourced or organic or non 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:02.440 toxic dyeing or all the other things that people use, 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:05.840 that kind of gets more specific. And I think that's 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:06.839 probably a better way to. 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:08.960 Go, you know, I really like that more of a 0:14:09.040 --> 0:14:13.440 spectrum of sustainability. Yeah, so even if you can't upcycle 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:16.400 or rework or trade old clothing, there are things you 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:19.680 can do from the jump to increase this life cycle. Right. 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:23.480 I had all these old sweatshirts and recently I was like, okay, 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:25.480 I need to get rid of some of these sweatshirts. 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:29.120 The kise you know I own, yes, what feels like 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:34.120 mountains of sweatshirts. I wear sweatshirts all year round, and 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:36.680 so I decided I wanted to get rid of some 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:37.120 of them. 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:39.120 And so I was like, Okay, what can I do. 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:42.080 I know that you know, after talking to Drew that 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:44.640 donating them probably isn't the right thing to do. So 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:46.960 I went on Twitter and I asked, you know, have 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:48.720 all these old clothes, what should I do with them? 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:52.120 And someone suggested that I just cut them up and 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:55.400 use them as like cleaning supply, so like stuff that 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:57.800 I can use to like dry off dishes, you know, 0:14:57.920 --> 0:14:59.880 to like clean windows or clean floor. 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:03.160 And I thought that that was such a great idea. 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:06.160 And so it's cool to imagine a second or third 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:09.080 or fourth life for your clothes when you're finishing wearing them. 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:12.480 We just all have to be looking to produce less 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:15.520 waste and think about the things we're doing and every 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:17.080 facet of our lives all the time. 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:18.840 Well, we're going to take a break, but there's a 0:15:18.880 --> 0:15:21.480 lot more to come, including how the global labor shortage 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:24.120 is affecting the fashion world and some surprising news about 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:46.160 those popular clothing rental services too. 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:49.160 We're back and we've been talking with Drew Heifitz, the 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:52.280 owner of Frankie Collective, about fashion and how to be 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:54.640 more eco conscious consumers of clothing. 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:59.000 And we can't really have this conversation without talking about access. 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:02.880 That's also a big factor in making the right decisions 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:05.480 for ourselves, you know, so true. If I have to 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:08.320 drive across town to get where the more ethically sourced 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:11.400 clothing is, that's already putting it out of bounds for me. 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:13.920 That's already a barrier. What if I don't have a car, 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:15.600 and if I do have a car, and am I 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:19.680 concerned about contributing to pollution in another way? And the 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:22.760 elephant in the room that we're not talking about is 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:27.440 that often organic or responsibly sourced clothing is more expensive. 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:31.440 These are all these different filters you have to assess 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:32.520 your decisions through. 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:34.720 This is just like what we were talking about when 0:16:34.720 --> 0:16:37.640 we talked about food and about access to healthy food. 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:40.600 Like if it's so expensive, then only certain groups of 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:43.400 people of a certain status have access to it. 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:46.520 The system has to change where doing the right thing 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:49.560 is the same price right, where it's the same for 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:51.520 everyone and everyone has accessibility to it. 0:16:56.800 --> 0:17:00.920 Like Drew said, accessibility is so important, and that goes 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:05.240 for accessibility to information too. The more we know about 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:08.600 our clothing and where and how it's made, the better 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:11.560 equipped we are to make choices about what we wear. 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:14.320 One thing that a lot of people don't know about 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:19.080 clothing fabric is that a lot of our clothing contains plastic, 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:22.600 and through the degradation of our clothes, whether it's through 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:26.359 washing or wherever our clothes end up, if we aren't 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:33.000 reusing them, it introduces tiny particles into our environment called microplastics. 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:37.280 Microplastics are a huge problem. Right when we wash our clothes. 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:43.560 Microplastics come off any synthetics, so basically fleece, polyester nylons, 0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:47.359 these products are made of petroleum plastic based materials, and 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:50.520 then they shed these tiny particles. The particles go get 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:53.640 washed out into the ocean. Eventually through our system they're 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:56.280 too small. This is kind of like out of sight, 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:58.040 out of mind problem that not a lot of people 0:17:58.080 --> 0:17:59.000 think about or know about. 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:03.720 We as humans on this planet, use a lot of plastic. 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:07.600 There's plastic in everything, there's plastic in our clothes, there's 0:18:07.600 --> 0:18:11.479 plastic in everything that's around us, and so that creates 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:13.920 a lot of plastic waste. And the thing about plastic 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:18.679 is that it doesn't degrade. It lives forever, essentially, and 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:21.520 so that creates a problem with the environment. Because we're 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:24.040 putting these things in landfills. There's a lot of plastic 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:26.320 that goes into our waste water, and that waste water 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:28.280 makes its way out to the ocean, and then, as 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:31.480 we talked about with Ayana Elizabeth Johnson in LAP twenty eight, 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:35.080 that water evaporates, goes into the sky and then rains 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:35.920 down upon us. 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:38.560 And I think the thing I really want everybody to remember, 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:41.560 you know, is when we say plastics, we think about 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:45.159 plastic bags and plastic that we can see, you know, 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:48.160 And that plastic is already like film, plastic hard enough 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:51.800 to capture. But you're talking about plastic that is so 0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:54.360 small that it's difficult to recapture. Right. 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:56.120 You would only be able to see them if they 0:18:56.240 --> 0:18:59.040 are grouped up in large groups. But what also is 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:01.919 happening is that when it's in the ocean, those microplastics, 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:04.199 because they're so small, they get carried up with the 0:19:04.400 --> 0:19:07.200 evaporated water from the ocean, which goes into the clouds, 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:11.520 and then as either rains or snows, the microplastic comes 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:14.679 down from the clouds and then back onto the earth. 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:17.000 So while it's in the water, we have fish that 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:20.920 are eating microplastics unknowingly. So I saw a study a 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:23.240 while ago that was saying that probably every piece of 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:26.399 fish that we consume at this point has microplastics in it. 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:30.320 And then there was a study from twenty nineteen where 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:34.160 these researchers were in the Arctic and they were collecting 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:37.720 snow samples from the Arctic, and they said per lead 0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:42.960 of melted snow, there were ten thousand microscopic particles of 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:46.240 plastic in it, ten thousand per leader. And so it 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:49.840 just lets you know that our water and our plant life, 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:54.280 and our animal life, and even just ourselves, we are 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:56.520 consuming so much plastic. 0:19:56.720 --> 0:20:01.119 You know, microplastics are harmful. You get bioaccumulations. Small little 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:05.919 organisms consume these microplastics. Bigger organisms consume lots of microplastics. 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:09.639 Fish consume those bigger organisms. We consume fish, you know. 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:13.280 So then you have microplastics circulating throughout our entire ecosystem, 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:16.320 and when they're in the body, they're harmful. They're physically harmful, 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:19.639 and they can disrupt biological function, like of your immune 0:20:19.680 --> 0:20:21.840 system and affect your growth and reproduction. 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:24.520 Frankie Collective has been trying in their own way to 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:26.960 make a huge dent on the problem of clothing and 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:29.600 textile ways, and Drew says that over the past few 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:31.359 years they've really taken off. 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:34.359 The conversation has also really grown on social media and 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:37.080 through several documentaries like The True Cost, which came out 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:40.840 in twenty fifteen, which highlights not only the devastating environmental 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:43.320 impact of fast fashion, but it also highlights the human 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:46.200 rights abuses that are happening due to the rising demand 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:47.360 of cheap clothing. 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:50.440 Yeah, it feels like now everybody's talking about it. 0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:53.520 I would say even like the last five years have 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:57.359 been the biggest movement in that kind of realm of 0:20:57.400 --> 0:21:00.760 public perception that we need to be more sustainable. It 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:03.639 has a whole following now, a whole sector of people, 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:05.399 a whole group of people that are really like again, 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:08.440 there's levels to it, but are looking for it, demanding it. 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:11.919 And that's the basis to everything. If the people want it, 0:21:12.000 --> 0:21:15.399 the people demand it, the people buy it, then it 0:21:15.440 --> 0:21:19.280 all falls into place because you literally vote for everything 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:22.560 with your money. It's like so simple. So you've got 0:21:22.560 --> 0:21:24.159