WEBVTT - Polyester Everything 0:00:10.450 --> 0:00:13.250 Hi, CMOS girlies. Welcome back to another week of the podcast. 0:00:13.310 --> 0:00:15.510 I'm so sorry that I sound like RFP Jr. right now. 0:00:16.329 --> 0:00:19.180 I lost my voice when traveling from London to Minnesota 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:22.360 with my two cats. We made it here okay, except 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:26.040 my voice is gone and I'm really exhausted. I'm recording 0:00:26.060 --> 0:00:28.590 this podcast from my parents' basement. So if you're watching 0:00:28.630 --> 0:00:30.570 on video and there's really fucked up lighting and it 0:00:30.590 --> 0:00:33.370 looks like I'm in a cave, I low-key am. I'm 0:00:33.390 --> 0:00:35.169 down here with my cats because if you didn't know, 0:00:35.210 --> 0:00:37.060 my mom also has two cats of her own. If 0:00:37.580 --> 0:00:40.220 you also didn't know, cats are very territorial. You can't 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:43.080 just like throw some random cats together. They will hate 0:00:43.100 --> 0:00:45.740 each other. So my mom built a makeshift door in 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:48.370 our house to kind of separate the cats for a 0:00:48.390 --> 0:00:50.979 few days so they get settled. Suki and Pinky made 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:52.660 it out okay. I will not bore you with the 0:00:52.700 --> 0:00:54.940 details of that. The only interesting thing of it is 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:57.080 that our flight got canceled. So we had to stay 0:00:57.100 --> 0:00:59.260 in a hotel one night. And being in a hotel 0:00:59.300 --> 0:01:02.210 with cats was just like so hilarious because I think 0:01:02.230 --> 0:01:03.890 they thought, you know, oh, we made it to the 0:01:03.910 --> 0:01:05.970 new apartment. And it's like, no, this is not where 0:01:05.990 --> 0:01:07.730 we're living. We're not living in the suburbs of Paris 0:01:07.770 --> 0:01:10.550 right now. I'm so excited to be back. I am 0:01:10.569 --> 0:01:13.150 spending a month in Minnesota. If you didn't know, my 0:01:13.209 --> 0:01:15.830 family lives here. This is where I'm from. My boyfriend 0:01:15.850 --> 0:01:17.090 and I are going to be moving to New York, 0:01:17.140 --> 0:01:19.770 hopefully October 1st and find a lease there. We both 0:01:19.790 --> 0:01:21.910 just wanted to spend some time with family after being 0:01:21.950 --> 0:01:24.450 away and being abroad and just, you know, the time 0:01:24.490 --> 0:01:27.630 change and everything being so fucking challenging. So I'm back. 0:01:27.970 --> 0:01:30.090 I'm back in time to go to the Minnesota State Fair. 0:01:30.110 --> 0:01:33.350 I was thinking of doing a live CMOS release recording 0:01:33.490 --> 0:01:35.970 from the fair, but also it's not really health and 0:01:35.990 --> 0:01:38.330 wellness vibes at the state fair, if you've seen on 0:01:38.350 --> 0:01:40.870 my social before. But maybe that's all the reason to 0:01:40.930 --> 0:01:43.430 do it. I am really excited to go to a 0:01:43.450 --> 0:01:45.420 grocery store and just look at all the bullshit that's 0:01:45.450 --> 0:01:48.100 on the shelves. I have really missed the grocery stores. 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:51.020 I feel like my options were so limited grocery-wise in 0:01:51.040 --> 0:01:53.040 the UK. And a lot of Brits did not love 0:01:53.060 --> 0:01:55.400 to hear that, which is fine, which is fine. But 0:01:55.420 --> 0:01:57.780 I had a dill pickle today, sipping on my Olipop, 0:01:58.500 --> 0:02:01.110 and I'm happy to be back. I feel like I 0:02:01.140 --> 0:02:05.010 have a lot of things I need to do, logistically speaking. 0:02:05.030 --> 0:02:06.710 You know, I have a UK phone number. I need 0:02:06.730 --> 0:02:08.430 to cancel my bank account. I need to get my 0:02:08.470 --> 0:02:10.370 new number. I need to get a new phone. My 0:02:10.389 --> 0:02:12.890 phone's been broken for about six months. Went to go 0:02:12.930 --> 0:02:16.070 get contacts today. Turns out I needed to get I 0:02:16.110 --> 0:02:18.710 knew I needed to get an eye appointment. And my 0:02:18.750 --> 0:02:20.389 sister was with me. And she's like, Kate, you don't 0:02:20.410 --> 0:02:23.070 have health insurance. And that was the real reminder that 0:02:23.090 --> 0:02:24.790 I'm back in the US. I was like, oh, yeah. 0:02:24.950 --> 0:02:27.070 So what's this going to cost? Because I don't have 0:02:27.090 --> 0:02:29.510 health insurance anymore. Because I moved out of here when 0:02:29.530 --> 0:02:32.020 I was 26. So that was a real good shock 0:02:32.060 --> 0:02:34.660 to experience today. But I'm going to lay low. I'm 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:36.500 not training for anything. I'm going to do some runs 0:02:36.540 --> 0:02:38.760 while I'm back. Hopefully get some sleep and figure out 0:02:38.780 --> 0:02:41.020 what I'm dealing with with this fucking cough that I 0:02:41.060 --> 0:02:43.380 got going on. I will be doing a podcast episode 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:45.340 with my mom when I'm back. We're going to be 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:48.240 doing one about Title IX because all of the transphobes 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:50.600 in the world have really pissed me off. So I 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:52.299 want to talk to my mom about her experience being 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:55.000 an athlete, you know, growing up without the protections of 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:57.700 Title IX, what it meant for her career, all the 0:02:57.740 --> 0:03:00.530 sexism that she's experienced that, of course, I've heard in 0:03:00.570 --> 0:03:03.010 stories over my life. So I'm really excited about that. 0:03:03.050 --> 0:03:05.240 But do let me know any pods. You want to 0:03:05.250 --> 0:03:07.040 see in the future because I'll be recording from this 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:09.940 basement for the next few weeks and hopefully New York 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:12.680 by October 1st. Once again, I do apologize that my 0:03:12.740 --> 0:03:15.590 voice is like this. Without further ado, let's get into 0:03:15.610 --> 0:03:23.389 this week's episode of Seamoth's Girlie. So today we're going 0:03:23.410 --> 0:03:26.649 to be talking about wellness buzzwords because I'm sure you 0:03:26.690 --> 0:03:30.790 see them all the time. You see the words clean, non-toxic, vegan, natural. 0:03:31.250 --> 0:03:34.240 And I think it's interesting that the wellness industry, all 0:03:34.250 --> 0:03:36.600 of these words offer a sense of safety in a 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:41.160 very chaotic, unregulated, scary world where... There are a lot 0:03:41.180 --> 0:03:44.020 of pollutants. There are a lot of dangerous chemicals and 0:03:44.100 --> 0:03:45.520 things that you don't want to be putting in your 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:47.710 body or giving to your kids. I also think it 0:03:47.750 --> 0:03:50.390 gives people a sense of identity. You know, I only 0:03:50.470 --> 0:03:54.810 buy clean beauty. I only get natural skincare or something 0:03:54.850 --> 0:03:57.740 like that. It almost creates social signifiers for people to 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:00.920 have like a status attached to them, like this is 0:04:00.980 --> 0:04:03.280 a type of person that would buy organic eggs versus 0:04:03.300 --> 0:04:05.720 this is a person that doesn't. It kind of creates 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:08.290 hierarchies here. All of these words, I think, are going 0:04:08.390 --> 0:04:10.910 off of a feeling that people have or a vibe 0:04:10.950 --> 0:04:13.170 that people have about the world and the state of 0:04:13.190 --> 0:04:17.430 health and well-being. There's so much pollution in our food system. 0:04:18.110 --> 0:04:20.200 I need to do something about it. So I'm going 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:22.880 to go and buy these non-toxic cleaning pans. I'm going 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:25.839 to really investigate, you know, all of the skincare that 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:28.080 I buy and read the ingredients and become an expert 0:04:28.140 --> 0:04:29.810 in it. I think a lot of the companies in 0:04:29.850 --> 0:04:31.810 these spaces, not all of them, but some of them 0:04:32.410 --> 0:04:36.620 really are successful because they fearmonger ingredients and they fearmonger 0:04:36.980 --> 0:04:40.120 this vibe that everything is scary that we touch and 0:04:40.140 --> 0:04:42.360 put in our bodies. Like I see that on TikToks 0:04:42.460 --> 0:04:44.940 all the time when someone's like, oh yeah, there's a 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:48.400 new recall in the US for whatever thing. Or turns 0:04:48.540 --> 0:04:52.310 out that leggings have microplastics and the comments will be like, wow, 0:04:52.350 --> 0:04:55.050 we can't do anything. Like I can't wear leggings. I 0:04:55.089 --> 0:04:57.330 can't use this. I can't do that. Is anything good 0:04:57.370 --> 0:04:59.970 in the world? And it gets people to this like 0:05:00.010 --> 0:05:03.650 conspiratorial level of thinking where like the answer to all 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:08.140 of this is truly just like government doesn't regulate corporations enough. 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:12.860 Capitalism rewards expansive growth. at the expense of your health. 0:05:13.500 --> 0:05:15.920 And companies are not going to go and meet those 0:05:15.980 --> 0:05:19.190 higher standards unless the government forces them to do so. 0:05:19.570 --> 0:05:21.710 And that I think really gets lost in the conversation 0:05:21.870 --> 0:05:25.260 about I don't know, buzzwords and this kind of safety 0:05:25.300 --> 0:05:27.920 that they can provide for people. Like we should be 0:05:27.940 --> 0:05:30.679 zooming out and looking at systems once again, but companies 0:05:30.779 --> 0:05:33.659 really are trying to like demonize other brands in their 0:05:33.700 --> 0:05:37.520 category and exploit people's fears and paranoia. They're playing on 0:05:37.550 --> 0:05:40.270 this paranoia in order to sell you something. Many of 0:05:40.290 --> 0:05:42.930 the strongest voices and especially like the clean beauty movements 0:05:43.029 --> 0:05:47.550 oftentimes will suggest avoiding ingredients, that have a theoretical risk 0:05:47.790 --> 0:05:51.610 of like endocrine disruption or cancer. Despite the fact that, 0:05:51.670 --> 0:05:54.130 you know, the disease and the ingredients, there needs to 0:05:54.170 --> 0:05:57.040 be a certain concentration of the ingredients. There hasn't been 0:05:57.070 --> 0:06:00.820 any proof scientifically to say that this beauty product has 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:04.200 this much of a carcinogen. We quite literally don't know 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:08.060 what the level of a quote harmful or toxic ingredient 0:06:08.140 --> 0:06:10.740 is needed in a cosmetic product for you to get 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:13.080 cancer from it. Like we do not have any scientific 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:15.870 consensus on that. But all of these companies are really 0:06:15.930 --> 0:06:18.850 exploiting the vibe because it makes sense, right? Your skin 0:06:18.890 --> 0:06:20.930 is your largest organ. You don't want to be putting 0:06:20.990 --> 0:06:23.690 anything on your skin that could lead to cancer. So 0:06:23.710 --> 0:06:26.510 they're making people's brains like go there without having the 0:06:26.550 --> 0:06:29.670 research and science to like truly support it. I think 0:06:29.690 --> 0:06:32.910 there's also a difference between like what dermatologists know about 0:06:33.089 --> 0:06:37.420 skin and science versus what information consumers get. I think 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:39.400 there's a huge gap there. I feel like consumers are 0:06:39.420 --> 0:06:42.240 just getting a lot of the fear mongering versus actually 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:45.909 knowing how these things work. how regulations work, how chemicals 0:06:46.010 --> 0:06:48.550 actually get absorbed into the skin. And I think there's 0:06:48.589 --> 0:06:51.289 a lack of education there on all this stuff. Why 0:06:51.330 --> 0:06:54.510 do people care about if their beauty is clean and 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:58.080 their pans are non-toxic or something like that? I think 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:00.780 Gen Z and millennials are the first generations to really 0:07:00.860 --> 0:07:04.320 care about what they're consuming. Are these companies good to 0:07:04.339 --> 0:07:08.090 the environment? Are they good to the LGBTQ plus community? 0:07:08.529 --> 0:07:11.760 Do they have inclusive hiring processes? You know, are they 0:07:11.810 --> 0:07:14.510 giving back to charity? This is what you would call, 0:07:14.550 --> 0:07:16.710 you know, ethical consumption. And that's a whole other thing 0:07:16.730 --> 0:07:20.220 that can be debated. Is any consumption ethical whatever ethics 0:07:20.300 --> 0:07:24.100 and sustainability claims really matter to millennials and gen z 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:26.900 when they're purchasing items especially when it relates to like 0:07:27.260 --> 0:07:30.120 cosmetic purchases but i also at the same time as 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:32.720 i'm saying this i think people are getting sick of 0:07:32.780 --> 0:07:35.100 all the buzzwords because i do think people know that 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:39.290 ultimately there are microplastics in everything as much as you 0:07:39.330 --> 0:07:42.470 can try individually to avoid stuff if you try to 0:07:42.530 --> 0:07:46.590 avoid microplastics in mascara i they're probably going to come 0:07:46.630 --> 0:07:49.890 through in your cotton socks or something like that. And 0:07:49.910 --> 0:07:51.350 that's not to make you feel like you don't have 0:07:51.430 --> 0:07:54.880 any control over how you're spending your money and what 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:57.620 companies you're supporting. But it is to say that I 0:07:57.700 --> 0:08:02.840 don't think it's worth your time really going label to label, 0:08:03.140 --> 0:08:06.530 spending hours and hours researching which products are doing what 0:08:06.570 --> 0:08:09.390 and how to shop in every aspect of your life. 0:08:09.910 --> 0:08:12.290 I think that can get to a point of feeling 0:08:12.410 --> 0:08:16.900 very intense and very very very daunting like you feel 0:08:16.930 --> 0:08:18.910 like there's so much that you have to do in 0:08:18.950 --> 0:08:22.430 order to quote like detoxify your lifestyle detox is a 0:08:22.450 --> 0:08:24.590 fake word as we all know but i feel like 0:08:24.630 --> 0:08:27.550 i see those videos you know okay i finally am 0:08:27.570 --> 0:08:29.470 like going through all of my clothes and i only 0:08:29.530 --> 0:08:33.260 want to start buying natural cotton workout clothes if you 0:08:33.300 --> 0:08:35.679 try to apply that to every category of your life 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:38.640 power to you if you can But that is something 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:40.969 that like I just personally don't have the mind space, 0:08:41.050 --> 0:08:44.010 time or energy to really commit to doing. I think 0:08:44.030 --> 0:08:46.770 it's challenging, too, because the government has failed to define 0:08:46.809 --> 0:08:49.780 what any of these terms mean, which leaves it oftentimes 0:08:49.940 --> 0:08:52.840 up to influencers and brands on social media to tell 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:55.469 you about these products. to tell you what a clean 0:08:55.490 --> 0:08:58.390 mascara really means. Under the current law, the FDA has 0:08:58.450 --> 0:09:01.420 very little authority to review chemicals and cosmetics and other 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:05.140 personal care products. Under US law, cosmetic products and ingredients 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:08.440 other than additives do not need FDA approval before they 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:10.870 go to market. This is similar to food products, as 0:09:10.929 --> 0:09:12.910 I said in the last episode, where like in Europe, 0:09:12.950 --> 0:09:15.590 they regulate These ingredients before they go to market in 0:09:15.610 --> 0:09:17.970 the U.S., we only do if there's something bad that 0:09:18.030 --> 0:09:22.220 comes out after people have consumed it. The FDA can 0:09:22.250 --> 0:09:24.780 take action against cosmetics on the market that do not 0:09:24.820 --> 0:09:28.060 comply with the law after they are being sold. And 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:31.020 the FDA right now has only banned 11 ingredients in 0:09:31.059 --> 0:09:34.940 cosmetic products. which is extremely low compared to European countries. 0:09:35.140 --> 0:09:37.900 And with all these buzzwords being used just so nonchalantly, 0:09:37.940 --> 0:09:41.040 and there's no definition for them, you know, you could say, well, 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:44.000 I'm going to do X amount of research about these products. 0:09:44.020 --> 0:09:46.420 I'm not going to trust what influencers say. But I 0:09:46.490 --> 0:09:49.750 think people do really buy products for so many reasons. 0:09:50.150 --> 0:09:52.270 What does the packaging look like? What is the font? 0:09:52.570 --> 0:09:55.929 What's the founder story? How did I hear about the product? 0:09:56.230 --> 0:09:59.040 Are all my friends using the product? Did an influencer 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:02.140 I know post about the product? Did the brand do 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:05.040 some sort of targeted marketing on my Instagram? There are 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:08.339 so many ways to discover brands. And I think that's 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:11.950 where these buzzwords really come into play. Half of adults 0:10:11.990 --> 0:10:15.750 under 50 say that they get health information from social media, 0:10:15.809 --> 0:10:19.479 specifically like TikTok. And countless TikTokers are really playing into 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:22.240 these themes of like the fear and the paranoia by saying, 0:10:22.260 --> 0:10:25.540 you know, our clothes are making us sick. That's exactly 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:28.670 what these algorithms want to hear. It's these like sensationalist 0:10:28.750 --> 0:10:32.010 claims about something that kind of makes everyone drop and 0:10:32.050 --> 0:10:33.890 need to like get rid of something in their life. 0:10:34.010 --> 0:10:36.849 And I think it's a very complicated scientific issue that's 0:10:36.910 --> 0:10:40.819 just like flattened with these crazy claims on social media. 0:10:40.860 --> 0:10:43.420 It really erodes trust for people to have in like 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:46.339 any sort of cosmetic products or food products. And it 0:10:46.380 --> 0:10:48.120 just drives people at the end of the day to 0:10:48.140 --> 0:10:51.760 like go and buy more things that they probably don't need. 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:54.240 I do think it's good for consumers to have information. 0:10:54.300 --> 0:10:56.449 But I think right now there is such an information 0:10:56.570 --> 0:11:00.150 overload with like how to shop sustainably, how to shop clean, 0:11:00.270 --> 0:11:02.390 how to shop natural, whatever. If you don't know the 0:11:02.429 --> 0:11:06.010 influencer world, the FTC, which is supposed to regulate influencers, 0:11:06.050 --> 0:11:08.570 you know, if they don't disclose that something's a paid campaign, 0:11:09.270 --> 0:11:12.710 they are so bad at going after influencers. They very 0:11:12.790 --> 0:11:16.729 rarely go after influencers if they claim health benefits from 0:11:16.750 --> 0:11:19.910 a product they're showing you. So unfortunately, I'm not expecting 0:11:19.929 --> 0:11:24.430 too much of the U.S. government. To start things off 0:11:24.450 --> 0:11:27.210 with the word clean, I think this movement really started, 0:11:27.250 --> 0:11:31.840 the clean beauty movement started like 2017, 2018. The natural 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:36.360 skincare market grew actually like 23% during this time period. 0:11:36.380 --> 0:11:40.790 I think this is thanks to platforms like Goop. everyone's 0:11:40.830 --> 0:11:42.990 favorite op. I've already done like posts about her. I 0:11:43.050 --> 0:11:45.670 might do a full pot about Gwyneth because she continues 0:11:45.750 --> 0:11:48.610 to drive me insane. I know she's a privileged white woman, 0:11:48.650 --> 0:11:50.489 but like I just am still so scared that so 0:11:50.510 --> 0:11:53.320 many people follow her. Okay, side tangent over. Whole Foods 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:57.340 notoriously bans 400 ingredients from ever entering their store. So 0:11:57.380 --> 0:11:59.800 when people are applying to get their product on the shelves, 0:12:00.140 --> 0:12:02.660 There's like 400 ingredients that can't be there. Even if 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:04.559 you go to Sephora, they have like a little like 0:12:04.660 --> 0:12:07.820 clean Sephora logo on products. So that tells consumers that 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:10.100 this product is like safe for you. You see one 0:12:10.140 --> 0:12:12.520 product have a certification, the other one doesn't. It's like, okay, 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:14.040 am I going to go and take the one that 0:12:14.100 --> 0:12:16.819 quote is not clean? I think I've changed my view 0:12:16.900 --> 0:12:19.680 on this a ton with like more educational content I've consumed, 0:12:19.740 --> 0:12:22.400 especially from Charlotte Palomino, who I had on the podcast 0:12:22.420 --> 0:12:25.120 a few months ago, who's the founder of Do Skincare. Also, 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:27.260 I've watched a lot of videos from like makeup artists 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:30.620 being like, we need parabens in products, like in order 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:33.600 for them to actually work, for them to last. like 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:36.170 natural makeup is not going to last if you're a 0:12:36.170 --> 0:12:39.150 drag queen or like performing like in theater or something 0:12:39.190 --> 0:12:42.730 like that. I think similarly in clothing manufacturing, I'm seeing 0:12:42.750 --> 0:12:44.880 a lot of videos from people that actually know about 0:12:44.929 --> 0:12:47.640 textiles that know about building products that are like, look, 0:12:48.100 --> 0:12:52.179 We cannot have cotton activewear. We cannot have a cotton 0:12:52.460 --> 0:12:56.200 rain jacket. We cannot have cotton leggings because these things 0:12:56.240 --> 0:12:58.860 are not going to work. We can't have cotton hiking pants. 0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:02.180 There are certain benefits to polyester because of how the 0:13:02.230 --> 0:13:05.329 product actually works when you're working with it. If you're 0:13:05.350 --> 0:13:08.349 a designer and you're sewing shit, I really love hearing 0:13:08.390 --> 0:13:11.990 from people that work with these materials or different ingredients 0:13:12.090 --> 0:13:14.949 are able to defend them because they know the purpose 0:13:14.990 --> 0:13:17.839 of them. Versus an influencer making a video being like, 0:13:18.020 --> 0:13:22.100 parabens are bad, polyester is bad, without really understanding. One 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:24.840 of my friends, Casey, who writes a newsletter on youth culture, 0:13:24.900 --> 0:13:27.370 so she's oftentimes exploring like what Gen Alpha is posting 0:13:27.380 --> 0:13:29.950 about on TikTok. She recently noticed that Gen Alpha is 0:13:30.010 --> 0:13:33.950 dissing their peers by calling them polyester life or something 0:13:33.990 --> 0:13:37.600 like that. insinuating that you are uncool, you are lame 0:13:37.700 --> 0:13:40.080 by using the word polyester, which is so interesting that 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:42.760 polyester is on people's radar, which I do think is good. 0:13:42.940 --> 0:13:45.720 I'm happy that people have an awareness of single-use plastics 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:47.860 and how they're bad for our environment, how they're bad 0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:50.349 for our health, everything like that. But I do worry 0:13:50.380 --> 0:13:52.890 with how vague these claims are and how they can 0:13:52.910 --> 0:13:56.010 just go everywhere quite quickly. Similar to clean eating and 0:13:56.070 --> 0:13:59.990 clean beauty, clean fashion is now becoming interesting to consumers 0:14:00.030 --> 0:14:03.469 because people are worried about environmental and personal health problems 0:14:03.550 --> 0:14:06.730 from plastic. Like, One reason that people are ditching polyester 0:14:06.870 --> 0:14:09.690 is that the clothes feel cheaper, they're made in worse quality, 0:14:09.730 --> 0:14:11.740 and they're not lasting as long. A second is that 0:14:11.770 --> 0:14:14.939 concern about microplastics being in anything. Next one could be 0:14:15.020 --> 0:14:17.660 like plastic is worth for our health or the environment. 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:20.660 And in the past five years alone, Google searches for, quote, 0:14:20.700 --> 0:14:24.840 natural fibers has risen by 110%. I think it's good 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:26.800 that people want to know more about the process. I 0:14:26.820 --> 0:14:30.870 think industrialization has made us really unaware of how food 0:14:30.910 --> 0:14:33.080 gets to our plate, how clothes get on our body. 0:14:33.380 --> 0:14:35.340 People are so used to being able to buy anything 0:14:35.380 --> 0:14:38.479 they want, get it overnight shipping on Amazon, that instant 0:14:38.500 --> 0:14:43.200 gratification has really killed people's understanding of labor practices and 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:46.080 supply chains and stuff like that. People in the U.S. 0:14:46.100 --> 0:14:48.300 grew up thinking, I can get watermelon any time of 0:14:48.340 --> 0:14:52.300 year versus understanding which produce is in season. how you 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:54.960 should be buying that. So many corporations hide their labor 0:14:54.980 --> 0:14:57.460 practices and it's really hard to figure out if they're 0:14:57.480 --> 0:15:01.630 manufacturing ethically or if chemicals in their product are good 0:15:01.670 --> 0:15:04.110 for you or not, like this podcast episode is about. 0:15:04.130 --> 0:15:07.110 This awareness of microplastic pollution has also increased over the 0:15:07.130 --> 0:15:10.690 past decade. About 45% of consumers globally now know what 0:15:10.740 --> 0:15:16.000 microplastics are. They're also able to correctly identify polyester, nylon, 0:15:16.020 --> 0:15:19.000 and spandex. It's interesting because this past year, Reformation, who 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:21.280 I want to focus on a little bit, They released 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:24.120 a recent summer campaign featuring a woman that was wearing 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:26.300 a linen tunic at the beach, and the caption said, 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:30.260 this and never wearing polyester again. Back to this idea 0:15:30.380 --> 0:15:33.580 that polyester is not the vibe, it's become culturally uncool, 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:36.950 and it's leaning into that through this marketing. Even if 0:15:36.990 --> 0:15:39.869 people don't know necessarily how much polyester needs to be 0:15:39.890 --> 0:15:41.530 in a product for your skin to be able to 0:15:41.590 --> 0:15:44.350 absorb it to get X type of cancer, even if 0:15:44.390 --> 0:15:48.010 people don't even know what polyester is chemically, brands are 0:15:48.030 --> 0:15:51.570 really tapping into this natural fiber movement and what consumers want, 0:15:51.850 --> 0:15:53.510 which I do think comes from a good place. But 0:15:53.530 --> 0:15:56.650 I do think influencers really exploit this paranoia that people 0:15:56.700 --> 0:15:59.700 have about fabrics to places where you don't need to 0:15:59.740 --> 0:16:03.660 be concerned, right? Scientists, dermatologists, they will say time and 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:07.240 time again, we don't have enough information to know if 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:11.170 you wearing polyester leggings are will link you to going 0:16:11.210 --> 0:16:14.310 and getting a specific type of endocrine disruption or cancer. 0:16:14.390 --> 0:16:16.490 We don't know the quantity needed in the legging. We 0:16:16.530 --> 0:16:19.110 also don't know how much cancer you would get from 0:16:19.150 --> 0:16:21.740 a single use. So I think this whole idea makes 0:16:21.770 --> 0:16:23.420 a lot of sense, but I don't want people to 0:16:23.500 --> 0:16:27.560 throw away everything they own to go and buy natural fibers. 0:16:27.620 --> 0:16:30.000 I think that is also a problem of people just 0:16:30.420 --> 0:16:32.940 constantly going out and buying new things. If you go 0:16:32.980 --> 0:16:36.900 outside in New York City, you're experiencing pollution from the environment. 0:16:37.270 --> 0:16:39.420 You know, even if you try to wear your pollution-free 0:16:39.460 --> 0:16:41.930 skincare or whatever the hell Goop is selling these days, 0:16:42.130 --> 0:16:44.500 you only can do so much. And I don't want 0:16:44.530 --> 0:16:46.960 that to make people feel powerless. That's not the intention 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:49.720 at all. But I don't want people to think that 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:52.740 you need to go and change every single thing you 0:16:52.780 --> 0:16:56.250 purchase and read the ingredients for hours on end. When 0:16:56.260 --> 0:16:58.190 we think about the clothing that people were putting on 0:16:58.210 --> 0:17:00.570 in the 1800s, just the way they were living their lives, 0:17:00.630 --> 0:17:03.270 people had a long, you know, children were working in 0:17:03.310 --> 0:17:05.810 factories and coal mines. We have come a very far. 0:17:06.150 --> 0:17:08.710 We've come a very long way and we've learned a lot. 0:17:09.140 --> 0:17:11.439 And I do think it's frustrating where like, yes, if 0:17:11.460 --> 0:17:14.010 we invested more into the research about all of these 0:17:14.109 --> 0:17:17.530 quote toxins, we would be able to pass better policies. 0:17:17.609 --> 0:17:20.210 If we had more, you know, progressives in Congress, maybe 0:17:20.250 --> 0:17:23.150 we would have legislation about this. But back to reformation 0:17:23.190 --> 0:17:25.080 for a little bit. So they issued this ad that 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:27.920 said this and never wearing polyester again, kind of saying 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:31.119 that the vibe of polyester is lame. But when I 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:33.880 first heard of reformation, probably like 10 years ago, which 0:17:33.920 --> 0:17:36.360 makes me sound shopped and unk, but when they were 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:39.680 coming up in 2016, let's say, You know, their biggest 0:17:39.740 --> 0:17:41.960 slogan or statement that they had on all their websites 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:45.020 and posters was being naked is the number one most 0:17:45.060 --> 0:17:47.600 sustainable option. We're number two. There was a huge buzz 0:17:47.619 --> 0:17:49.820 and interest in this kind of like fashion or maybe, 0:17:50.180 --> 0:17:54.590 you know, philanthropic capitalism back in 2016. A lot of 0:17:54.630 --> 0:17:57.669 companies like Everlane were posting about their supply chain and 0:17:57.790 --> 0:18:01.449 their carbon emissions. We had companies like Girlfriend Collective that 0:18:01.490 --> 0:18:04.580 was making their leggings out of recycled water bottles. I 0:18:04.619 --> 0:18:07.020 think it was really what the consumers wanted back in 2016. 0:18:07.020 --> 0:18:11.179 I also think people, too, are less concerned about supply 0:18:11.220 --> 0:18:15.210 chains and sustainability than they are personal health. I think 0:18:15.290 --> 0:18:19.530 reformation going from saying that we are the second most 0:18:19.550 --> 0:18:22.550 sustainable option when you go and buy clothes to now 0:18:22.690 --> 0:18:25.810 making it about a personal health claim of never wearing polyester, 0:18:26.310 --> 0:18:29.130 that just shows that the climate crisis is a faraway 0:18:29.170 --> 0:18:33.910 problem and health is immediate. sustainability is kind of buzzy moment, 0:18:34.010 --> 0:18:36.950 I think has faded away. I think shoppers are not 0:18:37.090 --> 0:18:40.580 moved by carbon emissions or recycling anymore. And I think 0:18:40.619 --> 0:18:43.679 people are interested in, you know, how a garment could 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:45.500 affect their health. Is it going to give them cancer? 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:47.960 Is it going to give them hormonal issues? So people 0:18:48.020 --> 0:18:53.020 are much more interested in material composition, microplastics and natural materials. 0:18:53.100 --> 0:18:56.300 Maybe this consumer demand for an alternative to polyester is 0:18:56.730 --> 0:18:59.629 will kind of lead to a new innovative fabric. I 0:18:59.670 --> 0:19:02.199 do enjoy seeing videos from people that work in the 0:19:02.220 --> 0:19:06.600 textile industry saying like, obviously plastic and single-use plastic is bad. 0:19:06.640 --> 0:19:08.619 We have far too much plastic and too much shit. 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:13.050 There's kind of a growing bio-based alternative space to replace polyester, 0:19:13.170 --> 0:19:15.669 but the innovations are only at pilot stages. Like we 0:19:15.690 --> 0:19:18.770 don't have something that could replace all the polyester in 0:19:18.790 --> 0:19:22.050 our industry. fashion supply chain right now. Beyond just thinking 0:19:22.090 --> 0:19:24.830 about polyester and that being bad for us individually, there's 0:19:24.930 --> 0:19:27.590 so many more issues with fashion that I wish would 0:19:27.690 --> 0:19:32.040 also become as buzzy as polyester. Specifically thinking about emissions 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:35.780 and labor conditions, specifically labor conditions. There are so many 0:19:35.900 --> 0:19:40.140 companies that are started by women that use factories in 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:43.530 countries that do not pay women a fair wage. garment 0:19:43.570 --> 0:19:47.580 workers globally are the most exploited group of workers ever 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:50.520 but like it is labor that people don't have to see. 0:19:50.630 --> 0:19:53.760 It's invisible. It's hidden away. Unless you are watch fashion, 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:55.639 it's not something you see when the clothing gets to 0:19:55.680 --> 0:20:00.520 your doorstep. A lot of different groups are starting to 0:20:00.600 --> 0:20:03.919