Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol mess Here
Speaker 1: and Tim Steneveek on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2: So we're gonna talk a little bit about fast fashion,
Speaker 2: which kind of came into its own in the nineteen ninety.
Speaker 2: So we're talking about a business model of rapidly converting
Speaker 2: designs and trends into cheap and readily available clothing. It's
Speaker 2: been celebrated matt for making high fashion accessible to the masses,
Speaker 2: but the model is also blamed for promoting over consumption
Speaker 2: and a lot of we've done Bloomberg has done a
Speaker 2: lot of stories about all these barely worn clothing that
Speaker 2: are exported to countries like Ghana and just shows up
Speaker 2: in landfills and it's just pollution and it's just bad
Speaker 2: for the environment.
Speaker 3: After like poor children are paid eleven cents an hour
Speaker 3: to make them. There's horrible conditions and so yes.
Speaker 2: Yes, there's a lot there, all right, It's just.
Speaker 3: Like a horribly bad Yeah.
Speaker 2: So, joining us with some thoughts on the ethical and
Speaker 2: environmental impacts of fast fashion on Zoom from Montreal is Aloaisa.
Speaker 2: I say it correctly.
Speaker 1: My name is Elouise Eloisa.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry. I forgive me. Eloisa lewis founder and CEO
Speaker 2: of New Climate Culture, and they are a climate science
Speaker 2: and biodiversity think tank. I just couldn't read my own handwriting. Eloisa,
Speaker 2: good to have you here with Matt and myself. Tell
Speaker 2: us first of all, a little bit about your think
Speaker 2: tank and who you guys are. You know who funds
Speaker 2: you and kind of what your main missions are.
Speaker 1: Sure, I'm self funded thanks to an incredible inheritance left
Speaker 1: to me my grandfather, who is a physicist who did
Speaker 1: really incredible things for the world, especially during World War
Speaker 1: Two for the Canadian Navy. So my grandfather just believed
Speaker 1: in myself and my projects. I originally was an AI
Speaker 1: researcher working on artificial intelligence at the top universities and
Speaker 1: research institutions domestically and internationally. But then I decided to
Speaker 1: become a climate scientist because I saw the importance that basically,
Speaker 1: no matter what you do for your own personal health
Speaker 1: or your own personal like subgroup on the planet, we
Speaker 1: all share the same air, water, and soil as those
Speaker 1: things migrate independent of our political cultural differences, and so
Speaker 1: that really intrigued me. I wanted to help detox the
Speaker 1: planet as much as I was interested in programming the
Speaker 1: human biome.
Speaker 3: So all right, let's jump into fast fashion then, Eloisa,
Speaker 3: I can see, you know, the arguments against it are
Speaker 3: pretty clear. On the other hand, it's a great way
Speaker 3: for people who don't necessarily have a lot of money
Speaker 3: to feel good about themselves and dressing fun clothes. What
Speaker 3: do you think about the industry?
Speaker 1: I think that I mean, even right there, that's the
Speaker 1: beginning of the problem. Is that we live in a
Speaker 1: kind of capitalist, consumptive culture that makes you feel that
Speaker 1: your self worth is dependent on the clothing you wear,
Speaker 1: and that that's what makes you like more valid or
Speaker 1: more hireable or something like that. And so I think
Speaker 1: that just these industries, especially fast fashion, fast food, anything
Speaker 1: that wants to get you to make an impulse purchase
Speaker 1: is going to play into your insecurities and your sense
Speaker 1: of time most importantly. So maybe I think it's part
Speaker 1: of the false narrative that's being given, that's being fed
Speaker 1: to consumers that they don't have time to find ethical
Speaker 1: fashion when there are I know, everyone's already spending hours,
Speaker 1: you know, scrolling on their phone for entertainment, and so
Speaker 1: the same time resource that's being used for potentially some
Speaker 1: kind of other entertainment or temporary satisfaction could be redirected,
Speaker 1: and just the attention redirected toward doing a little bit
Speaker 1: more research and putting more effort into how we're shopping
Speaker 1: where we're shopping from.
Speaker 2: Totally totally agreet. I feel like, you know, Elouis, I
Speaker 2: was thinking about this, and I agree it's a dangerous thing,
Speaker 2: and it's more about quantity than quality. I feel like
Speaker 2: when it comes to it. Having said that, I think
Speaker 2: about when we used to talk a lot about organic food,
Speaker 2: be like, yeah, you gotta all got to eat better,
Speaker 2: but it's expensive and not everybody can afford that, And
Speaker 2: so how do we figure out better systems so that
Speaker 2: we can reach more people, whether it's fashion, whether it's food,
Speaker 2: or what have you tell us about some of the
Speaker 2: things that you guys have been working with or on
Speaker 2: to reduce the impact that really all of the fashion
Speaker 2: industry has on the environment. To be fair, you make
Speaker 2: a pair of genes, it use a ton of water,
Speaker 2: So let's talk about that, like, so, and what you're
Speaker 2: where you're making some.
Speaker 1: Progress on yes, So when we think about this narrative
Speaker 1: of how something is made and then how it comes
Speaker 1: to our doorsett. You know, if earth is our playground,
Speaker 1: what New comment Culture is really focused on is how
Speaker 1: businesses play in that playground and especially where they're sourcing materials,
Speaker 1: how they're sourcing it. So there's a difference between a
Speaker 1: finite resource like fossil fuel and a renewable resource, which
Speaker 1: is something that is part of a circular economy. So
Speaker 1: we want to source. And what New Climic Culture helps
Speaker 1: not only can we help your company find the right
Speaker 1: materials so that you can create ethical fashion in your
Speaker 1: production line, but also examining all the different aspects of
Speaker 1: production and what chemicals are being used in the processing,
Speaker 1: et cetera. And then even further, what we can do
Speaker 1: is actually help start businesses of farms, because what we
Speaker 1: need everywhere, any nation state or bioregion needs to have
Speaker 1: its own local economy of clothing so that we're not
Speaker 1: dependent on you know, it's very much out of sight,
Speaker 1: out of mind to have a foreign investor or a
Speaker 1: local investor create a factory that isn't really a lifestyle
Speaker 1: that we should be putting other humans into, even regardless
Speaker 1: of if it's possible to cource people to do it.
Speaker 1: So people we're looking at farming, really at the seal
Speaker 1: answer to different material pollution in the wastewater and landfills.
Speaker 2: You know this probably more than most that to move
Speaker 2: the needlely get to move something like a Walmart, or
Speaker 2: you get to talk to Amazon like those those outlets
Speaker 2: where a lot of stuff is being sold. Have you
Speaker 2: what's your thoughts on that? And have you been able
Speaker 2: to approach some of these kind of players if you will,
Speaker 2: within the industry.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I mean that's really what I'm here to do.
Speaker 1: I don't have I don't consider anyone my competition or
Speaker 1: enemy in this industry of climate science, because particularly for me,
Speaker 1: what my specialty and what my thing tank is about
Speaker 1: is as simple as clean water, clean air, clean food,
Speaker 1: clean soil, and that being the basis of our economies
Speaker 1: actually being the fundamental measure of like a successful local
Speaker 1: economy in any part of the world. And yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: here to talk to anyone. I've been quoted next to
Speaker 1: Amazon on Google X, on mobile, at and T, so
Speaker 1: I'm ready to talk. I'm working with many companies all
Speaker 1: over the world, especially research institutions and universities, are interested
Speaker 1: in talking to me. I find there are kind of
Speaker 1: the front lines of trying to educate students and future
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs about to make better choices so that we can
Speaker 1: set up industry from the beginning well, so that you know,
Speaker 1: it's okay, we can definitely work with the established, but
Speaker 1: if we're going to really look at the future of
Speaker 1: the next industrial revolution, we know that it's going to
Speaker 1: be artisanal. It's going to be about higher quality of
Speaker 1: life and higher pay for everyone, because, like you've said,
Speaker 1: a large part of this is because in order to
Speaker 1: maintain the current systems around us electrical and gas and
Speaker 1: heating and water, we are our money is spread very thin.
Speaker 1: And so that's something we think about again with the company,
Speaker 1: is every aspect of where is your money going as
Speaker 1: a consumer in your lifestyle, so that you can you know,
Speaker 1: why is it that we can't afford organic food sometimes
Speaker 1: and we can't afford organic clothing Japanese Japanese done them,
Speaker 1: like why and why not have more industry that is
Speaker 1: local so that we can really show off pride as
Speaker 1: Americans or as whatever a nation state or buy region
Speaker 1: you're in. That's really about showcasing again a.
Speaker 2: Lifestyle, Eloisa, I'm just saying, we just have about forty
Speaker 2: five seconds left here, So for folks who might be listening,
Speaker 2: and we have a really smart audience, investors and so
Speaker 2: on in consumers of lots of stuff, advice in terms
Speaker 2: of maybe you know, being able to contribute to kind
Speaker 2: of the way you're thinking about it when it comes
Speaker 2: to the fashion industry or buying stuff, and just kind
Speaker 2: of like I said about thirty thirty five.
Speaker 1: Seconds, Okay, well, look for like couture, vintage, slightly used,
Speaker 1: trading at sea, things like that, any makers, artisanal makers
Speaker 1: of clothing. That's who we're going to be like the
Speaker 1: most important people to support and potentially invest in. And
Speaker 1: then secondarily, go ahead and check out Project Drawdown that's
Speaker 1: a compendium of solutions for climate change, as well as
Speaker 1: our company, New climateculture dot com.
Speaker 2: I love it. I love it. I have to tell
Speaker 2: you my daughter and I Matt, we love going to
Speaker 2: like vintage shops and stuff I like. I don't know
Speaker 2: if you're into advantage, I.
Speaker 3: Love it too. I mean that's the fun. But I
Speaker 3: mean I had to admit I'm guilty of being a consumer.
Speaker 3: So yes, I like to shop, and vintage shops are
Speaker 3: usually cooler than any other shops because otherwise you just
Speaker 3: have the mall chains that kind of suck you, like
Speaker 3: moths too, though, I just like hanging out there because
Speaker 3: they have good air conditioning.
Speaker 2: Alouisa, thank you so much. Really appreciate it. She is
Speaker 2: founder and CEO of New Climate Culture on Zoom from Montreal.
Speaker 2: Check out her on Twitter at Buddha Culture