(light music) - [Announcer] Bringing journalism to life on stage, amplifying local culture, depending civic participation.

(light music continues) (audience clapping) - Hello everyone and welcome.

Thank you all for being here, we are super excited to have you.

So as you heard, I'm a climate reporter here at KQED.

And one of the things I report on is momentum in the climate movement, and solutions.

And you know, climate change can be a really heavy topic, and I want to share that in the world of climate change there is also a space for fun and joy, and tonight we're gonna prove that, 'cause we have an awesome show for you, and an amazing range of panelists.

Another thing that is really amazing about work on climate change, is doing it together in community.

And so I wanna thank you all for becoming this community, for being the community tonight, for us here at KQED.

And I hope that we can all make some nice connections in the lobby afterwards.

Another piece of working on climate solutions to avoid burnout, is to collaborate with like minded people.

And so, when we started conceptualizing this event, we were like at first, reaching out to these different brands, and being like, "Okay, it seems like you do sustainable clothing, "and blah blah blah," and then we kept hearing from people like, "No no no, this is not about buying new, "this is about like what already exists, "this is about thrifting, "this is about mending, this is about styling."

And as we were having these conversations, we got introduced to this amazing organization called ReMake.

And ReMake is an organization, yeah, let's hear it for ReMake.

(audience clapping) Logo.

ReMake is an organization that advocates for fair pay, and climate justice, and fashion, through legislation campaigns and more.

So we are very lucky to be partnering with them, we have their founder here tonight who you will hear from soon.

Yeah, so I'm just super excited, thank you for warming up this space and making this an awesome event.

Okay, so as some of you have heard, when you signed up for this, maybe you saw, or maybe you did not notice, that someone from our audience will be chosen to be styled during this very event tonight.

(audience moaning) I know, very exciting, okay.

(audience laughs) All right, and so I'd like to call to the stage this special individual, and they are, Dawn Meza, Dawn, can you please come up to the stage?

(audience clapping) Here she is, Dawn.

Okay, you might be like, "Wow, she's totally surprised."

We did reach out to her a few days beforehand.

(audience laughs) So she's come with some items from her closet, some things that she's not sure about styling, you know, some other items that maybe it's like, "I don't know, I love this, "but I don't know how to wear it," whatever.

So, Dawn is going to be meeting with our amazing stylist, Kara Fabella, Kara, can you come to the stage so we can get a look at who you are?

Here she is, here's Kara, let's hear it for Kara.

(audience clapping) We're gonna like go deep with these two a little bit, but while a lot of what we're doing is happening, a lot of our discussions, they're gonna be backstage, they're gonna be styling, we're gonna have some makeovers, there's gonna be some makeup, it's gonna be a very exciting situation.

(audience laughs) But so I just want to tell you a little bit more.

Kara Fabella is the founder of The Flip Side, it is an ethical style service.

And she is also an ambassador for our event partner Re/Make.

And so an ambassador for them, they're about 2,000 of them around the world.

They are change makers in the fashion industry.

Okay, that is very exciting.

Let's see, if you are disappointed that you were not chosen, as I know you are, 'cause I am, (audience laughs) but I couldn't be chosen 'cause I'm hosting, it is still okay, because Kara has complementary styling sessions for 30 minutes.

So you can sign up and get connected to her at The Flip Side, find her there.

Okay, are you two ready to go off and have your transformation?

Yeah, okay, exciting.

And this is gonna be more than just like, we take her glasses off and we're like, "Oh my god."

(audience laughs) It's gonna be more than that everybody, okay?

You can even maybe keep your glasses on.

(Dawn laughs) Okay, all right, well thank you so much, we will see you in a little bit.

Goodbye, let's wish them well.

(audience clapping) Some applause-o.

All right, very nice.

Okay, so, they'll be doing their thing, and our first guest that I would like to welcome to the stage, is gonna help us get an overall sense of where we are with the fashion industry today, And this person's name is Ayesha Barenblat.

Ayesha, could you come on up here?

Ayesha is the founder and CEO of ReMake, (audience clapping) our partner organization tonight, here she is.

Would you like to have a seat?

- Why, of course.

- Okay.

- So happy to be here.

Hi everyone!

(everyone chants hello) - And so you've heard about ReMake, they are a global advocacy organization, fighting for human rights and climate justice within the clothing industry.

Thank you so much for being here.

- I'm so happy to be here.

Look at this beautiful audience!

We're going to have a great night.

- Totally awesome, yeah.

So to start us off, what are you wearing?

(audience laughs) - Well, (Ayesha laughs) I'm wearing a Ted Baker dress, but it is rented.

I am an avid thrifter, renter.

I haven't probably bought anything new other than underwear maybe in like five years?

- Wow.

- So.

- That is really cool, okay, nice.

I am also wearing a rented dress.

- It's lovely on you.

- Very fun for events like this, and you get like the new ones every time, it's cool, okay.

So, let's get to some real questions here.

So what brings you to this work, where did you start out with this?

- So for me, this has really been a 20 year fight of the fashion industry taking it seriously when it comes to climate justice and people.

And by people, I really mean women, because this industry's powered by women.

I am from Pakistan originally, and so the early days of fashion being outsourced to our part of the world, I've really seen the environmental impact, the impact on women first hand, and so for me this is a very personal fight.

I started, as you said in your opening, you know working in consulting with fashion brands.

You know some of the ones head quartered right here, like Levi's, and GAP, and really trying to get them to take these issues seriously, but recognizing that an individual brand can only do so much.

And that what we're needing is much more radical, disruption.

I was with the United Nations, we would bring governments unions and brands to the table to address things like child labor, forced labor, you know to this day, we still have modern-day slavery in the fashion supply chain.

Rana Plaza fell down.

And for those of you don't know, Rana Plaza remains one of the biggest industrial disasters of our time.

Over 1,100 young women in Bangladesh lost their life because a building collapsed.

And really for me Laura, that's when the fire got you know stronger, to say we need to come together to unite in really holding this industry accountable to climate and to human rights.

And that's really ReMake's founding story, we're 10 years old now, and we collectively reach four million change makers.

Because I truly believe in the power when we come together, that's when we can make a difference.

And so for us, the work is really about campaigning, it's about passing good laws, and it's about making sure that conversations like this not only are they educational, and feel accessible, we're gonna try and speak in no sustainability jargon tonight, but that you walk away really feeling empowered to make a difference.

Because I really do believe if each of us take that one first step, together we're going to be unstoppable in making this industry match our values.

- So tell us about where we are right now with the fashion industry, and what the problems are with it related to climate change and to human rights?

- You know when it comes to sustainable fashion, just in terms of even defining it for us, a lot of times when we talk about sustainable fashion people will talk about you know eco friendly materials, organic cotton, but for us at ReMake, a lot of the education first is around recognizing how much these issues are linked to people and the planet.

Because look, if it's organic cotton but it was picked by children, that's not really sustainable.

You know, and similarly, if it's a brand that says it's made right here locally, and we pay the workers fairly, but it's made with toxins and chemicals, that's not really sustainable either.

And so when I think about the issues on hand, what's first to say look, we're producing between 100 and 120 billion units of clothes, that's billion with a capital B, every single year.

And the reason the numbers are so squishy is because we don't have good data.

And of those clothes, most within the first year of production get thrown away.

- And that's for-- - Because the quality's so bad.

Do you know how many people there are on the planet?

Nine.

And so we have more than enough clothes to clothe generations of us, and yet we keep making them and tossing them.

Fashion is up there from an emissions standpoint, between eight and nine percent of global emissions come from this industry.

We often think about the airline industry, or transportation, but we don't think of the dirty little secret of our clothes.

And the sort of final thing, sort of to really open our minds to why this is a problem, 93% of the people who make our clothes today make not enough to put food on the table, it's poverty pay, even though this is a two-and-a-half trillion dollar industry.

So to me, that's really the magnitude of the problem.

How is it possible that this profitable industry that's worth so much, can't pay people enough to eat?

And how is it that this industry continues to rely on fossil fuel?

And really, the two issues are linked, because we are producing so much and making it so fast, the only way to do that is with fossil fuel and by underpaying workers.

And so that's really that huge issue.

But for the rest of the time we're not gonna depress the audience right, we're gonna talk about solutions.

- Right.

Right right.

- That's it.

That was it for the depression yes.

(audience and Ayesha laughs) - So tell us a little bit more about the connection between fossil fuels and the clothes that we actually wear?

And then how that has changed things over recent decades.

- So if your neighbor would allow you to do this, I would lean over, ask first you know, (Laura laughs) and just have a look at the label and see like what the material mix is.

You probably saw a lot of countries represented in the labels, because we don't really make a lot here, mostly in Asia.

But to your point of how to connect the dots, most of what you'll see if you've looked at your neighbor, go back to your closet today, is going to say polyester, polyester blend, you'll be hard pressed to find cotton or linen.

And that is something that has really changed in our lifetime.

You know you look at clothes made in the '80's, even early '90's, there wasn't this much polyester.

What is polyester?

Polyester is an oil based synthetic, it's fossil fuel.

So here we are you know in our electric cars, trying to think-- - It's surprising.

- We're doing the right thing, and it's like, oh my god.

- I'm wearing fossil fuels.

- My closet is full of fossil fuel.

And the way that this is connected, these issues are connected, is the only way to make so many clothes so cheap is to make them of poor quality with fossil fuel, because polyester is the cheapest fabric out there.

And it's to consistently underpay women.

And so one of the things that we talk about at ReMake, is look, a climate solution would be pay people more.

You know, if we are making a wage of dignity we can't make so many cheap clothes that are going to end up in our landfills anyway.

And so the two issues don't have to have a tension, really they go hand in hand, that's how I think about the climate conversation and the human rights conversation.

- Yeah, I think that's really helpful to bridge that connection for us.

And so, what are you know, we see where we are right now, and what is the dream of where we should be?

How do we get there?

- Yeah, easy questions for me Laura.

You know when I, if you would allow to dream with me Lina, I dream of an industry where we no longer feel ashamed or embarrassed of what we put on our bodies.

You know whether you consider yourself a fashionable person or not, I mean unless you're a nudist, that's fine too, we all wear clothes, and so we are all a part of this industry.

And so when I think of what this industry could look like, well first and foremost, garment worker is technical work.

You know we have, I see some designers, fashion students that I know in this audience.

Let's recognize this for the high skilled work that it is, and pay the women who power this industry to live a life of dignity.

I also dream of this industry being a part of the share economy.

You're going to hear lots of solutions today around how can we share our clothes?

Whether it's swapping, mending, rental, secondhand, we have enough clothes to keep them in generation rather than constantly buying, throwing away.

Because that's the best way for us to show up in this conversation, is just buying less and making the clothes last longer.

And finally, I really dream of a time when this industry, we can feel the beauty, we can feel the creativity of fashion as an art form, as fashion making us feel powerful, but for us to be able to do that we have to get our arms around this conversation so that the industry really moves towards paying women fairly, that's one.

And then two, there are innovations out there, innovations of literally soil to soil, creating material that is sustainable.

But the only way for these technological innovations, these sustainable brands to thrive, is to regulate.

We have to pass good laws so that the bad actors, the ultra fast fashion brands aren't essentially owning the industry as they are today.

- And these are really helpful sort of larger picture things.

And then where do we come in as individuals?

How do we plug into this?

- How many of you when you hear you know, how terrible it is, sort of felt yourself retreating back in the seat, it's like, oh god, here's one more thing I have to worry about.

I see some nods.

So, there you go, it's like not just nods, raising your hand.

So first, I'd just ask you to take a big collective breath and breathe.

I've been doing this work for a long time, and I consider myself an eternal optimist because there are solutions.

And the reason I say take a collective breath and let go of the eco anxiety is because the industry wants you to believe it's your problem.

Time and time again, you know you hear any fashion brand talking about this, they're like, "It's an over consumption problem, "what do we do?

"This is what the customer wants."

And honestly, that is simply not true.

The problem is it's an over production problem.

The industry creates product in a way where there is too much inventory, they're just throwing things on a canvas to see what sells, and then they're marketing at you, TikTok, Instagram, promotional emails.

And so I think, from an individual level, it's first to say, it is impossible today to be the perfect sustainable consumer, it's just not possible.

And so, really thinking about, what is that one two first step that we can take?

You know something simple as give us a follow on Instagram, ReMake our world.

We take no money from the industry, we give you quick tips, just education as a starting point.

I think it's also finding your local community.

Our wonderful Bay Area community organizers, Sophia's here in the audience, other ReMake ambassadors.

It's leaning in so that we can do the mending, the secondhand, the thrifting.

But that's sort of what we can do at an individual level.

I will tell you, what we're talking about are wicked problems.

You know we are talking about an industry that is on an overdrive to produce too much.

And so what we need to do there from a solutions point is really regulation.

We've done it in California.

Two years ago we passed the Garment Worker Protection Act.

Here in California, until two years ago, women were making between two and five dollars to make our clothes, today she makes a minimum wage, and it came from organizing.

So I think individually it's you know do what you can, and then let's come together to run the campaigns, help us win the campaigns to hold the industry accountable and pass good laws.

It's the only way that we're going to make it too expensive for this industry to pump out fossil fuel product.

- Yeah, and I think another piece to this is just talking about it more.

And I think it can be really hard to talk about these things.

It's like, there is the risk of shaming people, there is the risk of feeling you know guilty yourself.

And so like where do you, how do recommend that somebody even have this conversation?

Like I think we're still at a place where if you're just at a dinner party and you wanna just talk about ethical fashion, it's still a little taboo.

- Don't do that.

- You do?

- I did that, and I lost a lot of friends.

(audience laughs) It was like, "Oh no, here she comes, (Ayesha laughs) "she's going to irritate us so much."

You know, it's true, look when you feel passion for an issue it's really important that we're not talking at people, it's really important that also at the end of the day, hiding behind a lot of this sustainability jargon.

And so, first I really think like walk the talk right?

You look lovely, I think there's so many people looking lovely.

And people will often say, "Look, that's a great dress, where did you get it?"

And I'm like, "I thrifted it at Crossroads."

Or, "I rented it."

And you know it's sort of an opening starter conversation.

- [Laura] Just to keep it casual at first.

- To keep it casual yes.

- [Laura] Before you get into the child labor.

- Exactly.

(audience laughs) You know, I mean and the other thing is you know, at ReMake we have a slogan, you know I have the pin on, it says, "Wear your values."

And so rather than me telling you what I believe, it's to ask you the question, "What is your value system?"

And if you believe that women should be paid fairly for equal pay, if you believe that we are needing in our lifetime to quickly diverse from fossil fuel, you know then this movement is for you.

And so it really is about asking people about their value system, and then making it accessible.

We have people coming into our movement that are really love mending, and you know you'll see some of that, it's like, "I want to stitch and create with my hands."

And we have others who are like, "I just am a D pop girlie all day long, "like I love love love finding the thrift find."

We have others who are like, "Get me to march in the street, I will do it."

So I think it's sort of finding your community, and finding ways to make that difference.

But really when you start, it's really with that conversation.

Like say you leave today, let's just say, "I learned something interesting.

"You know I didn't realize "that fashion had such a reliance on fossil fuel."

Actually I often say clothes, because you know what happens when I say fashion?

The men walk away.

(Laura laughs) Because somehow.

- They wear clothes too.

- Somehow yeah.

- Most of them wear clothes.

- It's like, we all wear clothes.

So it's like you know I learned that this industry just doesn't meet my values, and I'm learning about it, and I'm wanting to still have fun with it, but in a way that perhaps is not as detrimental to people and the planet.

So I think keeping it accessible, keeping it fun, really walking the talk.

And not feeling like you have to get it all right.

I don't know if you feel this, but there's so much-- - That's true.

- Pressure today, especially online, to be this perfect consumer of sustainability.

And it's like, you can't consume your way into sustainable fashion future, or any kind of sustainable world.

So it's the baby steps you know?

- Well, I don't know about you, but when I hear Ayesha talk, I feel extremely inspired, and so I just wanna thank you so much for being here.

And let's all say thank you to Ayesha Barenblat for being here.

- Thank you.

(audience clapping) I'll be here later to chat with all of you.

- Meet in the lobby.

Thank you so much.

Okay, we have our overview.

As you saw the title of this event, it is thrift, style, mend, and sometimes buy.

So in keeping with this title, we are gonna be going deep into thrifting with our next guest.

Our next guest is Sarah Pinner.

She's the CEO and co founder of Beni, which finds best resale alternatives from across the internet in the click of a button.

All right, let's welcome Sarah, come on up Sarah.

(audience clapping) Let's hear it for Sarah Pinner.

Welcome, to the stage.

- Thank you.

- Thank you Sarah.

- Thank you.

- Please have a seat, and tell us, what are you wearing?

- Yes, I am wearing thrifted shirt that we screen printed, some thrifted pants and shoes that my sister gave me, 'cause they were too big so.

- Very nice.

- It was perfect.

- Okay, and did you thrift these from your own app Beni?

- Yes, so Beni-- - Okay.

- Found the shirt and the pants for me, and then of course, the shoes were.

- Okay cool.

- No work at all.

- We'll talk more about that app, it is very cool, I now use it.

But, first let's talk about thrifting, because there's like a whole world.

So just to start, who are you, how did you come to this kinda work?

- Yeah, so I'm Sarah, and I come from a sustainability background, mainly in the food industry.

And my personal passion for sustainability led me to understand a little bit more about what we were just talking about in terms of the fashion industry.

I started really thrifting and buying secondhand, and my personal experience, both the good and bad of thrifting, has led me to love sharing with other people, what it's like to thrift, how to do it better.

And that ultimately led me to create Beni, which I will talk more about.

- Okay, cool.

All right, let's start with the 101.

So, what is thrifting?

- Yes, so.

- We have some visuals for you.

- We got some slides.

So thrifting, simply put is buying items that have been previously owned and in some cases used by another person.

Pretty simple, it's known by many, a name, secondhand, presale, preowned, consignment, all pretty much the same thing.

And you can do this in person at like a Goodwill, or a Crossroads, or online at let's say eBay or Facebook Marketplace.

- Okay, excellent, okay.

And so, why would somebody wanna buy something secondhand versus new?

- Yeah, so there's sort of three main reasons.

So we have here two of the same exact vest, one is new and one is for sale secondhand.

So, one of the big reasons why you might want to buy it secondhand is that it's a lot cheaper.

So you can see on average, this is about 50% less.

And for folks who are looking to buy items that are more sustainable, sometimes it can be prohibitively expensive to buy high quality goods, but you can-- - Yeah, the brands really want.

- Yeah, but you can buy you know high quality things for a lot less by buying it secondhand.

Of course, it is more sustainable, that's why we're here.

So on average, buying and wearing a garment secondhand saves about 25% in emissions, it also saves water, and saves energy, essentially by avoiding the impact of the production of that new item.

And one thing to keep in mind, is items that use more resources in their first production, so a very dense vest, or a jacket, or shoes, tend to have a bigger impact when you buy it secondhand, because you're saving more resources.

And then lastly, some people will sort of say, "This is great on this individual item basis, "but you know how many of these great thrift finds "are out there?"

So.

- How many Sarah?

- I wanted to ask, if you could guess, how many Lululemon items are currently listed on resale online?

Just shout out some numbers.

- 5,000.

- 100,000.

- Three million.

- 500.

- A billion.

- Million.

(Sarah laughs) - Okay.

- There's such a range.

- I hear some similar.

So in our database alone there's 1.5 million, and this is not even capturing everything.

And, 25% of these are actually new, so they're either new with tags, somebody didn't want to, it didn't work for them, or they're practically new and they were never worn.

So this is an example of just how many incredible garments there are for sale secondhand.

- [Laura] Yeah, that is awesome.

- And so before we go into the next, I just wanted to get a pulse check of how many people here have already bought secondhand in their life?

Oh my goodness, okay, incredible, incredible.

Both those who have, and those who have not, we'll get you into it.

And then, lastly, or second, who has ever felt frustrated by the experience of buying secondhand clothes?

- Okay, lot of hands are frustrated, I myself have been frustrated.

Why would people be frustrated by doing this?

What are the main complaints?

- Yeah, so we talked a lot about the benefits, and when I came into thrifting, a lot of people know those benefits, it's cheaper, it's more sustainable, but they're like, "I just don't do it, I don't know."

And there's three main reasons.

So this is a quote from one of our users that, "Secondhand shopping can feel like a crapshoot."

And mainly, one it can take a lot of time and effort to find what you're actually looking for, both in person and online.

The second biggest complaint is sort of a nervousness about the fit of the item, or the quality of the items, because there's a lot of variability.

And then the third is sort of not necessarily the specific items, but just like trust in the system in whose selling it and kind of the experience of actually shopping secondhand.

- [Laura] Right.

- And there's reasons why this is true.

So secondhand shopping, thrifting, is actually fundamentally different than buying new.

One is the items are one of one and they are spread out across thousands of stores, in person and online.

So if it feels like it takes a long time, that makes sense.

Two, the product level information can be really variable, and so you can feel nervous like about what actually is this item that I'm getting?

And then three, the experience does vary based on the seller or the platform.

So, I think it's important to just recognize that there are differences in this, and it's okay if it feels different.

- Yeah, but you are here to sing the praises of thrifting.

So I'm guessing you have some quick fixes for us to address these problems.

- I do, I do.

- Okay.

- So I have some thrift tips here.

So first is to start with what you're comfortable with.

So it's okay if you're not comfortable buying anything secondhand, most people aren't.

And these are some examples of where I often recommend folks to start.

So one is brands that you know and love.

If you know how they fit you, you know that you like them, it's often easier to then kinda take the leap to buy it secondhand.

- [Laura] Okay, like you have a medium in this brand already, and then you know like.

- You already know it.

- [Laura] That's gonna probably work for you.

- Exactly.

Two is items that actually require less of a specific fit.

So if it's your first time, maybe try buying a bag, or a jacket, or an accessory, versus maybe jeans secondhand, this can be a good first step.

And then third is to look for marketplaces that offer returns.

If you're nervous about whether this is gonna work for your life, there are some places and some thrift stores, they either offer returns or offer for you to resell it back to them.

So something to look for.

And then the second tip on kind of an item basis, is to look for quality markers.

If you're not sure, you know the information can be variable.

One is especially online, they'll mark if it's NWT, which means new with tags.

That's a very specific resale terminology but a good thing to look out for.

- Which is super helpful, because actually when I have you know traditionally think about thrifting, I think about how this item has probably been worn by somebody else before, but you're saying that a lot of it is not, didn't you say like I think earlier, you told me it was like 25% of what you find online is actually new with tags?

- Yeah, that 25% of that Lululemon number, I looked in our database, so we have 200 million listings in Beni's database, which I'll get to.

- And that's amazing yeah.

- And 25% were new, either new with tags or had never been worn, so.

- Right.

- And that gets to also that point of like I feel icky, or like I had a colleague who I was talking to this about and she was like, "I don't know, I smell, (Sarah laughs) "I don't feel comfortable buying something from, "what if they smell?"

You know like, that addresses that problem.

- Yeah, exactly, that addresses the problem.

And then kind of skip over to the third, marketplaces that authenticate, there are certain marketplaces that will sort of take the items both online and in person at Crossroads, a boutique, and they'll often clean it, steam it, things like that.

So you can kind of-- - Oh nice.

- Really find the experience that works for you.

And then especially in person, one thing to look for is materials and fabrics.

You know brands is a helpful guidance, but there's often certain materials that retain their value for a really long time, so wool, linen, silk from any brand can be really high quality and a really great piece to find.

- Okay, woolen and silk.

- Thrifted.

- Let's commit that to memory, thank you.

Okay, I like that, okay.

And so, it is a big landscape.

Can you kind of like give us the overview of the landscape?

'Cause there's like a lotta different places we can go to do the thrifting right?

- Yeah yeah, so these were kind of like specific item tips.

What I'll say is also, understanding the landscape is kind of helps you find the best deal for you.

So understanding what you're looking for when you're going to buy something secondhand.

So, there's generally two models for thrifting.

There's peer to peer, and there's manage marketplace and consignment are similar.

So peer to peer is like, it's Craigslist, a garage sale, Facebook Marketplace, individuals are buying and selling to and from each other.

A managed marketplace, the marketplace or the store will purchase all the inventory, curate it, and then sell it back.

- Okay.

- And there's a couple pros and cons to both of these models to keep in mind.

So the benefits to peer to peer is that you can often find a better deal, monetarily.

Some of these marketplaces allow you to make offers, if you're at a garage sale you can make an offer as well.

And on the other side, the managed marketplaces offer a more curated selection, and can often be authenticated.

So especially for more high end brands, you might wanna be looking for something like this.

- Great, yeah.

- And then the drawbacks are sort of the flip side.

On the peer to peer there is more variability in the seller experience, in the product quality.

And so it's something to kind of be looking out for.

Managed marketplaces, sometimes the prices are a little bit higher because they do have operational costs.

So just understanding this landscape I think can help empower folks to feel like they know how to navigate the world and find the best fit for them.

- Yeah, okay great.

Okay, and now you are here specifically because you've created something that you have labeled on your shirt.

Tell us what Beni is and how we can use it, 'cause I've found it to actually be really helpful.

- Cool yeah, let me, I'll show a little bit.

I'm gonna skip through this slide though.

And I had a video, but the video is.

- Does not work on our technology.

- Does not work.

Which is totally fine.

- Apologies.

- So find me in the lobby after if you want an actual demo of how Beni works.

So essentially Beni, with all these tips, people will say, "Great, thank you so much, "but this is also a lot to keep in my mind.

"I just like I need to find these pants, "and it's really easy to find them new, "it's really hard to find them secondhand."

So Beni, we do the work for you.

So the first step we do is we aggregate basically the whole world of online resale.

So we have 40 marketplaces, and we pull in all of the listings that are available into our own database.

And then we have a browser extension.

So if you have Honey, or Capital One shopping, similar tool.

And we'll actually show you the available resale listings for an item you are shopping for on pretty much any site.

So if you're on Patagonia, or you're on Reformation, or anything like that, we'll show you where you can find an item secondhand.

And the goal here is really to take all those tips that I was just talking about, and do the work for you, and find you the best resale deals automatically while you're shopping online.

The last thing I wanted to leave everyone with is this can feel like a lot of information, and like the conversation earlier, can feel like we need to be perfect, and need to have like a full thrifted wardrobe.

But one stat that I love to talk about, is that research shows that we can make a really big dent in carbon emission reduction in the fashion industry, if just one in five garments are traded through circular models like resale and rental.

And so one in five is a lot more than where we're at today with production in the fashion industry, but if you think about if for yourself, I think it feels very manageable to think about okay I'm gonna commit to every one in five things that I buy being secondhand.

And so really what that boils down to is to remember that it's about progress over perfection, when you are making steps to make more sustainable decisions in your fashion choices.

- Thank you so much Sarah.

- Yes, and I'm gonna just flash some QR codes that we have a mobile extension, an app, and the Chrome desktop one.

You can click add to desktop and it'll remind you when you're at your computer next so.

- Yeah, great, okay.

And again, all these fabulous people gonna be in the lobby, we'll be like exchanging clothes, we'll be talking to these change makers.

So thank you so much Sarah, I really appreciate it.

- Thank you.

Thank you everyone.

- I wanna give you a hug.

- Oh yeah.

(audience clapping) - Great, okay.

All right, thank you so much.

Okay, next up, another part of this workshop is about mending.

So tonight we have a really wonderful guest, her name is Hayley Collette, she is an educator at Workshop SF, a DIY school for adults, offering affordable classes on crafting, painting, leather working, urban gardening, sewing and so much more.

Please welcome to the stage, Hayley Collette, Hayley!

(audience clapping) And Hayley is gonna join us over here in our handy dandy demo table.

We got a GoPro.

(Hayley laughs) We're all set up over here right?

- We are, yes we are.

- Okay, so Hayley, first of all, what are you wearing?

(Hayley laughs) - So everything I'm wearing today, I thrifted and wore out naturally, so and I've repaired all of it by hand myself using sashiko.

So my jeans have a lot of tears in 'em, it's not super visible because I used black thread with black fabric.

My shirt obviously has a lot more mending on it because I am the clumsiest person in the world.

(Hayley and audience laugh) And then I've got these pants, these are pants I've been sashiko-ing for about 10 years.

And these, unlike the pants I'm wearing, which are black on black on black on black, this is every possible color in every possible stitch, with every possible fabric.

(Hayley laughs) - And so, we're hearing you say a word, sashiko, that maybe some of you are familiar with, but some of you are not.

So can you tell us about what sashiko is?

- Yeah, it's a Japanese form of embroidery, and it's Japanese for tiny stabs, which I like, 'cause it's a little bit scary and a little bit cute, and I like.

(audience laughs) I like both of those together.

- You like the marriage of those things.

- I do, I do.

- Nice.

- And I also go by my artist handle which is Pretzelelegant.

So that's me up there.

So any time you see the little red pretzel on any clothing, that's me.

(Hayley laughs) - Hayley was here, nice.

- Great.

- Okay, so tell us more just about sashiko, what it is, where it came from, in addition to what you've already told us, like how we can get into it.

- Yeah, absolutely.

So it was originally created for people who didn't have terrible amounts of money.

So you know if you put an obvious patch on something it'd show that you didn't have money, and that you couldn't afford more clothing.

And I've got a couple different examples up here.

So by doing these beautiful repeating patterns it more looked like an embellishment, or like you were just zhushing something up.

And so it can be used for repair, it can also be used to just elevate something.

We all probably in the audience, and myself included, have a jean jacket, but only one of us has a jean jacket with a little (Hayley clicks tongue) somethin'.

(Laura and Hayley laugh) - And then it's like, and so you're showing us these pants that are like major sashiko, like sashiko bam in your face, but that's not the only way to do it right?

It's like-- - Exactly.

- It's also something that could be used if you wanna be a little more subtle or whatever right like.

- Absolutely.

- We've got a variety of tastes and it can fit many styles right?

- Exactly, and it can be used in tapestry hanging, it can be used in whatever art form you can find to use it is how it can be used.

- Cool.

- So.

- Okay, so show us what we got here and-- - So.

- Let's see what this demo's about.

(Hayley laughs) - One of my favorite things about this, is pretty much everything you need will fit in a tiny little bag like this if we can look right here.

And then you just need a little bit of thread, a needle, some pins, little scissors.

I have rainbow unicorn scissors because I wanted to.

Patching fabric, so everything we're looking at here, all the tools, we're looking at less than $20.

And the only thing you'd ever have to buy again is the thread, which is very inexpensive.

Fabric can just be any sort of scrap fabric you have around.

If you know anybody who sews, I promise you, we all have a bin of fabric we just can't bear to part with that we just want someone to take and give a good home to.

(audience laughs) So please utilize us.

(Hayley laughs) So, when you're doing this you're always using a patch fabric to repair it, it helps strengthen it, it help gives strength to the piece.

And it's up to you whether you wanna put the fabric on top, the fabric on the underside, it's an aesthetic preference of how you want that to look.

And then you what you would do is you would pin it.

I actually already started mine because watching me pin something is not gonna like be lighting your world on fire so.

(Hayley laughs) Pinning is very simple, if we can look right here, where we're just doing something simple like that, just holding the fabric in place for us.

But like I said, I already did that.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Very exciting.

(Hayley laughs) - So I've got, if we can look right here, I've got this that I've already started.

And one of the great things of it is that these pants I've had for about 10 years, and I've never had to repair something that I already have repaired, but I wanted to specifically highlight this part.

There's a split right here where you can see these purple stitches where the purple stitches ends.

So I have to repair something next to it, 'cause these pants are very old and very well loved.

- This is a previous sashiko that you did.

- Exactly.

- And then you're doing another one over it.

- I'm always, yeah, I'm always building off of a foundation.

So I've already done my side to side stitches, so when I'm ready to hold my needle, I can just go and do my in and outs.

And it is a practice based skill, it maybe takes a minute to get to where you need to get.

And then, my hands are calloused hooves at this point, I've been doing needle work for over three decades.

You can buy a little thimble ring, and who doesn't love an accessory?

So.

(audience laughs) We can use that.

- She's got a thimble ring.

- I have a thimble ring.

- It's very cool.

(Hayley laughs) Modern day thimble.

- I mean.

- Cool.

Well thank you so much.

- Thank you.

(Hayley laughs) - And we can find out more, you can talk more to our Pretzelelegant here in the lobby after the show and learn more about this beautiful style.

Thank you so much.

- Thank you so much, thank you.

(audience clapping) - Okay.

Okay, well, very exciting as we come to the next segment in the show, because this next segment is a big reveal.

I just wanna make sure they're ready though.

Okay, so you saw Dawn beforehand, so cute, so gorge, but what happens after she's styled with the clothes she already owns?

Very cool.

We're gonna have her come out, we're gonna have Kara come out.

We are also lucky to be joined by Dara Kennedy and Cassandra McClure who have brought clean makeup, they will bring that to our stage, you will see it on our lovely models face.

Dara Kennedy is the founder of Isla, Cassandra McClue is a strategic advisor for Juice Beauty.

And so let's see, are they ready?

Are you all ready?

Can you come out if you are?

Oh my gosh, they're here.

(audience laughs) They're here!

Welcome 'em to the stage.

(audience clapping) Yes, oh Dawn!

Okay everyone, let's hear it for Dawn, look at Dawn, wow!

You look so cute.

You look awesome.

(Laura laughs) Okay, so you'll notice our new faces here.

So we have Cassandra, we have Dara, they are gonna tell us a little bit about what's going on on Dawn's face.

Okay, so please tell us, what did you do backstage, what happened?

- Well I'll-- - You wanna start Dara?

- I'll start because I did the skincare.

Actually you did the skincare yourself 'cause it was so easy.

So we started with a cleansing water, which is great because it suits all skin types, and you end up using less water when you're washing your face.

And then we followed it with the Dara Kennedy sea serum, which is made from locally harvested kelp, and donates 5% of every sale to climate advocacy organizations.

And it helps brighten an hydrate her skin.

And then she used Dara's oil to moisturize, which is made by a wonderful local company called Marie Veronique.

- Yes, and I'm Cassandra McClure and I'm representing Juice Beauty, which is sustainable at the highest level.

The outside of the packaging is glass or PCR, post consumer recycle.

And you can also recycle the bottles afterwards as well.

And everything is from their solar powered HQ farm, which is right here in Sonoma County, it's beautiful.

So the grapes are extracted right there, and put into the product.

So it's truly the OG, the original green makeup and skincare brand, so very cool.

And, what we did with her makeup is really simple.

We used a stem cellular anti wrinkle under eye cream, we did a CC cream, a photo pigment flawless foundation, and then we used a photo pigments cream blush as well, and we same thing with the mascara and the lip.

So it's all like a photo pigment, really clean, natural, beautiful makeup.

- Thank you both so much, and-- - Thank you.

- We can learn more from you in the lobby after the show.

Okay, so thank you (audience clapping) to our clean beauty esteemed colleagues.

Okay, all right Dawn, have a seat, wait maybe there, okay wherever you want.

(Dawn laughs) Okay, all right Kara, thank you so much for your excellent work.

Okay, so just tell us sort of like, you know not everybody here has done a styling session, probably not too many folks.

So like tell us sort of what you laid out, what were the goals at the start of it?

- Oh, lots of goals.

(Laura laughs) Yeah, so I mean as you guys know, we obviously got on a couple of calls beforehand to kind of really discuss and hone in on her style and what she currently has in her wardrobe.

But one of the first things I like to ask people when I am about to do like personal styling for someone, is like what are three things to describe your current personal style?

And yours was casual, minimal, 90's.

And great, I mean very easy to work with.

On top of that she had, you know once we were sort of going through her closet to see what she needed to bring for this panel, I noticed she had a lot of blues, and greens, and then a bunch of neutral colors, like neutral foundational pieces.

One thing that your goal, one of your goals was to kind of have those like extra pops of color.

And you might've already had those things, as we can see from this lovely dress that she has on right now.

And so we just kind of wanted to build off of that.

So from there it was just kind of like enhancing the waist, and adding in those extra layers.

You know I know you mentioned that you wouldn't necessarily think to pair your turtle neck underneath this dress, but you know if you live in the Bay Area it's totally unpredictable what the weather's going to be, whether it's windy, whether it's raining, what have you.

So you know we wanted to kind of have something that was a little bit more elevated than you normally wear, but still functional.

So we had both the turtle neck underneath the dress, and then a nice little funky print layered over that, with a knit, in case it got even colder.

- Dawn, so what was this process like for you, and what surprised you about it?

- Yeah, I think it was most surprising is just like kinda working with Kara, and realizing I had a lot more in my closet than I realized.

Like in kinda having a way to use things I already had in my closet to kinda bring together.

And yeah, Kara was so lovely, and kind of walked me through everything, 'cause sometimes you have things that are just like in the back of my closet that.

- Right.

- I think I bought this to like you know add more color, but I hadn't worn it in ages, and yeah, it was really, I think just surprising how much you have in your closet that you don't really realize sometimes too.

- Yeah yeah, that's cool.

We did not plant that.

You looked awesome before, you look awesome now.

Thank you so much.

Let's hear it for Dawn.

(audience clapping) - Thank you.

- Oh you even have a bag.

Okay, show us how the bag works.

(Dawn laughs) How does it, okay, oh.

(audience laughs) Very nice, okay here, let's move to the middle, let's go symmetry okay.

All right, thank you again Dawn.

Okay, so Kara, that was really cool.

And I think like even this word style, like ever since I started preparing for this event, on Facebook I get these like videos, and it's like, "Outfit not styled versus styled."

And I was like, I didn't even know it was like a thing.

But thank you for bringing it to all of our attention.

And tell us, how does styling something have to do with sustainability, and what we're talking about here like emissions?

- Oh gosh.

- I mean this is an off the cuff question.

- It's an off the cuff question.

(audience laughs) So, you know, we're in this day in age of micro trends and fast fashion throwing everything in your way, it can get really overwhelming to decide what is your style.

I mean even me as a stylist, I go through these phases of like, how the heck am I gonna pair something in my closet you know?

But at the end of the day, I think like once you kinda tune out all that noise, whether it's just unsubscribing from marketing emails, (Kara laughs) or really even just organizing your closet, which makes a huge huge difference.

You can like truly see what you have.

Then you can really hone in on the things that bring you joy, and the things that you're unsure of, and get a little bit more, I guess imaginative with it.

- And it's, I mean for me, that is also just another novel concept, it's like, what is my personal style?

Like normally I'm like, oh I'm wearing skinny jeans, and then someone's like, "They're not cool anymore," I'm like, "Oh, now I'm not."

You know but it's like if I had my own sense, (Laura laughs) you know it could be a lot more consistent.

So tell us more about you, who you are, and how you came to this work?

- Okay, well hello everyone.

If you don't know, I'm Kara, and I am both an ethical fashion stylist, as well as a content creator.

That's kind of how I came into all of this.

So, it's kind of a combination of things really, like it's very personal, it's a very emotional journey like finding your personal style and falling in love with fashion and style.

But for me it really started with you know my mom, and how you know I was just so fascinated growing up with her putting a look together.

And I grew up in the '90's, so there's lots of shoulder pads, there's lots of funky prints, button up blouses.

And I just imagine, like the thing that I'm thinking of, especially in my mind right now, is this one blouse that my mom wore, which was like big floral prints, button up, and then I would see her like getting ready and shoving those shoulder pads underneath her bra.

(audience laughs) And then you know like getting those cute shorts on, and cinching in the waist with a cute belt, and like it just was magic to me.

I don't know, it just ignited something me, and from then on we kind of shared this common ground and sort of a secret language.

So if nothing else, if we didn't get along at all in other ways, we had that love of fashion and putting a look together.

And on top of that, I think it was also just, you know putting a look together and going out into different like events, and just going out into the world.

It's a way of building confidence in yourself, especially as like a woman of color you know, I could see how that built that confidence in my mom, and then in turn in myself, to move through society in a way that was dignified.

And yeah, it's sort of like, if you live with anxiety like I do, to have that conversation starter in how you look kind of also helps build that confidence when you're in different rooms.

- Yeah, I mean like when I see, if I were to see you and I saw your Instagram, I'm like, "Wow, she's really impressive," you know it's like yes.

Thank you for sharing all that, I really appreciate it.

So tell us more about The Flip Side, what is The Flip Side?

- So The Flip Side is an Instagram account I started maybe like five, six years ago?

And initially it was sort of both a creative outlet, but also sort of an accountability thing for me.

I just started out on my ethical fashion journey, I am also like a former fast fashion addict.

So, (Kara laughs) with that you know, I wanted to kind of explore finding a community of like minded people.

Because again, it was at the time so new to me.

And it was maybe only a few years after the Rana Plaza incident.

So you know were starting to get really educated, we watched, I'm sure many of you are familiar with the documentary, "The True Cost", which I think addresses the Rana Plaza.

And so, you know, it was both a creative outlet and a way to find hold myself accountable, in terms of being a more conscious consumer.

But through that, and then also just like my day job, which was at the time I was doing product development for a clothing brand.

I was starting to kind of have ignite that passion again for styling.

So, a couple years into the account, I started you know partnering with a lot of slow fashion brands, and staying connected to those people, and it was great.

And I got to really kind of learn and unlearn with other people in my community, like what it meant to be truly sustainable, not just from like a you know, conscious materials point of view, but also from like a human centered and planet centered standpoint.

And so then after that, you know once I started partnering with brands, I also started getting involved with like local fashion E commerce sites that were, that you know carried slow fashion brands.

And so I started to style and creatively direct some shoots for them.

And you know it sort of just all came together, and eventually I decided to go full time with wardrobe and personal styling, and here I am.

- That's great, thank you.

Okay, so what are some practical tips to keep in mind when we are building our sustainable wardrobe, which will now have one in five of our items that are thrifted?

- Oh gosh, okay, so many so many things.

- Like should I throw away-- - So many tips.

- [Laura] All my clothes, and just only buy like sustainable brands at this point?

- No.

- Okay, don't do that.

- No.

Yeah, and I think, I'm sure many of us this room already know this, but I can reiterate it, like don't feel the need to buy new, like to just swap out all of your fast fashion items with new conscious items.

Like, the most sustainable thing that we can do is to kind of understand how we can revive pieces in our closet.

So yeah, I think it's really just kind of, like I said, going back to the root of it, unsubscribing from marketing emails, all of them.

Just start fresh.

And then, yeah, honestly I think it's just do your research.

We have so, we have our phones in our hands all the time, and there's so many different avenues in how to learn about sustainability, whether it's you know getting more involved in the community with organizations like ReMake, or installing an extension with Beni, or more recently there's a great platform called Beaker that a peer of mine started, and that kind of helps you, you can find like the ratings of different brands, and like how sustainable they truly are.

At the end of the day, I think it's just being a smarter consumer.

And I think another tip would be to, I think this was covered earlier, but to look at certified labels you know, Oeko-Tex which.

- [Laura] We did not cover it, so feel free to tell us about.

- Okay.

- [Laura] Some things if when we wanna buy new.

- Yes, if you are trying to buy new, look for labels like Oeko-Tex certified, which essentially gets you to, it ensures that the products that you have have no harmful toxic chemicals in them.

There's also GOTS certified to make sure the materials are organic and all of that.

And then there's Fair Trade Certified, which essentially addresses like the ethical concerns of labor.

- Well I really want to say thank you to Kara, she has really done a lotta work this evening.

(Laura laughs) Thank you so much.

We will see you in the lobby, appreciate it.

(audience and Laura clapping) You look amazing.

Okay, but anyway, I really wanna thank you all for coming, I wanna thank our amazing guests.

I have been super inspired putting this event together, and I hope that you have felt inspired by coming tonight and hearing these awesome people.

I think also, really my goal for this event, was for the folks to come, and to learn that talking about climate change, it can be productive, it can be informative, and it can be fun.

And that you can fit into this work wherever your passion is, and you know you can have an impact from where you sit.

And that we are the ones we've been waiting for for this climate fight.

We have a clothing exchange in the lobby, clothing is loosely sorted by size.

Please go take a browse, get to know the other folks who've come here tonight.

And thank you so much for making this an awesome evening for us.

(audience clapping) (upbeat music) Bye bye, see you in the lobby.

(upbeat music continues)