00:00:01
[Music]
00:00:11
so I start today with a couple of
00:00:14
questions for you
00:00:15
and first off with a request I'd like
00:00:18
for you to take a look at the clothes
00:00:20
and maybe the shoes that you're wearing
00:00:22
right now or at least think about them
00:00:24
for a second do you know who made these
00:00:27
clothes do you know what that person was
00:00:31
paid do you know what country they were
00:00:34
made in if you're anything like me the
00:00:38
answer to that question is likely no
00:00:41
this is the reality of the fashion
00:00:43
industry today an industry that has been
00:00:45
completely defined by a lack of
00:00:47
connection between the original producer
00:00:49
of our goods and thus is the end
00:00:53
consumer but it wasn't always this way
00:00:55
in fact a hundred years ago you knew the
00:00:59
name of the shoe maker in town or the
00:01:01
tailor seamstress
00:01:02
you probably knew him quite well in as
00:01:05
late as the 1960s 95% of our clothes
00:01:08
were made right here in the United
00:01:10
States today that figure is less than 3%
00:01:13
and as the distance from the production
00:01:17
location to the purchase location of our
00:01:21
products has grown
00:01:23
what is decreased is the amount of
00:01:26
accountability and transparency in our
00:01:28
supply chains as you might imagine this
00:01:33
has had disastrous implications for
00:01:36
people the planet and even us as the end
00:01:40
consumer what I'm curious to know is
00:01:44
does it have to be this way in order to
00:01:49
dig into these issues and understand a
00:01:51
bit further the first thing we have to
00:01:53
do is understand what exactly's happened
00:01:55
and over the past several decades is the
00:01:58
world has continued to globalize trade
00:02:00
barriers have softened which is enabled
00:02:02
major brands to jump from one country to
00:02:05
the next
00:02:06
in pursuit of cheaper and cheaper
00:02:07
materials and cheaper and cheaper labor
00:02:12
the result as this chart depicts on the
00:02:17
top line this is a Consumer Price Index
00:02:18
chart
00:02:20
the price for all consumer goods
00:02:23
combined has grown by 70% since the
00:02:27
mid-1990s yet the price of our clothing
00:02:29
with the acceleration of fast fashion
00:02:31
being introduced in the early 90s has
00:02:33
actually decreased by six percent and
00:02:37
for any of you that ever have ever
00:02:39
walked into one of these big-box
00:02:41
retailers with bright lights and booming
00:02:44
music and seeing these obnoxious price
00:02:46
tags 15 dollars for a pair of pants
00:02:50
twenty-five dollars for a sweater we
00:02:53
felt this change and for the industry
00:02:58
cheaper faster higher volume has meant
00:03:01
great success as today the fashion
00:03:03
industry is a three trillion dollar
00:03:06
industry reaching its most profitable
00:03:08
moment in history yet is my good friend
00:03:12
Andrew Morgan asks in his film the true
00:03:15
cost who is bearing the brunt of the
00:03:18
success of this industry well that is
00:03:22
the people making our products the
00:03:24
planet that we live in and ultimately us
00:03:26
is the end consumer when it comes to you
00:03:30
and me the concept of fast fashion and
00:03:33
these cheap prices make us believe that
00:03:35
we're actually saving money that it's
00:03:37
good for our wallets but actually all
00:03:38
that's happening is that we're buying
00:03:40
more since the early 1990s average
00:03:45
consumption has increased by 500% and
00:03:49
what's interesting about this is that
00:03:52
while our closets may have gotten a
00:03:54
little bit bigger since the early 90s I
00:03:56
don't think that they're physically five
00:03:57
or six times the square footage that
00:03:59
they once were are they and I'd like to
00:04:04
suggest that that is because the value
00:04:06
of the products that we're buying the
00:04:07
quality of the products we're buying has
00:04:09
gone right down with the cost and this
00:04:12
is one of the ways that fast fashion is
00:04:13
fooled us again into believing that
00:04:15
we're saving money when in reality all
00:04:17
we're doing is buying more of a lower
00:04:19
quality product but much more
00:04:21
importantly fast fashion today is
00:04:25
destroying people in the planet and the
00:04:28
fact is we've been left completely
00:04:30
unaware yet we are half of this equation
00:04:34
consumers when it comes to the planet
00:04:38
what's going on breaks down into where
00:04:41
our products are made how they're made
00:04:43
and where they ultimately end up
00:04:46
regarding where they're made while in
00:04:47
the US we've established much more
00:04:51
sustainable forms of energy the vast
00:04:53
majority of our products are made in the
00:04:55
developing world in countries that are
00:04:58
still largely dependent on the dirtiest
00:05:00
of all fossil fuels coal additionally as
00:05:06
depicted here by Zara's supply chain the
00:05:09
largest fashion retailer in the world
00:05:12
oftentimes our products are cut in one
00:05:14
location assembled in another and have
00:05:17
to cross multiple oceans before they end
00:05:19
up in our hands comes to no surprise
00:05:24
then that it's been estimated that the
00:05:26
fashion industry is responsible by
00:05:28
itself for 10% of the world's carbon
00:05:31
footprint next up how our products are
00:05:35
made in order to get the textures and
00:05:39
the colors that we love in our clothing
00:05:40
requires a lot of chemicals and with
00:05:43
very little regulation these chemicals
00:05:45
have gotten uglier and uglier over time
00:05:47
and throughout the dyeing process a
00:05:51
tremendous amount of fresh water is used
00:05:54
and wasted and often times as depicted
00:05:58
here these chemicals end up right back
00:06:00
into our freshwater systems and
00:06:04
regarding the materials being used these
00:06:08
have gotten worse and worse over time I
00:06:10
wish I could spend all day telling you
00:06:11
about the woes of genetic genetically
00:06:14
modified cotton but I'll focus on a
00:06:16
fiber that's man-made that doesn't get
00:06:18
quite as much attention and that's
00:06:19
polyester polyester is now used four
00:06:23
times as much as cotton this is a
00:06:26
man-made energy-intensive fiber that's
00:06:29
made up of micro plastics that continue
00:06:32
to find their way into our oceans and
00:06:34
into our food systems all of this
00:06:42
adds up to the reality that the fashion
00:06:45
industry is now the second highest
00:06:47
polluter of fresh water and now another
00:06:51
problem with polyester as it's made up
00:06:53
of micro plastics what that's meant is
00:06:55
that every single piece of polyester
00:06:57
that's ever been made is still in
00:06:59
existence today which is how we end up
00:07:01
with mountains of clothing like this in
00:07:04
landfill fills and if you think back on
00:07:07
that five hundred percent consumption
00:07:08
stat and the fact that our closets
00:07:11
aren't much bigger maybe it's not that
00:07:12
big of surprise then that estimates
00:07:15
range 50 to 85 pounds as being the
00:07:19
amount of product that consumers throw
00:07:21
out the door throw away each year and
00:07:23
globally 4 billion pounds of textile
00:07:27
waste is put into landfills each year so
00:07:31
we think about how our products are made
00:07:33
where they're made and where they end up
00:07:36
the grave reality is that it's estimated
00:07:39
that the fashion industry is the second
00:07:41
most polluted industry in the entire
00:07:43
world today behind only oil and when it
00:07:48
comes to people as I mentioned earlier
00:07:50
this search for cheaper and cheaper
00:07:52
labor moving from one country to the
00:07:54
next has created a race to the bottom
00:07:57
that's now full of abuse in the supply
00:08:00
chain it's created a natural house of
00:08:02
cards that could literally collapse at
00:08:04
any moment and to give an example of
00:08:07
this I'd like to talk briefly about the
00:08:09
country of Bangladesh this is a
00:08:11
government who has strategically kept
00:08:14
their minimum wage at a low place so as
00:08:17
to attract foreign investment for major
00:08:19
apparel companies and from a
00:08:23
capitalistic perspective while this has
00:08:25
been great because they're now enjoying
00:08:27
one of the fastest growing economies in
00:08:28
the world the reality is that this house
00:08:32
of cards actually did collapse on a
00:08:34
world stage just a few years ago if you
00:08:36
recall the rana factory collapse the
00:08:39
Olly enterprises fire they killed over
00:08:42
2,000 people and injured thousands more
00:08:46
all of whom were garment workers making
00:08:47
the clothes that we wear every day
00:08:54
apart from these tragedies a similar
00:08:56
reality exists in the rest of the world
00:08:59
this is an industry where child labor
00:09:03
and forced labor abound and in countries
00:09:10
like Bangladesh Sri Lanka in India
00:09:13
government's are legalizing a $70 wage
00:09:17
minimum wage per month which means that
00:09:20
if you break that down that's less just
00:09:22
over $2 a day for the producer
00:09:25
thus systematically holding people in a
00:09:29
cycle of extreme poverty we when we
00:09:33
think about what's going on in our
00:09:34
planet what's going on the people in
00:09:37
this supply chain it begs an obvious
00:09:40
question could there be a better way
00:09:46
my co-founder Zoe and I started me solo
00:09:49
not only to make beautiful products to
00:09:52
compete with top names in the industry
00:09:54
but also to start a brand that would
00:09:58
care for the producer and the end
00:10:00
consumer as well as the planet by
00:10:06
offering beyond Fairtrade wages health
00:10:09
care and a healthy working environment
00:10:11
and by investing deeply in the
00:10:14
well-being of our producers every day in
00:10:17
the factory that we've built from the
00:10:18
ground up our team is trying to turn
00:10:23
this vision of a different way into
00:10:25
reality rather than offering wages that
00:10:28
are holding people in a cycle of extreme
00:10:30
poverty on average new solar producers
00:10:34
receive 30% higher than Fairtrade and
00:10:37
requirements rather than offering a
00:10:41
working environment that's referred to
00:10:43
today as modern-day slavery we're
00:10:46
investing deeply into the livelihoods of
00:10:47
our producers in their families offering
00:10:50
things like financial literacy training
00:10:52
savings programs professional
00:10:55
development training skills training
00:10:57
nutrition classes health classes English
00:10:59
classes the list goes on and what we
00:11:02
want to know is what would happen if
00:11:03
this is what the rest of the industry
00:11:05
looked like
00:11:07
a few results that are important to note
00:11:09
are on average these solo producers are
00:11:13
receiving 140 percent higher annual
00:11:16
income than what they received before
00:11:18
they worked with me solo and four women
00:11:19
in our factory that figure is a hundred
00:11:22
and seventy three percent what I'd like
00:11:24
to know is what would happen in the rest
00:11:26
of this industry if this is the way
00:11:27
things work what would happen to future
00:11:30
generations if this is what the industry
00:11:31
looked like in another compelling stat
00:11:34
is that whereas for our shoe makers 50
00:11:38
percent of them in their younger years
00:11:39
had to leave they could not graduate
00:11:42
from a public high school because they
00:11:44
had to leave and help put food on the
00:11:45
table for their families 100 percent of
00:11:49
our shoe makers children are in school
00:11:50
today and 13% of them are studying at
00:11:53
university all of them will be first
00:11:56
time college graduates not just in the
00:11:58
history of their families but in their
00:12:00
communities as well
00:12:09
and I know what some of you might be
00:12:12
thinking it sounds great fair trade
00:12:14
ethical fashion we get it go ahead and
00:12:17
show us some pictures of maybe some some
00:12:19
crafty looking sandals or perhaps if
00:12:22
these products do look good they must be
00:12:23
obnoxiously expensive these are the
00:12:26
stereotypes we have to get rid of these
00:12:28
are pictures of me solo products every
00:12:32
day our team is investing time into the
00:12:34
quality and design of these products
00:12:36
knowing that only by competing with the
00:12:38
top brands in the industry who are
00:12:40
cutting corners left and right will we
00:12:42
be able to drive the change that's
00:12:44
necessary and when it comes to our
00:12:47
business model we've cut out all the
00:12:49
middlemen along the way we work directly
00:12:52
with ethical factories and so directly
00:12:54
through our website to you as the end
00:12:56
consumer this way we can offer a
00:12:58
competitive price point and maintain
00:13:00
healthy margins the work that we're
00:13:04
doing in many brands like us are doing
00:13:06
right now in the industry is beginning
00:13:08
to challenge the assumption that our
00:13:10
values and ethics have to be at odds
00:13:12
with our personal style our consumption
00:13:15
choices but the reality is that's still
00:13:19
the truth in the most in most parts of
00:13:21
the industry but it doesn't have to be
00:13:24
this way and I'd like to suggest that
00:13:25
change is realistic and here's a few
00:13:28
reason why first off when we think about
00:13:30
the labor cost what would it take to
00:13:33
create living wages at the bottom of the
00:13:34
supply chain well if you think about the
00:13:37
shirt you're wearing right now the
00:13:39
reality is that the end price that
00:13:41
you're paying only about one to three
00:13:43
percent of that is given to the original
00:13:45
producer so we're not talking about big
00:13:49
changes in prices or margins that brands
00:13:51
are receiving when it comes to
00:13:53
technology we already have technology
00:13:56
for cleaner forms of energy we already
00:13:58
have technology for better fibers than
00:14:01
polyester if I can pull my phone out and
00:14:04
press one button and be facetiming with
00:14:07
an HR manager in a factory on the other
00:14:09
side of the planet or I can press
00:14:11
another button and know exactly how many
00:14:13
feet of leather we have in stock
00:14:15
thousands of miles away then I refuse to
00:14:18
believe that we lack the technology to
00:14:20
create better accountability in trance
00:14:23
nc all the way down the supply chain
00:14:26
when it comes to governments we know
00:14:29
they have the ability to enforce these
00:14:31
change but what they need is demand from
00:14:34
the citizenship and so what about
00:14:38
consumer desire well consumer studies
00:14:41
show that 91% of millennial consumers
00:14:44
are willing to give an ethical brand a
00:14:47
try or change their brand loyalty if
00:14:49
their sustainability and price and
00:14:52
quality are comparable and so I'd like
00:14:56
to ask you a question would you be
00:14:58
willing to give an ethical brand to try
00:15:00
if you had comparable price or quality
00:15:02
or maybe even taking it a step further
00:15:05
would you be willing to pay one to three
00:15:07
percent more for the cost of your
00:15:09
products if it meant the difference
00:15:11
between extreme poverty and a living
00:15:14
wage
00:15:17
[Applause]
00:15:22
the free market has always shown that
00:15:26
where there is demand supply will be
00:15:28
created in the way that we create this
00:15:31
demand is by turning these desires into
00:15:34
action and as a consumer you're one of
00:15:37
the most important stakeholders in this
00:15:39
equation so I'd like to leave you with a
00:15:41
few things all of us can do to create
00:15:45
this change first off stay curious and
00:15:48
get involved if there's anything I've
00:15:50
said today that has struck a chord with
00:15:52
you I encourage you to dive deeper into
00:15:53
these issues questioning the brands that
00:15:57
you love understanding their methodology
00:16:00
and process and secondly all of us can
00:16:03
consume smarter this may happen first
00:16:06
and foremost by taking better care of
00:16:08
the products that we own now being so
00:16:11
bold as to shop secondhand or if you are
00:16:14
going to buy from a new brand or new
00:16:17
products then choose an ethical brand
00:16:21
look for third-party certification like
00:16:23
B Corp and Fairtrade fine brands you can
00:16:26
trust and I don't want to hear the
00:16:28
excuse that it's too hard to find I
00:16:30
encourage you to type the word
00:16:33
sustainable or ethical into this
00:16:35
incredible tool called Google and
00:16:37
there's a strong chance that maybe the
00:16:41
brand isn't perfect but there's a strong
00:16:42
chance that it's better than what you're
00:16:45
purchasing today and in closing maybe
00:16:49
you're like me maybe you didn't grow up
00:16:51
with a passion for the fashion industry
00:16:54
at all maybe you don't think twice about
00:16:55
the clothes that you put on each day but
00:17:00
what I want to encourage you think about
00:17:02
is that if you care about the cost per
00:17:06
wear value in the quality of your
00:17:08
products if you care about the
00:17:11
environment if you care about climate
00:17:12
change if you care about poverty
00:17:14
alleviation if you care about women's
00:17:16
empowerment or any of the other issues
00:17:18
that I've brushed on today I encourage
00:17:21
you to look no further than the clothes
00:17:23
you're putting on each morning and the
00:17:26
purchases you're making each season and
00:17:28
I'd like to close with an invitation
00:17:31
knowing all this information let's begin
00:17:34
to work together
00:17:35
to return fashion to what it once was
00:17:37
about people about art and valuing the
00:17:42
producer and the planet just as much as
00:17:45
we value ourselves as the end consumer
00:17:48
thank you
00:17:50
[Applause]
00:17:55
[Music]
