Cassandra Pintro of Consumption Project on welcoming her community to challenge their buying habits and question what is *enough*
Release Date: 10/24/2023
Fashion circularity leader Nicole Bassett on why running for office shouldn't be considered a *leap*, why we need more everyday people in government and how policy can be a significant lever in creating change in fashion and beyond
Conscious Chatter
In Episode 345, Kestrel welcomes Nicole Bassett, a leader in circular economy innovation and Oregon State Senate candidate, to the show. In the past, Nicole served as the Social Responsibility Manager at Patagonia, Director of Sustainability at prAna (where she led the launch of Fair Trade certified apparel in the US), and in 2015, she co-founded The Renewal Workshop, a factory that gave unsold products a second life. Today, she runs Citrus Circular, where she helps companies rethink how they operate from the inside out — to waste less and create more value. And in Oregon’s 26th District....
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In Episode 344, Kestrel welcomes Beth Esponette, the Cofounder and CPO at Unspun, to the show. A fashion-tech company, Unspun has built the world’s first 3D weaving technology for apparel. Their enables woven products to be made locally in California, on demand, and with almost zero waste. “Sewing machines are incredible things and can make products in a really great way. But what if we went to the drawing board and kind of started from scratch and took inspiration from nature and took inspiration from the concepts of growth and decay? And when you get very conceptual and you peel back...
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In Episode 343, Kestrel welcomes Adam Taubenfligel, the cofounder, creative director and responsibility lead at Triarchy, to the show. With the goal of restoring integrity to the word sustainable, Adam drives innovation in denim, advancing mindful materials and responsible production at . “How many millions of pieces of clothing are we stuck with because the factory had a minimum, the store only ordered this many, that was the cost of doing business, we had to do it, and so here we are. And so, you know, this scale question is influencing everything and creating mountains of garbage so that...
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Dr. Joanne Brasch of the California Product Stewardship Council on SB 707 The Textile Recovery Act Of 2024 - the nation's first textile EPR bill
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Miranda Green of Atmos on disappearing climate data, how it's impacting journalists & their ability to tell important stories, and what we can do about it
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In Episode 338, Kestrel welcomes Miranda Green, an investigative journalist focused on politics and climate change, to the show. As the author of Atmos Magazine’s weekly newsletter, , Miranda takes a weekly look behind the climate headlines to question how decisions are made, why they matter, and what they reveal about this moment. “I think data to me is, they’re facts. It's hard facts. It's looking at points that have been, you know, they're determined by scientists. They've been measured. They are proven points that then, I can use as building blocks to tell my story.” -Miranda THEME...
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Gail Gallie of THE NAT on their inaugural gala and the need to focus on galvanizing global capital to close the nature finance gap
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Carry Somers on her new book "The Nature Of Fashion" and the importance of both restoring fashion's connection with nature and repositioning fashion in the broader narrative of ecology as a mirror of who we are
Conscious Chatter
In Episode 336, Kestrel welcomes author and visionary changemaker, Carry Somers, to the show. Co-founder of , the world’s largest fashion activism movement, and the author of a new book – , Carry has worked across the fashion space in various capacities, advocating for a shift towards transparency, fairness, and sustainability in supply chains. “Textiles reflect our connection with the natural world, but they're not just about utility. They're definitely about beauty as well. But they're also really an echo of our disconnection from it. And I realized during my research that that rift...
info_outlineIn episode 310, Kestrel and Natalie welcome Cassandra Pintro, the founder of The Consumption Project, to the show. With a focus on making impact cool, The Consumption Project serves as a catalyst for educating folks about the impact of their buying habits and nurturing a collective mindset that values quality, longevity, and the environment.
“So, it was — how do I find myself in this space and how do I make space that opens up a door for other people to feel comfortable, and you’re starting from a place that is kind of like a blank slate. And I really felt that sustainability was the right vehicle to tell that story and really get back to basics if you will, cause that is really what, in my mind, consumption is about — it’s about people telling you what you need to have vs what you actually need to have or what you might even want for yourself vs what you’re thinking you want for yourself.” -Cassandra
You have probably heard us talk about consumption on the show – it tends to be a recurring theme that weaves its way into the majority of our conversions, in one way or another. While there are so many issues contributing to fashion’s inequitable systems, consumption (fueled by overproduction) is a very significant piece of the overarching puzzle.
And while it may not always feel this way – our consumption is something that we actually have some sort of control over.
Do you feel like you are tuned into your consumption habits? Are you aware of what you buy and why you buy it? Do you regularly question what is *enough* for you?
Maybe some of these resonate, or maybe you haven’t asked yourself these questions before. Either way, we all have more work to do when it comes to tuning into our buying behaviors. Considering the capitalistic world that we live in, where more is regularly touted as the best option, it can be challenging to turn off all the pro-consumption marketing noise around us, constantly telling us that we need to buy something else to be better.
This week’s guest realized that she wanted to challenge herself to be ok with what she already has – to embrace what was currently in her closet as enough. As an associate production manager at a fashion publication – one many would say is the holy grail of fashion magazines — her decision to stop consuming fashion items for a year felt nothing less than iconic.
Leading by example, this week’s guest decided to open up her personal consumption journey and welcome others in, to join her in the process. She created a safe space where folks are opening up about the oxymoronic realities of their unique journeys. The honest dialogue she’s cultivating allows us to feel like we’re a part of something bigger, yet without the need to performatively appear perfect. Because when you’re grappling with consumption, failure of some sort is expected and should be embraced as an educational tool, not defeat.
Quotes & links from the conversation:
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“I felt like I couldn’t keep going down that path without challenging the space that I’m in, and it was a really big part of the early mission of Consumption Project — there were a couple different things that were really important to me, but one of them being that it needed to feel like something that was easy and accessible (accessibility is huge to me), it needed to feel like something that people could do unconsciously without it feeling like they are a climate expert, which is also really important for me as well. I really wanted to do something that didn’t position me in a place for people to think that that’s what I was, because I feel like that’s unfair to people who are actively in this space and have been in it a lot longer and know numbers and statistics a lot more than I do. And I really wanted to do something that felt like it was talking to my community, first and foremost — my friends — and saying ok, if I’m at step 3 and you’re at step 0 or 1, maybe I can at least just hold your hand and be a vehicle to making you think a little bit more consciously.” -Cassandra (16:35)
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“I’m not perfect at it yet, it’s a very new thing. And I think the thing that I was most willing to do with Consumption Project is fail or get it wrong out loud and in real time with my audience and showing them that if I, somebody who works in a place that is considered almost an authority of our industry — 1) if I can gain their support to even talk about this initiative that I’m trying to do, that’s incredible and that’s a step forward and then 2) while I still am somebody existing in that space, if I can fail in front of people, I think it gives them a little bit more space to feel like they can too.” -Cassandra (37:04)
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“Why I (a Fashion-Lover) Am Giving Up Fashion — For Now”, article by Cassandra in Vogue