Cate Havstad-Casad of Range Revolution on building a leather supply chain that centers traceability and regenerative practices for the land, people & community
Release Date: 08/26/2025
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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Beth Esponnette of Unspun on 3D weaving, how this technology could reduce textile waste, costs and emissions, and what that could mean for systems change across fashion
Conscious Chatter
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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Adam Taubenfligel of Triarchy on digitally dyed denim, how this new technology goes beyond "reducing impact" in the making of jeans, and how it could really shake up the sustainable fashion industry
Conscious Chatter
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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Designer Olivia Cueva of Oakland Style Lab on the overlapping of biomaterials research, fashion design, & community-centered education as a multifaceted approach to rethinking fashion's systems
Conscious Chatter
In Episode 342, Kestrel welcomes Olivia Cueva, a radical dreamer, designer, technologist, and researcher, to the show. bridges creative technology, fashion, biomaterials, and storytelling to explore transformation, regeneration, and collective care. Her practice moves fluidly between community-centered education, speculative design, and research into sustainable and bio-based materials—always with the aim of sparking dialogue, nurturing resilience, and envisioning more just futures. “A lot of the research that I do now is focused on natural dyes and working with plants and seeing how the...
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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
Conscious Chatter
In Episode 341, Kestrel welcomes Dr. Joanne Brasch, the Assistant Director at the California Product Stewardship Council (CPSC), to the show. A network of local governments, non-government organizations, businesses, and individuals supporting policies and projects where producers share in the responsibility for managing problem products at their end of life, is California’s thought leader and expert on Product Stewardship and the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) movement. “We're most proud of our textile EPR program because we achieved a lot in SB 707 that set a new level, a new...
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Constanza Gomez of Sortile on the questions we should be asking around EPR policy, a tool to support textile recycling, and the need for more research and data in the textile sector
Conscious Chatter
In Episode 340, Kestrel welcomes Constanza Gomez, the cofounder and CEO of Sortile, to the show. is a company focused on empowering the textile recycling industry with technology that enables the identification, sorting and traceability of textiles. “I was a much more hopeful person when I started this company and I've slowly become more of a skeptic. But that means I've leaned more heavily on the need for regulation versus people acting of their own free and good hearts. And so I think the opportunity is great. You can redefine and set real incentives to manage end of life better.”...
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Beth Jensen of Textile Exchange on fashion's complex history with data, how the organization is addressing it through their open-source reporting and the need to ensure the search for *perfect data* doesn't hinder real action
Conscious Chatter
In Episode 339, Kestrel welcomes Beth Jensen, the Chief Impact Officer at Textile Exchange, to the show. Leading the organization’s efforts to achieve beneficial climate and nature impacts, Beth oversees key functions at including impact data and Life Cycle Assessment studies; impact tools and reporting mechanisms; reports and research; fundraising; and public affairs/policy. “A big part of vulnerability is really admitting that you don't have all the answers. So in sustainability, in fashion, apparel, and textile space, this is just the way we have...
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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
Conscious Chatter
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
Conscious Chatter
In Episode 337, Kestrel welcomes Gail Gallie, the founder of THE NAT, to the show. A new convening force for Nature, is primarily focused on galvanizing the private capital needed to close the nature finance gap; they just held their inaugural NAT Gala “Night For Nature” in September 2025. From working in advertising to co-leading the creation of the UN Global Goals Campaign, Gail has an extensive background in global advocacy and campaigning. “I was pretty blown away that you could quantify the amount of money that was needed to fix where we are now to where we need to get to in...
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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 333, Kestrel welcomes Cate Havstad-Casad, a designer, entrepreneur, and first-generation regenerative rancher, to the show. Cate’s work as a designer and land steward has evolved a great deal since she founded Havstad Hat Company in 2014. Today she manages Casad Family Farms with her husband, while building Range Revolution, a luxury leather goods brand focused on using 100% American, regeneratively sourced hides.
“I love the idea of having things forever. I love the idea of a great leather boot being resoled again and again. My work in hats, I'm like the anti-growth capitalist. I'm like, you should have two hats, maybe three and that should be it for your whole life and you send it back to me and I will re-block it and clean it up and reshape it for you. That is the world of craft that I come from and so I bring that ethos to this work with Range Revolution and leathers.” -Cate
AUGUST THEME —
WELCOMING THE IN-BETWEENS IN LIFE, SUSTAINABILITY & FASHION
This week’s episode touches on a discourse that often fuels a lot of really intense reactions. I remember moderating a panel discussion about it in Berlin during fashion week that got very heated, and even recently, I hosted an Earth Day event in San Francisco, where the conversation suddenly got intense when this topic arose.
If you guessed it – I’m talking about the oh-so-familiar LEATHER debate.
There’s a recurring dispute in the sustainability and fashion space that pins animal-based leather against vegan leather. It’s often very this vs that oriented, and focuses on claiming which is quote unquote more “sustainable” than the other.
A lot of the time, things get heated because leather is intrinsically linked to peoples’ belief systems and values, which can leave very little space for the in-between. And I totally get where that passion stems from.
At the same time, if you’ve been listening to Conscious Chatter over the years, you know there are no simple answers when it comes to the complexities of making products. And I don’t think there is ever only one solution – we need to discover multifaceted approaches, considering the challenges we face with the climate crisis.
From her lens as a craftsperson, designer and regenerative rancher, this week’s guest is dedicated to rethinking waste in the animal agriculture space. One significant stat we learn from her is that – almost 5 million hides are wasted or thrown away annually in the United States alone. *source: Agriculture Utilization Research Institute
With a mindset that “the most radical fibers are the ones that already exist” – she is pushing to disrupt the leather industry. For her, it’s all about centering traceability, rethinking waste, and expanding the meaning of regenerative to not only include the land health, but also the health and wellbeing of the surrounding community.
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“We don’t have regenerative outcomes on land if the people working within the systems. whether it be the land stewards or the people within the community that support those land stewards — if the community dynamics, if the economic dynamics are not also regenerative.” (15:40)
This week’s episode is brought to you by Range Revolution. Enjoy 15% off at RangeRevolution.com with code CHATTER.