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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 I'm going to jump into my first question,
00:08 which includes intros of the wonderful women on the stage.
00:11 But you're all different pieces of the fashion puzzle.
00:15 Laura, you're an activist and brother to Deli's designer.
00:18 Angel Chang, a women's wear designer.
00:21 Kerry Washington, actress and producer.
00:23 Why is it so important that all of these pieces
00:27 of the fashion puzzle come together in the sustainability
00:31 realm to make a difference?
00:33 I'm going to start with your work
00:34 'cause we're making some really good eye contact right here.
00:37 Well, listen, I think to be honest,
00:39 anytime you want to try to affect monumental change,
00:43 you really need all ships to be aligned
00:45 in the direction of the North Star, right?
00:48 And I think, you know, we can design all the things
00:52 in the world, but unless people like Kerry
00:55 also help amplify it and explain to their community members
00:59 why it's important, right, then it's not really
01:01 going to get the visibility that it needs.
01:03 And I think so much of sustainability right now
01:07 still needs to be a conversation
01:09 because we're all still figuring it out.
01:12 And we need to engage with consumers as well
01:16 to help them figure it out and also figure out
01:18 why it's even important, as well as Marie Claire, right?
01:21 As well as media.
01:23 Yeah, I mean, I look to these women for sure
01:25 in terms of leading this effort,
01:28 but I think a lot about the role of storytellers
01:32 and helping to contribute to narrative.
01:34 You know, there's something about when Cate Blanchett
01:38 re-wears a gown from three years before
01:41 and talks about it proudly.
01:42 When I take a dress out of the archives
01:45 that was worn by Whitney Houston,
01:46 and we talk about not just continuing to create new,
01:52 but returning to the old and uplifting and upcycling
01:55 and re-imagining what sexy is moment to moment.
02:00 There are opportunities to contribute to that narrative,
02:04 again, at every stage of the process.
02:06 So I think we can't really talk about fashion
02:08 without talking about the importance of representation.
02:11 Why is it so important that women and women of color
02:15 are at the forefront of the conversation
02:17 and included in the sustainability conversation?
02:21 Well, I think we're, first of all,
02:24 most adversely impacted, right?
02:27 And when I think internationally
02:31 about all of the different women
02:33 that are interacting with fashion,
02:35 yes, there's consumers,
02:36 but there's also a lot of women of color in the factories.
02:41 Right?
02:41 And I think what's really difficult for me
02:43 is to hear brands sometimes talk about feminism
02:48 and all of these things
02:50 when you know that in their factories in Bangladesh,
02:53 there are women that are not being treated properly, right?
02:56 And you can have a woman of color in your ad campaign,
02:59 but if you are mistreating women of color in your factory,
03:02 or you're dumping chemicals in a way
03:05 that's not helpful to their communities,
03:07 then really, what are you doing?
03:09 And I think that part of representation
03:12 can be really disturbing,
03:14 because I think so much of fashion,
03:16 we just look at from an editorial perspective
03:18 and not actually on the balance sheet, right?
03:21 And a lot of it is just gestures.
03:24 - Yeah, it's interesting that you ask
03:27 about women in representation,
03:28 because I work a lot with nature and with climate,
03:31 and historically, nature has not been valued
03:34 because it's been linked with the feminine.
03:36 I mean, we call nature Mother Nature.
03:39 And so, I work with indigenous artisans in rural China,
03:43 and I'm now working with indigenous groups
03:45 in other countries too,
03:46 but it's mostly women who have this traditional craftsmanship
03:50 that they continue to practice.
03:52 And so, when you give women jobs,
03:56 the first thing they do is they give it to their family
03:59 and they send their kids to school.
04:01 And this is very different from the men
04:03 that I see in these communities.
04:04 So, it's not just representation on how we portray
04:09 who our garment workers are,
04:10 but also really how it impacts their lives
04:13 that you don't see in these villages.
04:16 - So, Angela and Aurora, as designers,
04:20 there's a lot of hurdles that come with sustainability
04:23 and keeping your companies on the sustainability path.
04:28 What are some of those challenges
04:29 and what can any of us do, or the industry as a whole do,
04:34 to make it easier to basically be doing the right thing
04:38 to adopt sustainable practices
04:39 and climate-friendly practices?
04:41 - So, yeah, I started my line during the pandemic
04:43 two years ago, and now I'm raising capital
04:47 and pitching investors, and it's the same exact thing
04:50 that both of you are saying.
04:52 Especially as a woman, only 2% of VC funds go to women.
04:57 And most of the investors who have money are men,
05:02 and they're investing in male-dominated businesses
05:05 or things that they understand, which are in tech.
05:08 It's very difficult for sustainable brands,
05:11 who are, a lot of them are women-led,
05:14 it's very hard for women to find capital
05:17 to start their brands.
05:18 And if the sustainable brands don't have the capital
05:21 to start, consumers don't have options of what to buy.
05:25 These investors, they're like, they want exponential growth,
05:28 they wanna go scale up really big.
05:30 And you could do that in a world before
05:33 that was really polluting and extracting of nature.
05:36 But going forward, we need to look at impact measurements.
05:39 We need to look at other things that are quantitative
05:42 that are not just looking at profits.
05:44 - What I hear, which is really important,
05:48 'cause O-Rate is founded by women as well,
05:51 there is something to that.
05:54 But so much of this is about narrative.
05:57 So much of it is about how we define success.
05:59 And so I think also it's really important on the media side
06:03 that we take responsibility for uplifting brands
06:05 as successful if they are not bringing in the kinds
06:09 of numbers that their competitors are bringing in
06:11 that are destroying the planet while they're doing it.
06:13 So a lot of that, it really is about having the courage
06:16 to define success in the way that is more holistic
06:20 and know that that can lead to that other kind
06:23 of material success as well.
06:25 It just may be a longer path.
06:27 - So I think, obviously we need top-down change
06:31 from companies like Kering
06:33 who are holding themselves accountable
06:35 and publishing sustainability reports
06:39 to smaller businesses that are really prioritizing
06:41 craftsmanship and being transparent about what that means.
06:45 Thinking about what we're talking about today,
06:50 five years from now, what are we talking about?
06:53 What are people wearing on the red carpet?
06:56 What does sales look like?
06:57 What are people and consumers looking to buy?
07:01 Is it sustainability just in the lexicon
07:04 or is it still going to be an uphill battle?
07:09 - I am so optimistic, seriously.
07:11 I think that there's so much change that can happen
07:14 and it can happen so quickly.
07:15 And I think we've even seen that with the pledge
07:17 over the past three years, right?
07:19 And so I think even just knowing with climate change
07:24 in general that we can mitigate climate catastrophe
07:29 with the same amount of funding
07:30 that we put into stopping COVID, right?
07:33 And I think sometimes something like climate change
07:36 feels completely insurmountable
07:38 and a lot of people kind of freeze under that pressure.
07:43 But knowing that there are very real solutions
07:46 that are being innovated on right now
07:49 that can help us mitigate this is, I think, very major.
07:52 - These women make me very optimistic hearing you
07:56 and just knowing how committed you are to this work
07:59 and that you've created a space
08:00 to have this conversation this morning
08:02 and that you've made the commitments that you've made.
08:03 Like really just having this space to be in community
08:07 and conversation is incredibly optimistic
08:09 because we just need to be having these conversations
08:12 and providing each other with these reminders and insights.
08:15 And I'm so deeply grateful to you two in particular,
08:20 but to everyone here this morning.
08:22 (upbeat music)
08:25 (upbeat music)
08:27 you