Power Of Our Community
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00:00I'm going to jump into my first question, which includes intros of the wonderful women
00:10on the stage.
00:12But you're all different pieces of the fashion puzzle.
00:15Laura, you're an activist and brother to Ellie's designer, Angel Chang, a women's wear designer,
00:21Kerry Washington, actress and producer.
00:25Why is it so important that all of these pieces of the fashion puzzle come together
00:30in the sustainability realm to make a difference?
00:32I'm going to start with your work because we're making some really good eye contact
00:36right here.
00:37Well, listen, I think, to be honest, anytime you want to try to affect monumental change,
00:43you really need all ships to be aligned in the direction of the North Star, right?
00:49And I think, you know, we can design all the things in the world, but unless people
00:54like Kerry also help amplify it and explain to their community members why it's important,
01:00right, then it's not really going to get the visibility that it needs.
01:04And I think so much of sustainability right now still needs to be a conversation, because
01:10we're all still figuring it out.
01:14And we need to engage with consumers as well to help them figure it out and also figure
01:18out why it's even important.
01:21As well as Marie Claire, right?
01:22As well as media.
01:23Yeah, I mean, I look to these women for sure in terms of leading this effort, but I think
01:29a lot about the role of storytellers and helping to contribute to narrative.
01:35You know, there's something about when Cate Blanchett re-wears a gown from three years
01:40before and talks about it proudly, when I take a dress out of the archives that was
01:45worn by Whitney Houston, and we talk about not just continuing to create new, but returning
01:53to the old and uplifting and upcycling and, you know, reimagining what sexy is moment
02:00to moment.
02:01Like there are opportunities to contribute to that narrative, again, at every stage of
02:05the process.
02:06So I think we can't really talk about fashion without talking about the importance of representation.
02:12Why is it so important that women and women of color are at the forefront of the conversation
02:17and included in the sustainability conversation?
02:20Well, I think we're, first of all, like most adversely impacted, right?
02:27And when I think, you know, internationally about all of the different women that are
02:33interacting with fashion, yes, there's consumers, but there's also a lot of women of color in
02:39the factories, right?
02:41And I think what's really difficult for me is to hear brands sometimes talk about, you
02:48know, feminism and all of these things when you know that in their factories in Bangladesh,
02:54there are women that are not being treated properly, right?
02:56And you can have a woman of color in your ad campaign, but if you are mistreating women
03:01of color in your factory, or you're dumping chemicals in a way that's not helpful to their
03:06communities, then really, what are you doing?
03:10And I think that part of representation can be really disturbing, because I think so much
03:15of fashion, we just look at from an editorial perspective and not actually on the balance
03:20sheet, right?
03:22And it's a lot of it is just gestures.
03:25Yeah, it's interesting that you ask about women in representation, because, you know,
03:29I work a lot with nature and with climate.
03:32And historically, nature has not been valued, because it's been linked with the feminine.
03:36I mean, we call nature Mother Nature.
03:39And so, you know, I work with indigenous artisans in rural China, and I'm now working
03:44with indigenous groups in other countries, too.
03:47But it's mostly women who have this traditional craftsmanship that they continue to practice.
03:52And so when you give women jobs, the first thing they do is they give it to their family,
03:59and they send their kids to school.
04:01And this is very different from the men that I see in these communities.
04:04So it's not just representation on how we portray who our garment workers are, but also
04:11really how it impacts their lives that you don't see in these villages.
04:17So Angel and Aurora, as designers, there's a lot of hurdles that come with sustainability
04:23and keeping your companies on the sustainability path.
04:28What are some of those challenges?
04:30And what can any of us do, or the industry as a whole do, to make it easier to basically
04:37be doing the right thing to adopt sustainable practices and climate-friendly practices?
04:41So yeah, I started my line during the pandemic two years ago.
04:45And now I'm raising capital and pitching investors.
04:49And it's the same exact thing that both of you are saying.
04:53Especially as a woman, you know, only 2% of VC funds go to women.
04:58And most of the investors who have money are men, and they're investing in male-dominated
05:05businesses or things that they understand, which are in tech.
05:08It's very difficult for sustainable brands, who a lot of them are women-led.
05:15It's very hard for women to find capital to start their brands.
05:18And if these sustainable brands don't have the capital to start, consumers don't have
05:23options of what to buy.
05:25These investors, they're like, they want exponential growth, they want to go scale
05:29up really big.
05:31And you know, you could do that in a world before that was really polluting and extracting
05:35of nature.
05:36But going forward, you know, we need to look at impact measurements, we need to look at
05:40other things that are quantitative, that are not just looking at profits.
05:46What I hear, which is really important, it's so because O-Rate is founded by women as well.
05:51It's really, there is something to that.
05:55So much of this is about narrative.
05:57So much of it is about how we define success.
05:59And so I think also it's really important on the media side that we take responsibility
06:04for uplifting brands as successful, if they are not bringing in the kinds of numbers that
06:10their competitors are bringing in that are destroying the planet while they're doing
06:13it.
06:14So a lot of that, it really is about having the courage to define success in the way that
06:19is more holistic.
06:20And know that that can lead to that other kind of material success as well.
06:26It just may be a longer path.
06:28So I think, you know, obviously we need top-down change from companies like Kering who are
06:34holding themselves accountable and, you know, publishing sustainability reports to smaller
06:39businesses that are really prioritizing craftsmanship and being transparent about what that means.
06:47Thinking about what we're talking about today, five years from now, what are we talking about?
06:54What are people wearing on the red carpet?
06:56What does sales look like?
06:57What are people and consumers looking to buy?
07:02Is it sustainability just in the lexicon or is it still going to be an uphill battle?
07:09I am so optimistic, seriously.
07:11I think that there's so much change that can happen and it can happen so quickly.
07:16And I think we've even seen that with the pledge over the past three years, right?
07:21And so I think even just knowing with climate change in general that we can, you know, mitigate
07:28climate catastrophe with the same amount of funding that we put into stopping COVID, right?
07:34And I think sometimes something like climate change feels completely insurmountable and
07:40a lot of people kind of freeze under that pressure.
07:44But knowing that there are very real solutions that are being innovated on right now that
07:49can help us mitigate this is, I think, very major.
07:53These women make me very optimistic hearing you and just knowing how committed you are
07:57to this work and that you've created a space to have this conversation this morning and
08:02that you've made the commitments that you've made.
08:04Like really, just having this space to be in community and conversation is incredibly
08:09optimistic because we just need to be having these conversations and providing each other
08:14with these reminders and insights.
08:15And I'm so deeply grateful to you two in particular, but to everyone here this morning.