Big Closets Small Planet
Fashion and apparel. It touches nearly everyone. When its at its best, fashion and apparel is not only functional, but also fun, expressive, sexy, and for some businesses, very profitable. But when it is at its worst, fashion and apparel is superficial, exploitative, polluting and extremely wasteful - in other words the essence of unsustainable consumption. And while it is argued that the industry's rapid growth has created employment opportunities for more than 300 million people worldwide, especially for women in poorer countries and those in extreme poverty, many garment workers still struggle to earn enough to pay to meet even their most basic needs. More alarming is the fact that as the industry grows - by 2030 more than 8 billion people will live on the planet, and nearly 5 billion of these will be part of the global middle class - its negative environmental impacts may become unmanageable, potentially undermining its social benefits and contributing to ecosystem degradation on local, regional and global scales.
Who would have thought garments could be so destructive?
The fashion industry must change now, but will we manage in time? Join Mike Schragger, founder of the Sustainable Fashion Academy, as he explores the challenges, incentives and disincentives and emerging solutions needed to rapidly transform the industry. Listen in as he talks with the business leaders, activists, researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs, investors, legislators, consumers and citizens - who are racing against the clock to find solutions that will transform the industry, thus ensuring it truly operates for the benefit of people and the planet.
www.sustainablefashionacademy.org/podcasts/big-closets-small-planet
- Update frequency
- every 8 days
- Average duration
- 45 minutes
- Episodes
- 58
- Years Active
- 2018 - 2025
INSPIRING INNOVATION: Can a simple phone call make invisible workers visible?
Dr. Lea Esterhuizen, an expert in gathering sensitive data from scared populations, believes we are unwittingly eating and wearing products that have likely been made or assembled using forced labor.…
INDUSTRY UPDATE: Finance & Innovation - Today’s financing models don’t cut it. We need new approaches that are structured in a way to help reduce risk for all parties involved.
Mike had the unique opportunity to sit down with an impact investor and a vertical manufacturer to share their real world views on what it takes to accelerate the uptake of sustainable apparel techno…
INDUSTRY UPDATE: Sound the alarm? Or have we overestimated the problems associated with microfibers & microplastics?!?
INSPIRING INNOVATION: The robots are coming! This development may be good for the environment, but is this the beginning of the end for garment workers in production countries?
INDUSTRY UPDATE: A Sexy Update on the State of Chemical Management in Textiles Today. "As consumers, we've probably never been safer. As citizens, we have probably never been more unsafe..."
At Planet Textiles, Mike Schragger spoke with two of his favorite chemical and textiles experts, Phil Patterson and Linda Greer, about the state of the industry regarding chemical management in texti…
INSPIRING INNOVATION: Subcritical water… what the “!#@%” is that? And what can it do for the apparel industry?
The founders of Tyton BioSciences are not personally interested in fashion, but that won’t stop them from using subcritical water to help solve the current textile-recycling conundrum. Mike Schragger…
INSPIRING INNOVATION: Apparel industry = waste.
Nearly 6 million tons of leftover textiles - the equivalent 18 million new clothes - are wasted in South East Asia and China alone. If we could remanufacture these textiles and reuse them, or ensure …
BUSINESS LEADERSHIP: Climate Action - The H&M group boldly committed to becoming climate positive by 2040. But getting there requires unprecedented leadership and change. Is the H&M group in over its head? And what can the H&M group’s journey teach us a
In a refreshingly candid and constructive interview, Mike spoke with the H&M group’s Kim Hällström about what has happened since the company first made their important public climate commitment and w…
INSPIRING INNOVATION: What if using your credit card to purchase clothing could actually help combat global warming?
If we knew the specific climate impacts of each of our purchases, such as the greenhouse gas emissions of our favourite dress or shoes, would we make more climate friendly purchases? And would the co…
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Innovation - Edwin Keh thinks that to solve the fashion industry’s sustainability challenges we need to radically rethink R&D.
Mike speaks with Edwin Keh, CEO of the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles & Apparel Limited, about his team's pioneering and surprising breakthrough in the area of textile recycling, his deep c…
INDUSTRY UPDATE: The Innovation Ecosystem - Do you want the inside scoop about which sustainable apparel innovations are hot and which are not? Then ask two passionate, albeit a bit wacky, business development and innovation experts for advice.
Do you get excited when hearing about breakthrough sustainability apparel innovations - such as fibers made from fruit waste or blockchain technology being used to track and trace the origin and cont…
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Jason Kibbey: “Beware of the ‘Circular Fairies’!”
Jason Kibbey, CEO of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), has been been leading one of the most important sustainability trade organizations in the apparel sector for the past 8 years. Jason join…
INDUSTRY UPDATE: Finance & Innovation - Show me the money!
Sustainable solutions are emerging but is there enough investment capital available to ensure they succeed? Mike Schragger talks with Fashion for Good’s Rogier van Mazijk about the innovation process…
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Linda Greer believes in radical transparency!
Linda Greer, Senior Scientist at the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) joins Mike Schragger online from her office in Washington, D.C. to share her experiences working to improve the apparel …
INSPIRING INNOVATION: Akshay Sethi is convinced that all of our clothes will be made from recycled materials by 2030.
Mike Schragger talks to the smart and savvy Akshay Sethi about the science behind polyester recycling, the rapid development of the his company Moral Fiber, the steep learning curve he has faced when…
INDUSTRY UPDATE: Climate Change - Are you and your company serious about helping to solve the global climate crisis?
Then Cynthia Cummis & Michael Sadowski from the World Resources Institute think you should start by setting science-based targets for reducing your climate emissions. Cynthia & Michael joins Mike Sch…
INSPIRING INNOVATIONS: Style Lend & Good On You are betting that they can improve your consumer behavior.
What if customers could improve the environment and make money by renting out their clothes simultaneously? And whom do you trust to provide an honest assessment about the ethical and environmental p…
OUTING THE FASHION INDUSTRY: A crash course in sustainable fashion.
If you are new to the field of sustainability and/or fashion and apparel and want to quickly up get up to speed, then this podcast is for you. Mike Schragger, the host of Big Closets Small Planet, us…