Many brands have joined the UNFCC Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action, and made commitments in line with the Paris agreement, but there’s a lot of work to do to reduce emissions. Textiles play a key role. What are ‘preferred fibres’? How sustainable is cotton? Is recycled polyester the answer? What about the new innovations? And how can brands and consumers make the best choices, and avoid greenwashing? Textile Exchange is a global non-profit that seeks to positively impact climate throu...
Dec 06, 2022•42 min•Season 3Ep. 25
Did you know that every year, 3.2 billion trees are cut down to make paper packaging, or fabrics such as rayon and viscose? Many of these trees come from the world’s most ancient and endangered Forests. We're smarter than that, says this week's guest, Nicole Rycroft, Founder and Executive Director of Canopy Planet. Canopy is on a mission to protect the world’s forests, species, and climate, and to help advance Indigenous communities’ rights. And Nicole wants fashion industry to transition to wha...
Nov 29, 2022•41 min•Season 3Ep. 24
Independent fashion brands are changing the sustainability conversation globally, but how can they step up their impact? Often it's smaller brands that are leading innovation, but the bigger ones get the attention. Emerging African designers are well-placed to lead the way on authentic sustainability storytelling, but they need to excite investors from the Continent, as well as the global playing field. How can they amplify their message? Who should be listening? What is the role of fashion educ...
Nov 22, 2022•32 min•Season 3Ep. 23
How can innovation and artisan craft come together in a large global brand? What is the role of design when it comes to implementing sustainability? Designers don’t not create brands’ ESG goals but they have to put them into practice when they imagine the product, particularly when it comes to materials. “We don’t have the final answer but we are all responsible to ask the questions,” says our guest today, Sophia Amanzi-Oyugah, who is Adidas’s Senior Design Director, for Originals Creative Direc...
Nov 15, 2022•45 min•Season 3Ep. 22
There is no sustainability without dignified working conditions and respect for human rights, yet fashion’s supply chains are notorious for their failings on this front. This week, Simone and Clare talk with international labour rights expert Auret van Heerden about what can be done. A TED talker, with a background at the ILO, Auret is the man Bill Clinton tasked to lead a team to get to the bottom of child labour issues in the US, and he’s advised everyone from Apple and Nike to the Ethical Fas...
Nov 08, 2022•50 min•Season 3Ep. 21
Fashion is Italy’s second biggest industry, so it’s got the opportunity, and the responsibility, to make a big impact. After the Ethical Fashion Initiative collaborated on the Sustainable Fashion Awards at Milan Fashion Week in September, Simone and Clare are delighted to welcome Carlo Capasa , chair of Camera Nationale della Moda Italiana (Italy’s peak fashion body) to the podcast to discuss how the industry is stepping up. How much progress has been made? What are the biggest ESG challenges to...
Nov 01, 2022•41 min•Season 3Ep. 20
We are excited to be back for a third series of the Ethical Fashion Podcast, this time addressing ESG and how the fashion industry can be more sustainable. Explore the issues driving the biggest topic in fashion conversation today with your hosts UN officer Simone Cipriani and sustainable fashion journalist Clare Press. Hit Subscribe or Follow in your favourite podcast app to make sure you get all the new episodes. Follow is on Instagram @ethicalfashion The Ethical Fashion Initiative is a progra...
Oct 04, 2022•3 min
Our guest this week is the Lagos-based fashion designer Adebayo Oke-Lawal , founder of Orange Culture . This luxury label has combined fashion with activism since 2011, and is ethically produced in Nigeria. His work has won him accolades in international fashion circles but it's his approach to movement building and giving back that wins hearts. This is an inspiring conversation about standing up for what you believe in, challenging toxic masculinity and mentoring a new generation emerging Afric...
May 20, 2021•46 min•Season 2Ep. 19
This week we’re focused on contemporary African art. Your host is the Nigerian writer and journalist Ayodeji Rotinwa , who welcomes the renowned Ethiopian gallerist and self-taught art historian and Mesai Haileleul to be interviewed. Mr. Haileleul opened the first gallery representing Ethiopian artists in Los Angeles in the 1990s and now, with Rakeb Sile, co-runs Addis Fine Art - a leading contemporary gallery specialising in art from the Horn of Africa and its diaspora with venues in London and...
May 13, 2021•43 min•Season 2Ep. 18
In 2020 Project X, The Opportunities Are Here arrived in Uganda, presented by the Ethical Fashion Initiative and the EU. Surely the EFI’s most fun project to date, this televised talent competition followed a nation-wide call for young creative entrepreneurs in Africa. But there’s also serious agenda - building economic opportunity. The hit TV show’s judges included Joram Muzira Job , Uganda’s top model agent, and in this fabulous interview with your regular podcast hosts Simone Cipriani and Cla...
May 06, 2021•37 min•Season 2Ep. 17
This week's podcast is guest hosted by American stylist and creative director Alexander-Julian (AJ) Gibbson. In a vibrant conversation with Abrima Erwiah , co-founder and president of fashion social enterprise Studio 189, you'll hear all about creating, running and building a fashion business with purpose in Accra. Studio 189 is an award-winning fashion label based in Ghana and the United States. Its goal is to promote African and African-inspired fashion. Abrima and AJ explore the challenges an...
Apr 29, 2021•36 min•Season 2Ep. 16
Alexander-Julian Gibbson is a Houston-based stylist and content creator known for his directional shoots for magazines (think GQ , Vogue and Flaunt ) and musicians like Patoranking. This week, Simone and Clare meet the Nigerian-American creative force to discuss Lagos style , why the world is looking to African fashion right now, and career pathways for emerging Black creatives. They also have a frank conversation about the state of diversity and inclusion in the global fashion industry, what ne...
Apr 22, 2021•37 min•Season 2Ep. 15
This episode is about fashion and art, healing and opportunities in Burrundi . Today a creative scene is blossoming in Bujumbura with artists, musicians, photographers and designers using the power of self-expression and the beauty of creativity to connect , and foster new economic opportunities. Margaux Wong designer Margaux Rusita is one such creative. She designs sustainable and ethically produced jewellery, hand-crafted from cow horn and brass, and was part of the Ethical Fashion Initiative’...
Apr 15, 2021•34 min•Season 2Ep. 14
This week we meet two rising fashion design stars. Both are part of the Ethical Fashion Initiative's Accelerator Programme for Emerging African designers. Jennifer Mulli is the founder of Kenyan brand Jiamini - made by women for women. Known for its jewellery, in particular extravagant beaded neckpieces, bracelets and bags, they use age-old craft traditions passed down the generations and brought to life by skilled female artisans. Mulli discusses empowering women through ethical employment path...
Apr 08, 2021•37 min•Season 2Ep. 13
Access to technology is changing the game for a new generation of young African entrepreneurs, and the creative economy provides exciting opportunities on the continent. But with young people making up 60% of Africa’s unemployed, how can they overcome career challenges and harness digital connectivity to get ahead? And what skills and qualities are companies looking for in potential young employees today? Welcome to the second episode in our new series focused on Africa. Our guest host this week...
Apr 01, 2021•37 min•Season 2Ep. 12
Virgil Abloh is one of the most interesting designers working in the global fashion industry today. He is the artistic director of menswear at Louis Vuitton, as well as the creative force behind his own brand Off-White. A true polymath, he is a multi-media artist who moves culture forwards and describes his creative process, across multiple platforms, as “taking an idea and dreaming it aloud”. In this, the first episode of Series 2, hosts Simone Cipriani and Clare Press sit down with Abloh to di...
Mar 25, 2021•51 min•Season 2Ep. 11
In the final episode of Series 1, Simone and Clare talk with Jeanne De Kroon , the founder of Zazi Vintage - a high-end fashion social enterprise that celebrates upcycled fabrics and artisan techniques. Zazi works with the EFI in Afghanistan. Jeanne is a free spirit who says her mission is to create: "a narrative that connects and weaves cultures together through cloth, that works with women storytellers all over the world." This vibrant conversation is really good fun, but, like fashion, it als...
Sep 30, 2020•40 min•Season 1Ep. 10
This week, our theme is Social and Environmental Sustainability Standards. Why do we need to talk about this? Standards exist. Indeed, some say there are too many. And yet problems in fashion's supply chains persist. The fashion industry is well known for it's labour issues and adverse environmental impacts. Are things improving? What is missing when it comes to compliance, collaboration and consumer input, and how might increase transparency and accountability? To fill out the picture and explo...
Sep 09, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 9
From a lack of transparency to a business model that squeezes those at the bottom, fashion's supply chains can be a sustainability nightmare. There's a disconnect between the consumers who buy clothes, the retailers who sell them, the designers who conceive of them and all the different suppliers further down the chain, who cut and sew them, produce the textiles and the raw materials. And while the fashion industry has been very effective in optimising shareholder wealth, it has been less so whe...
Aug 25, 2020•51 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Acting as a bridge between fashion brands and artisan producers, the Ethical Fashion Initiative carefully measures the impact of each order, to ensure that the work is positively impacting the lives of the artisans, and that each project works towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This is sometimes difficult, always rewarding work - and perhaps nowhere more so than in Afghanistan. There, the EFI's main fashion partner is Zarif Design. In this episode, your hosts Simone Cipriani and Clare...
Aug 12, 2020•43 min•Season 1Ep. 7
You've probably heard Simone say, "It's a very serious business, fashion." Done right, the business of fashion can provide pathways for fair work and hope in places where they've been lacking. But how do our institutions put this into practice in areas afflicted by conflict and humanitarian disaster? In this Episode, Clare talks the European Commission's Raffaella Iodice to find out how it all works, and learn how the Ethical Fashion Initiative began its projects in Afghanistan. And to discover ...
Aug 04, 2020•41 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Come with us to Tokyo Fashion Week, where your hosts Simone Cipriani and Clare Press met with longtime friend of the Ethical Fashion Initiative, Hirofumi Kurino of United Arrows. According to Business of Fashion , he's a "leading arbiter or style". Polimoda calls him "a fashion oracle" and Vogue, one of the most stylish men in fashion. Mr. Kurino also has a fine understanding of the importance of socially responsible business. United Arrows was the first Japanese retailer to work with the EFI, b...
Jul 22, 2020•36 min•Season 1Ep. 5
The Ethical Fashion Initiative Accelerator is programme for African designers supports young fashion talent to become investment ready, expand their supply chains, scale up their production, and build their fashion businesses. In this episode, your hosts Simone Cipriani and Clare Press catch up with one of the mentors, Nigerian actor Dakore Egbuson Akande. Dakore is Nollywood royalty. She has appeared in more than 50 films, including the romantic comedy Isoken, for which she won an African Acade...
Jul 15, 2020•33 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Fashion's discount culture, sped-up sales cycles and overproduction are out of control - and COVID19 is adding extra pressure. Will the industry take this chance to rethink, or hurtle along even faster in the race to the bottom? How might we consciously slow down and consider all stakeholders to rebuild value in fashion made to love and last? In this Episode, your hosts Clare Press and Simone Cipriani talk to Sarah Rovis, CEO of the Australian accessories brand Mimco ; Robin MacAndrew who heads ...
Jul 08, 2020•43 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Where next? In this episode, your hosts Simone Cipriani and Clare Press are in Paris to talk with the great Dutch trend forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort and hear her insights on where fashion - and culture - is headed. "We will change possibly everything we do now. It's going to be a radical moment of change," says Li, who once described her work as "archeology of the future". Li's company Trend Union puts out riveting forecasts and reports predicting what’s next. You’ve no doubt heard of her famous...
Jun 30, 2020•42 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Welcome to the very first episode of the ETHICAL FASHION PODCAST! In this episode, your hosts Simone Cipriani and Clare Press speak to International Vogue Editor Suzy Menkes ; Roberta Annan , founder of the African Fashion Foundation; writer and sustainability consultant Rachel Arthur ; and Helsinki Fashion Week's Evelyn Mora . Up for discussion: What's wrong with the old system of international fashion weeks? How we might redesign the format to make it less polluting and more inclusive. Does ev...
Jun 23, 2020•42 min•Season 1Ep. 1
How can fashion be a force for good? Goodbye fast fashion! Hello to a better way that focuses on social and environmental justice, inclusivity and sustainable development. The UN's Ethical Fashion Initiative acts as a bridge, connecting marginalised artisan communities, in challenging & remote locations, with some of the biggest names in international fashion. Explore the issues driving the ethical fashion conversation with your hosts UN officer Simone Cipriani and sustainable fashion journa...
Jun 12, 2020•2 min•Season 1Ep. 1
