Welcome back to Fashion and Founders The Podcast. My name is Victoria Smith and this week I spoke with Kate Sanne the Co-Founder of Beni. Beni is a google Chrome extension that shops alongside you, helping you find secondhand pieces. Kate shares some great insight into what the future of the fashion tech industry holds. She recently moderated a panel at Harvard Business School’s Retail and Luxury Goods Club and shares learnings including AI in fashion, consumer discovery, and the future ...

Welcome to the first episode of season three of fashion and founders the podcast. This week I am joined by Kristine Locker founder of Locker, the Pinterest for online shopping.In this episode, Kristine talks about the founding of Locker the amazing community that she has built, all about fundraising, working with Maggie Sellers as an angel investor, and so much insight into her founder journey.Kristine has some really exciting things lined up for Locker and they’re really innovating how we on...

Hello and welcome to the first episode of Season 3 of Fashion & Founders The Podcast, Conversations in Fashion Circularity, Tech, and Innovation! Formerly Interwoven Stories, but all those episodes will still be available!Intro in what's coming and some changes, I have lots of amazing episodes lined up! Conversations with founders and innovators working in different sectors of the fashion industry, offering an opportunity to get involved in this growing space. Hear directly from the ...

This week I spoke with Manya and Naama founders of Threads of Tech. Together they are creating a community in the fashion tech community from putting on events during NYFW to their job board and connecting people to their dream jobs. Naama has a background as a software engineer and knitwear designer and Manya as a Data Analyst and Fashion Designer. What started out as a roommate search ended up with them putting on two major events in 5 weeks and becoming co-founders.Manya and Naama are...

This week I am joined by Kaley, editorial director at Cascale, formerly known as Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC). You may have heard of the Higg Index, a collection of tools that measure the environmental and social impact of products and supply chains in the apparel, footwear, and textile industriesIn 2009, Walmart and Patagonia founded the SAC to convene apparel industry stakeholders on a pre-competitive basis and develop a common approach to measuring sustainability and in 2010 they la...

This week I spoke with Emily Stochl, Vice President of Advocacy and Community Engagement at Remake. Emily has been in the sustainable fashion space for many years now and began at Remake as an ambassador. She also hosts her own podcast, the Pre-Loved Podcast, so check that out as well.Remake is working on systems change in the fashion industry and creating a more ethical fashion industry. In todays epiosde we cover a lot as Remake is involved in so many branches of the sustainable fashion ind...

Welcome back to Interwoven Stories, this week I had interviewed Julia O’Mara, Co-Founder and COO of Pickle. Pickle is a peer to peer fashion rental platform headquartered in New York City and we were able to meet in person amidst New York Fashion Week.In this episode Julia shares some fun stories about the early days of Pickle, advice for entrepreneurs, and really fun renter stories from engagements to revenge dresses. Julia has not always worked in fashion and before joining Forbes 30 U...

This week I am joined with Jeanine Co-Founder and CEO of World Collective, the first digital transformation hub for the fashion industry. She has an incredible background in fashion with two decades of experience from the Otto Group to being the VP of Supply Chain at Calvin Klein to the Global VP at the Innovation Lab of PVH Corp to founding a nonprofit to support women and children working in the fashion industry to the executive Director of Fashion for Development.Jeanine‘s vision for the f...

This week I was joined with Genia the founder of Been London. Started in 2018, BEEN London is an award-winning accessories brand that was named 'one of the most innovative fashion companies in the world' by British VOGUE.Genia is on a mission to make beautiful things out of waste and help us all reimagine what objects can be. She has a really cool approach to design and sustainability and I found this conversation inspiring and informative on what it’s like to be a founder of sustainable fash...

This week on Interwoven Stories, I spoke with Diana Kakkar the founder and chief executive of MAES London, a luxury garment manufacturing studio located in North London specialising in designer womenswear. I got the opportunity to tour her factory and it was incredible to see firsthand what she has built.Diana is deeply integrated in the UK fashion scene as she is also a mentor at the British Fashion Council, a visiting lecturer at the University of art London, and an ambassador for the...

This week I spoke with Kelly Drennan, the founder and executive director of Fashion Takes Action (FTA). FTA is Canada's only non-profit organization devoted to advancing sustainability in the entire fashion system through education, awareness, research and collaboration. Kelly shares how she started Fashion Takes Action in 2007 and discovered a real need to education and collaboration in sustainable fashion and how in wake of the Rana Plaza Factory Tragedy she found a way to educate...

This week I spoke with Natalia, the founder of Bipty a fashion rental platform.She shares how she got started running around her college campus delivering clothes and how she built her business where it is today as they launch an app July 11th as well!Natalia has great advice for people who want to start their own business and get started renting out their clothes and have a great side hustle.She has built such an incredible community and I can’t wait to see what she continues to...

This week I interviewed Georgie Hyatt a London based entrepreneur. She was named Forbes 30 Under 30 and Drapers 30 under 30 in 2022, for her fashion rental business Rotaro. Who What Wear featured her as one of “The Best Wardrobes in Britain." Georgie’s fashion journey began at WGSN, a trend forecasting and analytics company. She then founded Rotaro, a UK based fashion rental company that offered rental as a service for brands. After consolidating Rotaro with another fashion rental compan...

This week I spoke with Nora, the marketing manager at Colorifix. Colorifix is a business creating a natural dye solution through a biological process using bacteria as opposed to the toxic chemical dyes currently being used by most of the fashion industry. These dyes have multiple environmental consequences like water pollution which was the genesis for the founders of Colorifix to begin on this journey. Nora breaks down how Colorifix creates dyes that mimic nature and I know it’s scienc...

This week I spoke with Michelle Gabriel an educator, researcher, and sustainability strategist in the fashion space. We met at The Sustainable Fashion Forum back in April as she kicked off the conference with a workshop on policy. Michelle has been involved with the New York Fashion Act and in this episode shares her insight and breaks down the act. Michelle shares her diverse range of experiences in fashion and what lead her to where she is now in education and academia. For anyone...

This week I am joined with two amazing leaders at Fashion Revolution on the US team, Kelly, who manages education and Madison who leads the community work. Fashion Revolution is a nonprofit founded by Carry Somers and Orsola de Castro in the wake of the Rana Plaza disaster in 2013. Fashion Revolution has a global reach with teams all over the world and is a go to source for educating yourself on ethical practices and they have lead a multitude of campaigns, you may have seen people hold...

Introducing the first episode of my new series Fashion 3, 2, 1: News, Trends, and Vintage FindsThis week covers3 pieces of fashion news 1. Pre-loved luxury items being sold on TikTok ShopIs this a step forward for secondhand, or a step back for slow fashion?2. Chanel’s legal battle with upcyclers Is there a way for fashion houses to work with upcyclers and resellers to give their products another life?3. Luxury’s returns problemWill brands decide for themselves that even though it's not ...

Excited for this week’s episode and with Rachel Kibbe. We met at the Sustainable Fashion Forum in Austin in April and I’m so glad we had the opportunity to keep talking about her work.We discuss the Americas Act, a bipartisan bill introduced in March 2024 and the textile circularity portion Rachel wrote, incentivizing innovation in the US. Rachel is the CEO of Circular Services Group and American Circular Textiles with members leading the circular fashion space such as The RealReal, Rent The ...

This week I spoke with Marika a content creator who shares her thrifted outfits on instagram. We talk about how social media has impacted shopping behaviors and outfit repeating, and our own personal style as we are flooded with content. From upcycled jumpers, a coach bag passed down from her mom, to a jacket she loved so much she actually bought it from her sister, which I find hilarious and something anyone with a sister can probably relate to.If you’re interested in starting out ...

This week I spoke with Xyee, the founder of Fairycity. A luxury vintage boutique specializing in the most stunning clothes from lux French designers to rare runway Blumarine. She expertly curates pieces for girls around the world, with even Matilda Djerf following her.  With over 15K Depop followers, her pieces are not ones to miss. Definitely check out her instagram and depop for some incredible vintage inspiration that definitely embody “fairycore.”  Xyee is passionate about giving clothes...

This week I am joined by Sarah, the founder of rental company Our Pinterest Wardrobe based in the UK. She is also a By Rotation ambassador and exemplifies how to you can still be sustainable as a fashion lover and even make money from it.  We talk all things rental fashion and Sarah offers tangible tips on getting started and the business side of renting out her closet.  Although somehow Sarah has never seen the Sisterhood of the traveling pants movie, she shares stories behind the...

If you’ve ever needed inspiration to pop into your first charity shop or thrift store I truly believe Jenn can convince you. Jenn shares so many wonderful stories about how fun secondhand shopping can be and how as a parent she shares this with her kids in a super special tradition she has created.  She also shares some really great tips on getting started secondhand shopping and the joy of the search, not knowing what you’ll come out of the charity shop with. Jenn is an avid charity shopper...

I am joined today by Isabel, a vintage curator and seller based in New York City, who runs the brand 7drawers. Isabel shares her best tips of sourcing and authenticating vintage designer pieces from heels to handbags. Vintage designer handbags and heels are her speciality as you can see from the amazing array she has curated on her Depop page.  If you’ve ever wanted to get started selling or curious about the process this episode is for you. She shares a lot of tangible tips on how to get...