Conscious Style Podcast

Amanda McCarty, the host of Clotheshorse and an experienced buyer in the fast fashion industry, is giving us an inside look at the practices used by the fast fashion industry and revealing the realities of working for fast fashion corporations. You'll hear about: How overproduction is part of fast fashion's business model Why most deals today are really just a delusion What drove the dramatic drop...

In this episode, I'm sharing the most transformative resources on my personal conscious fashion journey in an effort to share useful resources that you can turn to on your own path. So, hit play to hear 7 resources that I have either learned the most from or that have shifted my mindset around slow, conscious, and sustainable fashion most profoundly. Looking for more resources? Grab your free 10 p...

Custom Collaborative is a New York-based nonprofit transforming the apparel industry economics for low-to-no income women and immigrant women. In this episode, you're going to hear from Custom Collaborative’s founder and Executive Director, Ngozi Okaro. Ngozi advocates for a fashion industry that honors both planet and people. In this episode Ngozi talks about: Custom Collaborative's various progr...

Is it possible to preach the values of sustainability while still promoting consumption? This is the question posed by a recent article in The New York Times titled, " The Moral Quandary of ‘Slow Fashion’ Influencers ". The piece explored what it is like navigating the nuanced world of working with brands — and making a living — while also advocating for sustainability and reduced consumption. And...

In this episode, you are going to get a behind-the-scenes look at one element of Conscious Life & Style as a business and you'll get to meet a member of the team!  My partnerships manager, Abigail Davidson, and I will be talking about all things sustainable brand and influencer (or creator) partnerships. Abigail has a boutique agency, ADH Management , where she helps conscious creators increase th...

I receive questions through Instagram frequently, often I get repeat questions, and I feel like a podcast is a perfect place to answer them, elaborate more on the question, and give you  in-depth responses. So today on the podcast it’s going to be a Q&A solo episode. Yup, just you and me! In this episode, I will talk about: The different options for rehoming your old clothes Where and how to send...

What is the difference between stylists and style coaches? Today on the podcast we are going to learn a bit more about style coaching with personal style coach, Elyse Holladay. Elyse is on a mission to help women transform their relationship with clothes and show up fully as their authentic selves. In this episode, Elyse is going to talk about: The power of style — and why that power has been so u...

So, when you hear the word marketing, what do you think of?  Do you think of glitzy advertisements with photoshopped models that make us feel we're not enough? Greenwashing campaigns from fast fashion brands that tell us we can buy our way to sustainability? Perhaps sales emails telling us the latest and greatest discounts & doorbusters? Well, I don't believe that marketing has to look this way. S...

Do you want to know what it takes to launch a conscious fashion brand and how to do it in a more sustainable and affordable way?   Whether you're a fashion designer who wants to launch a label, an aspiring sustainable fashion entrepreneur, or just someone curious about this whole process (like me!) you will get a lot out of this episode.    In this episode, I interviewed Shannon Lohr, the founder...

When we think about sustainable fashion, we often think about the supply chain of a garment: the fabrics, dyes, and worker rights along the way. But increasingly, the reverse supply chain of clothes — i.e. the secondhand supply chain — is also becoming part of the sustainable fashion conversation.   To dive deeper into this topic, I interviewed Kampala-based filmmaker Nikissi Serumaga, who I have...

This is the second season finale of the podcast!  As you probably know by now, the focus of this season is circular fashion and in the past 15 episodes or so, we've talked about secondhand, swapping, renting, slowing down production, repairing and mending, recycling and upcycling, and beginning in last week's episode, composting and building soil-to-soil circularity. We will be continuing that con...

When you think about the best end of life for clothing, we may think of recycling or upcycling those clothes. But what if we could compost them?  What if our clothes could return to the soil from where the fibers to make that clothing was grown? It might sound like a far off dream — especially when we consider that most clothing today is made from synthetic fabrics (i.e. plastic fibers like polyes...

There are quite a few barriers to secondhand shopping, from perceptions about limited styles to the issue of smells. And this episode will cover all of these obstacles and more. But sizing is one of the most common obstacles that comes up, especially for those shopping for plus sizes. So, in this episode, I'm chatting with Mya Price, the founder of the plus size vintage boutique, More Than Your Av...

For this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Cynthia Power, an expert in brand resale programs. Cynthia currently helps brands build and optimize their resale programs at Recurate, a full-service recommerce partner for brands, whose clients include Mara Hoffman and RE/DONE. Before that, Cynthia worked as the Director of Eileen Fisher's take-back and resale program. And as you may know, Ei...

To celebrate 10,000 downloads and thank you all for subscribing and tuning in to the show, I have a very special bonus episode for you today. As you may know by now, this season of the podcast is all about circular fashion. But home goods actually have a LOT in common with fashion. First off: a lot of home goods are made with textiles: meaning they too can be made from linen and cotton, recycled m...

With so much talk about circularity in the fashion industry today from big fast fashion brands, circularity has been co-opted and greenwashed.  These brands are using mass produced recycled polyester clothes to advertise their sustainability credentials with no mention of fair wages or safety for workers. They're using take-back programs as a way to continue to overproduce and encourage overconsum...

How can we slow down fashion, get more use out of clothes, but also have clothes that fit us — literally and figuratively speaking — at the current point in our lives? Well, that's something that clothes swapping is ideal for! Swapping allows us to responsibly re-home our existing garments that no longer suit us while being able to access different pieces that would fit us better, size wise, color...

Have you ever wondered what really drives consumption? What the motivations are — on a psychological level — that drive people to consume.  Can psychology help explain this rapid increase in consumption that we've seen in recent years and help us understand why it's so difficult to shift towards more conscious consumption habits?  And then on the flip side of that, how could we potentially use beh...

Is fashion rental actually sustainable? Are there ways to make it more sustainable? This episode is a deep dive into the various elements of the fashion rental system. In this episode, I'll also interview Eshita Kabra-Davies, the founder and CEO of the world's first social fashion rental app, By Rotation. Eshita is sharing: How By Rotation's peer-to-peer rental model works, How peer-to-peer sharin...

In this episode, I'm chatting with the one and only Aja Barber, a sustainable fashion thought leader, consultant, writer, and new author. Her debut book is called Consumed, The Need for Collective Change: Colonialism, Climate Change, and Consumerism.   Aja is sharing: How the fashion industry been shaped by colonization, and what its lasting legacies are; Why fast fashion isn't actually affordable...

What are the connections with overconsumption and the rise of fast fashion with social media and influencer (and haul) culture? In this episode, Lily of Imperfect Idealist explores how social media influences consumption and why overconsumption + overproduction are such big problems in fashion.   Lily also shares: Why fashion hauls are so problematic; What some of the solutions are — on both an in...

Between the overflow of cheap clothing, schedules packed to the brim, and a decline in sewing education, torn and ill-fitting clothes are far more likely to be tossed than mended or altered. But fashion tech entrepreneur Josephine Philips is on a mission to change that with her clothing repair and tailoring app, Sojo. Sojo makes it more convenient than ever to get your clothes mended or modified —...

Natasha Halesworth is the founder and owner of The Consistency Project, which is a shop that curates pre-loved fashion and designs reworked clothing while working to break the stigma of secondhand. In this episode, Natasha is giving us a glimpse inside what it's like to run a secondhand and reworked clothing brand.    She's also sharing: What her sourcing process is like and what she keeps in mind...

When you think of a circular economy, what do you think of? Perhaps repurposing and reusing? Restoring and renewing? Repairing and mending? Recycling and upcycling?   Well in this episode, I'm chatting with Nicole Bassett, the co-founder of the Renewal Workshop, which is a circular fashion business dedicated to doing all of those things.   In this conversation, Nicole is going to share: What the c...

Have you ever struggled to feel creative with the clothes in your closet? Do you ever feel uninspired by your wardrobe?   You'll want to tune into this conversation, because Alyssa is sharing: Tips for ways we can maximize a piece's use and discover more outfit combinations; How to "get the look" of outfits we see and love using only the items already in our wardrobes; How to break down style elem...