Re.Vert Ventures, Stories From Impact Entrepreneurs

In today’s episode we speak with Joey Pham, founder of Eorte — a company creating regenerative uniforms and textile systems for the hospitality sector. Eorte supports the circular economy by creating a closed-loop system for textile waste within hospitality. Participating restaurants and hotels provide Eorte with discarded textiles including bed sheets, quilts, towels, and other soft goods, which...

In today’s episode we speak with Lauren Gropper, founder of Repurpose — a company creating compostable, plant-based alternatives to single-use plastic products. Repurpose supports the circular economy by replacing petroleum-based, single-use plastics with compostable materials designed to return safely to the earth after use, rather than persist in landfills or our ecosystems. The problem: Globall...

In todays episode we speak with Claire Schlemme, the founder of Renewal Mill. A company up cycling fibrous byproducts from food manufacturing into high value ingredients.  Renewal Mill  supports the circular economy by diverting food from landfill and ensuring all calories and nutrients dont go to waste but get a second life as a new food ingredient for consumption. The company focuses on flour al...

In todays episode we speak with Cleo Escarez, the founder of Redyoos. A company focused on supporting the clean energy transition through recycling jewelry and precious metals.  Redyoos supports the circular economy by reducing the need for mining for new finite precious metals, and provides a direct end of life solution for consumers and businesses to properly discard their pieces.   The problem:...

In todays episode we speak with Anna Hammond, the founder of Matriarch Foods. A company that upcycles farm surplus and fresh-cut remnants into delicious, healthy products for food service, retail, and emergency food. We learn her story working in the arts to engaging local farmers in the New York City region, which lead to her discovering how we can extend the full value of our crops in our curren...

In this episode of Re. Vert Ventures , we sit down with Dan Kurzrock , founder of Upcycled Foods (formerly ReGrained ), a pioneer turning the food upcycling movement into a thriving business. Based in the Bay Area, Dan shares how a college beer-brewing hobby turned into a mission to give “spent grain” a second life. From dorm room experiments to scaling a purpose-driven company, his story is one o...

In this episode of Re. Vert Ventures we speak with John Metcalf, founder of Upgraded, the leading tech subscription service in the US focusing on MacBooks.   Based in Austin, we hear John’s story from childhood to being self employed to full time founder and everything in between. Culminating to John creating a platform enabling the a new model for device ownership and creating a scalable take bac...

In this episode of Re. Vert Ventures, we speak with Ken Elliott, founder of IND Hemp, the leading source of industrial hemp food, feed and fiber ingredients in the country. Based in Montana, we hear ken’s story of going from the environmental services sector to discovering the restorative properties of growing hemp. From there he decides to go full in on this magic crop and grow his industrial hem...

Welcome to Re. Vert Ventures Season 3 (formerly Growing Green Ventures). We’ve made a few aesthetic updates, but the heart of the show remains the same: exploring the climate crisis through the lens of entrepreneurship and digging into the journeys of founders making a real impact. This season, we’re focusing on the circular economy — reimagining waste as a valuable input, and exploring bio-based...

In this final episode of the podcast, we speak with Liz Ricketts, Co-founder of The OR foundation to shed light on the last stage of life of our garments.  We dive deep into their work, and the economic systems that allow this whole mess to happen in the first place.  The OR Foundation is a non profit operating out of the US and Ghana focused on addressing textile waste and supporting the local co...

In this episode, we focus on what happens to our clothes post consumption.  We speak with Alex Husted the co-founder of Helpsy.  Helpsy is  on a mission to keep clothing out of trash by enabling the collection, sorting and responsible distribution of secondhand clothing and shoes. They provide pick up, sorting, and distribution services across America. Once collected and sorted Helpsy sells off th...

In the 6th segment of this series, we take a look a company is helping extend the use phase of our garments post purchase. I speak with Rachel Sterling, the co-founder of Alternew.  Alternew offers bespoke tailoring and repair services for brands by connecting them and their users to local tailoring shops. This allows customers to tailor their clothes upon purchase to ensure perfect fit easily.  I...

In the 5th segment of the season, we speak to the founder of Beacon's Closet Carrie Peterson. Beacon’s Closet is a secondhand shop based in #NYC operating 4 locations where consumers can buy, sell and trade their clothes. Beacon’s has been around for almost 30 years in business and whose model inherently provides sustainable options for consumers by promoting the consumption of second hand it...

In the 4th segment of this season we focus on addressing the textile waste created in the design and manufacturing of our garments. We speak with Jessica Schreiber, the founder of Fabscrap, an organization diverting textile waste from landfills and creating a system for reuse and recycling. Fabscrap focuses on responsibly managing the waste found between the stages of a garment's design and p...

In the third segment of the season, we focus on brands, and their role driving this value chain. We speak with Carmen Gama, the Director of Circular Design for Eileen Fisher and the co-founder of Make ANEEW, a one stop shop for circular fashion that recovers value at scale from post consumer clothing.  In this conversation we speak about:  Effective takeback programs at scale  Remanufacturing and...

In the second episode of this season, we get to speak with Dan Robichaud-Carew,  the Head of software and product management at Unspun, an innovative fashion tech company creating 3D weaved garments through their proprietary Vega manufacturing system. In this conversation we speak all things: the stagnant manufacturing industry what makes the fashion industry so different to other sectors opportun...

In the first episode of GGV, we speak with Valentina Gomez, the co-founder of Werewool, a biomaterials company that develops fibers with tailored aesthetic and performance properties, derived form natural proteins found in nature. We talk all things: Start up life (funding, idea incubation, perseverance) Material innovation (biomimicry, organic performance features, protein derived variations, des...

Too often we look at sustainability and issues of our climate in isolation. Achieving Sustainability in reality requires addressing our issues in a systemic approach, understanding how our actions impact those before and after us,  to ensure we are not passing down more problems and responsibility down the line. While each industry has its own unique factors, most supply chain's are fragmente...

Season 1 Recap episode! Today I go through the main lessons learned throughout season 1. I am fortunate to be able to interview 9 incredible entrepreneurs across different sectors from biomaterials, museums, footwear, sustainable fashion, agroforestry, packaging and more. Each have their own journey and story to tell but there are some underlying commonalities in each. Some key findings include: B...

In today's final interview episode of season 1, I get to speak with Beto Bina,  the co-founder of Farfarm, an organization that works at the intersection of strategy, supply chain and impact. FarFarm supports brands creating sustainable products by sourcing materials in an agroforestry system, meaning sourcing natural materials in a way that promotes tree growth and native agriculture product...

Matthew Hawthorne, is a thought leader in the circular textile space. He is the founder of TerrApparel, a circular outerwear brand, focused on closed loop apparel apparel brand.  Using 100% recycled fabrics, fluorocarbon free waterproofing and wicking finishes. Now Matthew is a footprinting and circularity expert at Quantis, an environmental consultancy specializing in the fashion sector.  Matthew...

Miranda Massie is the founder and director of the Climate Museum, the first museum in the US dedicated to the climate crisis. The museum mobilizes the power of arts and cultural programming to accelerate the crucial shift toward climate dialogue and action, connecting people and advancing just solutions.   The museum shines a light and uplifts the voices of the ‘silent majority’ or 2/3rds of Ameri...

James McGoff, the founder and Chief Product Officer at TemperPack, an innovative sustainable materials company focused on eliminating plastic from the supply chain, through sustainable packaging options. Their main products are focused on creating protective and insulative packaging for food and life science industries. TemperPack serves as a great story of ingenuity, grit, and timing that creates...

I get to speak with Samuel Falzone, a footwear designer and creative, making beautiful products focused on reconstructing deadstock sneakers into new one-of-a-kind pieces. In his latest project 'Reconstructed by Samuel Falzone' Samuel emphasizes repairability in each of his pieces through his goodyear welted soles. Beautiful, rare products, with handmade finishes, that are meant to be re...

David Cutler is the founder of Fortuna Cools and Nutshell Coolers, a company up cycling coconut husks into insulative packaging. His business employs and manufactures in the Philippines where this unique business opportunity started.  Fortuna Cools capitalizes on an agricultural byproduct's natural characteristics of insulation and turns it into a product that directly replaces traditional st...