WEBVTT 00:00:08.207 --> 00:00:14.933 So, scientists have been warning us that we're wreaking havoc on our planet. 00:00:14.933 --> 00:00:19.800 We're told about how our soil is getting deteriorated 00:00:19.800 --> 00:00:25.818 and our fresh water supply, as we just heard, is getting polluted. 00:00:25.818 --> 00:00:27.765 We're told about all of these problems, 00:00:27.765 --> 00:00:29.847 and we're told how it's going to impact us. 00:00:29.847 --> 00:00:33.688 It's not just our polar ice caps that are going to be melting, 00:00:33.688 --> 00:00:37.119 but it's going to impact our coastal cities. 00:00:38.139 --> 00:00:39.940 We're told about all of this, 00:00:39.940 --> 00:00:42.608 but then we're not really given many options 00:00:42.608 --> 00:00:44.718 on what we might be able to do about it. 00:00:44.718 --> 00:00:49.251 We're told to recycle, use fuel-efficient cars, 00:00:49.251 --> 00:00:52.059 maybe turn the lights off when we're leaving the room. 00:00:52.749 --> 00:00:56.207 We feel powerless against this issue. 00:00:56.207 --> 00:00:57.421 And it also seems 00:00:57.421 --> 00:01:01.919 as if it's the responsibility of government to take care of. 00:01:01.919 --> 00:01:05.956 And yet we know that government is in gridlock. 00:01:05.956 --> 00:01:07.750 So now, what are we left to do? 00:01:08.428 --> 00:01:13.291 Well, what if I told you that we actually do hold the power? 00:01:13.471 --> 00:01:16.343 And that power is what we wear every day. 00:01:16.343 --> 00:01:17.656 It's our clothing. 00:01:17.882 --> 00:01:20.665 Because what people haven't told you 00:01:20.665 --> 00:01:22.131 is under the radar, 00:01:22.131 --> 00:01:25.137 the apparel industry has actually become 00:01:25.137 --> 00:01:28.503 the second most polluting industry in the world. 00:01:29.833 --> 00:01:33.748 So, I'd like to talk today about how we got to this place 00:01:33.748 --> 00:01:37.568 and how we can take back control and use our power 00:01:37.568 --> 00:01:42.123 to both answer the question, "What am I going to wear today?" 00:01:42.506 --> 00:01:45.116 and the world's more pressing problems. 00:01:46.461 --> 00:01:49.212 So, it's the leadership of Ikea that recently said 00:01:49.212 --> 00:01:51.312 that we have reached peak stuff. 00:01:51.595 --> 00:01:55.563 And that is certainly true when it comes to our clothing. 00:01:55.563 --> 00:01:57.888 You see here, in the 1960s, 00:01:57.888 --> 00:02:03.826 the average American invested in 25 new pieces of clothing every year. 00:02:03.826 --> 00:02:07.888 A generation later, today, and we purchase 00:02:07.888 --> 00:02:12.132 three times as much clothing as we did in the 60s. 00:02:12.477 --> 00:02:13.805 So how did this come about? 00:02:13.805 --> 00:02:15.494 Did we just decide one day, 00:02:15.494 --> 00:02:19.866 "Oh yes, I want to purchase a lot more clothes of less quality. 00:02:19.866 --> 00:02:21.733 Sign me up for that"? 00:02:22.333 --> 00:02:24.026 It didn't happen that way. 00:02:24.226 --> 00:02:27.270 It started as trade barriers actually came down, 00:02:27.270 --> 00:02:29.438 which created financial incentives 00:02:29.438 --> 00:02:32.131 for brands to move their production overseas. 00:02:32.131 --> 00:02:36.177 And this generally created a trend for cheaper and cheaper clothing 00:02:36.177 --> 00:02:38.495 using cheaper materials and cheap labor. 00:02:39.245 --> 00:02:41.793 Meanwhile, these fast-fashion companies - 00:02:41.793 --> 00:02:43.927 and that's what this industry is called - 00:02:43.927 --> 00:02:47.424 these fast-fashion companies had huge marketing budgets 00:02:47.424 --> 00:02:49.125 to try to convince all of us 00:02:49.125 --> 00:02:51.929 that their cheap clothing was somehow covetable. 00:02:53.918 --> 00:02:56.696 So we bought more and more. 00:02:57.415 --> 00:02:59.855 But more isn't always more. 00:02:59.855 --> 00:03:01.318 You see, in the 1960s, 00:03:01.318 --> 00:03:05.291 when we were investing in 25 pieces of clothing - 00:03:05.291 --> 00:03:08.114 and they really were investments because at that time, 00:03:08.114 --> 00:03:13.612 we spent over 10% of our salary on clothing every year - 00:03:14.032 --> 00:03:19.243 95% of American clothing, what we wore, was American-made. 00:03:19.648 --> 00:03:22.495 Today, it is less than 2%. 00:03:23.324 --> 00:03:27.238 And that drop actually represents an 80% drop 00:03:27.238 --> 00:03:30.186 in apparel-manufacturing jobs in this country. 00:03:31.946 --> 00:03:34.509 So, I'm sure we all have our own experiences 00:03:34.509 --> 00:03:37.796 of dealing with fast fashion and experiencing fast fashion. 00:03:37.796 --> 00:03:39.132 I have my own. 00:03:39.132 --> 00:03:43.871 Having come from Minnesota, I remember going to New York when H&M first opened. 00:03:43.871 --> 00:03:47.087 And I was so excited, I have to admit. 00:03:47.087 --> 00:03:50.108 I loved the size of the store and the lights, 00:03:50.108 --> 00:03:52.269 and the smell was kind of crazy, 00:03:53.329 --> 00:03:55.495 and there was this blasting music, 00:03:55.495 --> 00:03:57.538 and I just ate it up. 00:03:57.538 --> 00:03:59.740 And I bought clothes by the bagful. 00:03:59.740 --> 00:04:04.813 And I didn't really think that I - maybe knew what I wanted, 00:04:04.813 --> 00:04:08.339 but it didn't really seem to matter, because the prices were just so cheap. 00:04:08.339 --> 00:04:11.521 I mean, a jumpsuit for less than $20! 00:04:12.321 --> 00:04:16.031 But what I ultimately found out is that all of that cheap clothing 00:04:16.031 --> 00:04:18.323 has huge consequences 00:04:18.323 --> 00:04:22.298 both for the environment and for the people making our clothing. 00:04:22.298 --> 00:04:24.399 So let's take a look at why that is. 00:04:26.135 --> 00:04:28.778 So, it turns out that the fast-fashion industry 00:04:28.778 --> 00:04:32.355 is fuelled by a new type of fiber: polyester. 00:04:32.355 --> 00:04:34.071 You can see there, there is a line: 00:04:34.071 --> 00:04:37.456 H&M opens in New York in 2001 - that's when I was visiting - 00:04:37.456 --> 00:04:42.688 and you can see, at that stage, that was when cotton was no longer king. 00:04:43.008 --> 00:04:46.501 And just take a look at the rise of polyester 00:04:46.501 --> 00:04:49.352 as fast fashion has come onto the scene. 00:04:49.911 --> 00:04:52.023 Polyester, for those that don't know, 00:04:52.023 --> 00:04:56.192 is a polluting plastic made from fossil fuels. 00:04:56.698 --> 00:04:59.501 And it's now in over half of our clothing. 00:05:00.621 --> 00:05:03.297 Let's talk about why that might be an issue. 00:05:03.297 --> 00:05:05.971 There are four primary things that we need to think about 00:05:05.971 --> 00:05:09.782 when we think about this rise in polyester. 00:05:09.782 --> 00:05:12.639 First of all, it's non-biodegradable. 00:05:12.639 --> 00:05:17.963 Consider this: every piece of polyester that has ever been produced 00:05:17.963 --> 00:05:20.099 is still on the planet today. 00:05:20.099 --> 00:05:21.853 So, when you think about the fact 00:05:21.853 --> 00:05:26.041 that there are 150 billion new pieces of clothing 00:05:26.041 --> 00:05:28.397 being added onto the planet every year, 00:05:28.397 --> 00:05:31.256 that's a lot of plastic that's not going away. 00:05:31.976 --> 00:05:36.971 Second: these polyester fabrics, when you wash them, 00:05:36.971 --> 00:05:40.130 thousands of these microplastics are shedding, 00:05:40.130 --> 00:05:44.151 and they're entering our water systems and ultimately our oceans. 00:05:44.151 --> 00:05:49.811 And what's happening is that the fish are consuming these microplastics 00:05:49.811 --> 00:05:52.630 and we are consuming the fish. 00:05:52.630 --> 00:05:56.815 There was a recent study in California, 00:05:56.815 --> 00:05:59.154 and they went to the fish markets in California. 00:05:59.534 --> 00:06:01.864 And they found out that actually 00:06:01.864 --> 00:06:05.905 one in four of the fish that are sold at the markets 00:06:05.905 --> 00:06:07.943 contain these microplastics. 00:06:08.749 --> 00:06:13.382 And researchers are saying that while the big plastics you can see, 00:06:13.382 --> 00:06:16.882 the greatest pollution is actually these microfibers. 00:06:17.566 --> 00:06:21.526 Third: have you noticed that recently, you have been sweating more? 00:06:23.246 --> 00:06:25.587 This is not just a coincidence, 00:06:25.587 --> 00:06:29.088 because polyester, it turns out, is non-breathable, 00:06:29.088 --> 00:06:31.010 unlike the natural fibers. 00:06:31.010 --> 00:06:34.170 So, what that means is that heat is trapped into your body 00:06:34.170 --> 00:06:36.075 and you sweat more. 00:06:36.628 --> 00:06:42.161 Finally, polyester is extremely energy-intensive to create. 00:06:42.161 --> 00:06:44.567 Just how energy-intensive? 00:06:44.887 --> 00:06:46.547 Take a look at this graph. 00:06:46.547 --> 00:06:49.562 This is showing the relative energy-intensiveness 00:06:49.562 --> 00:06:52.050 to create each type of material. 00:06:52.050 --> 00:06:54.250 This linen sweater that I am wearing 00:06:54.250 --> 00:06:57.117 requires just [one eighth] of the amount of energy 00:06:57.117 --> 00:06:59.943 it does to create polyester. 00:07:00.863 --> 00:07:06.105 So, now we have a tripling of the amount of clothing that we buy, 00:07:06.105 --> 00:07:08.780 this clothing is no longer made from natural materials 00:07:08.780 --> 00:07:12.527 but incredibly energy-intensive polyester, 00:07:12.527 --> 00:07:16.271 and now we have to think about where this clothing is being made. 00:07:16.899 --> 00:07:18.637 Take a look at this graph. 00:07:18.637 --> 00:07:22.903 This graph shows the total apparel imports into the US by volume. 00:07:23.150 --> 00:07:27.261 You will see here that China is actually our biggest trading partner on this - 00:07:27.261 --> 00:07:30.110 a little more than 40% of our clothing is coming from China. 00:07:31.968 --> 00:07:33.356 Remember this graph, 00:07:33.356 --> 00:07:34.853 and as I show you this one, 00:07:34.853 --> 00:07:36.812 take a look at this map. 00:07:36.812 --> 00:07:37.805 This is a map 00:07:37.805 --> 00:07:40.679 of the energy-intensiveness of the power grids 00:07:40.679 --> 00:07:42.944 of where we're getting our clothing from. 00:07:43.454 --> 00:07:44.810 Consider this: 00:07:44.810 --> 00:07:50.349 in China, 3/4 of the energy supply is coming from coal. 00:07:51.603 --> 00:07:54.655 So when we are churning away all of that clothing, 00:07:54.655 --> 00:07:57.964 it's coming from the dirtiest form of energy, 00:07:57.964 --> 00:07:59.257 which is coal. 00:07:59.257 --> 00:08:02.714 Even in the United States, which itself is not the cleanest power grid, 00:08:02.714 --> 00:08:07.484 it's not 77% as in China, it is about 33%. 00:08:07.484 --> 00:08:10.688 So, now we know we're making too much clothing, 00:08:10.688 --> 00:08:13.862 it's being made of a very high-intensity product 00:08:13.862 --> 00:08:17.201 in a place that is taking up a lot of energy. 00:08:17.201 --> 00:08:21.644 And all of this is adding up to the fact that the apparel industry 00:08:21.644 --> 00:08:25.131 is responsible for 10% of the total carbon output 00:08:25.131 --> 00:08:26.893 for the entire world. 00:08:26.893 --> 00:08:28.572 To put that into some perspective, 00:08:28.572 --> 00:08:32.917 that is five times more carbon output 00:08:32.917 --> 00:08:35.425 than all airline travel combined. 00:08:36.806 --> 00:08:39.332 But that's just the environmental impact. 00:08:39.332 --> 00:08:42.441 Now we have to consider who is making our clothes 00:08:42.441 --> 00:08:44.030 and what is happening to them. 00:08:44.763 --> 00:08:48.418 If you remember where our clothing is coming from, 00:08:48.418 --> 00:08:50.799 now we're going to look at the Department of Labor 00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:55.787 and where they are finding forced labor and child labor. 00:08:57.069 --> 00:09:00.286 And you're going to see that they match up almost exactly. 00:09:02.899 --> 00:09:06.568 It is believed that one in six people around the world 00:09:06.568 --> 00:09:09.022 work in some part of the apparel industry. 00:09:09.022 --> 00:09:11.724 So, it employs a lot of people. 00:09:12.004 --> 00:09:14.523 About 80% of those people are women. 00:09:14.523 --> 00:09:18.183 And 98% of them are not receiving a living wage. 00:09:18.369 --> 00:09:22.467 What that means is they are getting locked into a channel of poverty. 00:09:24.247 --> 00:09:26.222 So, that's the bad stuff. 00:09:27.739 --> 00:09:29.931 But it seems, in all of this, 00:09:29.931 --> 00:09:32.008 that no one is really winning. 00:09:32.808 --> 00:09:35.616 Nobody in the supply chain, no one in the value chain 00:09:35.616 --> 00:09:36.619 is really winning, 00:09:36.619 --> 00:09:39.784 except for maybe two CEOs of fast-fashion companies. 00:09:41.666 --> 00:09:46.173 And perhaps nobody is winning - even us, the citizen consumer. 00:09:46.649 --> 00:09:51.150 Because if you take the interest in tidying up 00:09:51.150 --> 00:09:55.908 and the best-seller Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, 00:09:55.908 --> 00:10:01.215 you see this explosive growth in interest in cleaning all of that up. 00:10:01.595 --> 00:10:03.776 And I share that personal interest. 00:10:03.776 --> 00:10:08.479 After living over a decade with my fast-fashion habit, 00:10:08.479 --> 00:10:14.131 I was so tired of shopping all the time and never having anything to wear, 00:10:14.711 --> 00:10:18.672 my closet in New York bursting open with clothes, 00:10:18.672 --> 00:10:21.713 always trying to struggle with what I'm going to wear every day. 00:10:21.713 --> 00:10:23.822 So, one day I decided I had had enough. 00:10:23.822 --> 00:10:25.592 And I wanted to understand: 00:10:25.592 --> 00:10:28.258 What exactly in my closet did I enjoy wearing? 00:10:28.258 --> 00:10:30.432 And why did I enjoy wearing it? 00:10:30.432 --> 00:10:33.814 So, I was digging through things and looking at tags 00:10:33.814 --> 00:10:35.743 and I started to google. 00:10:35.743 --> 00:10:37.593 Really aggressively. 00:10:37.973 --> 00:10:42.713 And what I found out is that I am actually not alone in this pursuit. 00:10:43.063 --> 00:10:51.304 If you type in "is linen" in Google, it actually autocompletes to 00:10:51.304 --> 00:10:53.594 "is linen cotton?" 00:10:53.594 --> 00:10:55.933 I asked that question myself. 00:10:55.933 --> 00:10:59.884 And now I know that linen is not cotton. 00:10:59.884 --> 00:11:02.384 Linen - the sweater that I am wearing today - 00:11:02.384 --> 00:11:04.956 comes from flax - that's the plant on the left - 00:11:04.956 --> 00:11:07.814 and cotton is that thing on the right. 00:11:08.654 --> 00:11:10.503 So, I'm googling away, 00:11:10.503 --> 00:11:15.757 and it really started for me with a personal desire to buy better. 00:11:15.757 --> 00:11:20.095 So, I started to search for ethical and sustainable clothing. 00:11:20.655 --> 00:11:24.307 But what I ended up finding, after doing further research, 00:11:24.307 --> 00:11:27.857 is that those words are really unregulated. 00:11:27.857 --> 00:11:30.706 So, companies can say they are ethical, 00:11:30.706 --> 00:11:33.234 and they can show a picture of their factory, 00:11:33.234 --> 00:11:36.194 but the picture is hiding a lot of things. 00:11:36.194 --> 00:11:41.081 First of all, the picture doesn't say anything about transparency. 00:11:41.081 --> 00:11:44.029 Transparency is when a brand is willing to name 00:11:44.029 --> 00:11:46.177 the factories that they are working with, 00:11:46.177 --> 00:11:49.927 allowing third parties - customers, the media - 00:11:49.927 --> 00:11:53.605 to actually research whether what the brand is claiming 00:11:53.605 --> 00:11:55.257 is actually what is taking place. 00:11:56.754 --> 00:12:01.059 Second, the pictures do not show wages or healthcare coverage. 00:12:01.059 --> 00:12:04.675 And when you think back about how 98% of the apparel industry 00:12:04.675 --> 00:12:06.335 is not receiving a living wage, 00:12:06.335 --> 00:12:10.443 that's an incredibly important statistic if you're wanting to shop ethically. 00:12:11.255 --> 00:12:15.212 A picture also doesn't show shadow factories. 00:12:15.212 --> 00:12:19.667 Shadow factories is a situation that is happening in the apparel industry 00:12:19.667 --> 00:12:22.538 as we have been really going on this race to the bottom 00:12:23.298 --> 00:12:28.638 when a brand will meet with what is called a "five-star factory" 00:12:28.638 --> 00:12:32.188 and they might be taking pictures or doing audits of that factory, 00:12:32.188 --> 00:12:34.805 but it turns out actually that to get the prices 00:12:34.805 --> 00:12:37.126 that the brand is requiring 00:12:37.126 --> 00:12:39.617 or the speed in which they need that product, 00:12:39.617 --> 00:12:42.610 they're outsourcing that production to another factory. 00:12:42.610 --> 00:12:44.309 It's called the "shadow factories," 00:12:44.309 --> 00:12:46.789 which is where really the production is taking place. 00:12:46.789 --> 00:12:48.608 And oftentimes, these shadow factories 00:12:48.608 --> 00:12:52.662 have much lower labor and living standards. 00:12:53.862 --> 00:12:57.834 And finally, a picture is not showing material sustainability. 00:12:57.834 --> 00:13:01.547 It's not showing whether it's organic cotton, 00:13:01.547 --> 00:13:03.928 and that turns out to be incredibly important 00:13:03.928 --> 00:13:08.838 because cotton is the fourth largest pesticide-consuming crop. 00:13:09.342 --> 00:13:14.587 That's why we're having a hard time with the nutrition of our soil. 00:13:14.587 --> 00:13:17.578 And it's not showing whether the dye stuff 00:13:17.578 --> 00:13:20.144 is actually being handled appropriately. 00:13:20.144 --> 00:13:23.938 So, it turns out that not only is the apparel industry 00:13:23.938 --> 00:13:26.557 responsible for 10% of carbon output, 00:13:27.017 --> 00:13:30.709 it's also the second greatest polluter of fresh water globally. 00:13:30.709 --> 00:13:33.408 And that's because dye houses in the developing world, 00:13:33.408 --> 00:13:37.060 90% of them dye their products 00:13:37.060 --> 00:13:39.673 and then release those effluents, release that dye stuff 00:13:39.673 --> 00:13:42.580 directly into local freshwater supplies. 00:13:45.330 --> 00:13:49.151 So, as I was doing all of this research, 00:13:49.151 --> 00:13:53.151 my research entered a Google document 00:13:53.631 --> 00:13:56.540 and I just became really frustrated by the whole thing. 00:13:56.540 --> 00:14:01.781 I became frustrated because I saw while we had this interest in food 00:14:01.781 --> 00:14:04.188 and we now had organic food options 00:14:04.188 --> 00:14:06.568 and we had farm-to-table restaurants, 00:14:06.568 --> 00:14:10.730 there really wasn't a resource that was putting all of this stuff together. 00:14:10.730 --> 00:14:12.762 And as I was putting these pieces together, 00:14:12.762 --> 00:14:15.242 I just saw how huge the problem was. 00:14:16.122 --> 00:14:18.802 And so, it was really that frustration 00:14:18.802 --> 00:14:21.411 that became the impetus to create Zady. 00:14:21.411 --> 00:14:24.441 I wanted a place that distilled that information 00:14:24.441 --> 00:14:26.661 and provided an alternative. 00:14:26.661 --> 00:14:28.553 So, along with a researcher, 00:14:28.553 --> 00:14:33.142 we translated that disparate information on the Google doc 00:14:33.142 --> 00:14:37.892 to a plan on how we can actually create sustainable clothing. 00:14:37.892 --> 00:14:42.165 Because there isn't an organic standard in the apparel industry. 00:14:42.165 --> 00:14:46.403 There aren't the equivalent of LEED-certified factories, 00:14:46.403 --> 00:14:48.978 so we really had to do it all from scratch. 00:14:48.978 --> 00:14:50.963 And this is what we came up with. 00:14:51.543 --> 00:14:53.544 It's called the "new standard." 00:14:53.544 --> 00:14:56.823 First of all, we think about user-centered design. 00:14:57.303 --> 00:15:02.124 A common theme in this fast fashion is that it's all about what can be sold to us 00:15:02.124 --> 00:15:04.073 and the marketing that can be done to us, 00:15:04.073 --> 00:15:05.162 but unlike technology, 00:15:05.162 --> 00:15:07.714 it's really not designed for us at all. 00:15:08.294 --> 00:15:10.519 And so, that's the most important thing: 00:15:10.519 --> 00:15:11.874 that we're thinking about 00:15:11.874 --> 00:15:14.611 what is somebody doing in their day, where are they going, 00:15:14.611 --> 00:15:17.733 and what is the cut and material that is going to fit them best. 00:15:17.733 --> 00:15:21.413 And then we use natural materials and we work directly with our suppliers 00:15:21.413 --> 00:15:24.963 from the farm all the way through the supply chain. 00:15:24.963 --> 00:15:27.248 And that's important, because 90% of brands 00:15:27.248 --> 00:15:29.978 actually don't know where their material is coming from. 00:15:30.618 --> 00:15:34.050 Finally, we have an open-door policy with our manufacturers, 00:15:34.050 --> 00:15:36.883 and we do all of our production domestically. 00:15:36.883 --> 00:15:40.673 In that way, we can see whether our production 00:15:40.673 --> 00:15:44.555 is actually taking place in the place that we've contracted with. 00:15:48.335 --> 00:15:53.616 So, our idea with the "new standard" and creating the Zady collection 00:15:53.616 --> 00:15:55.638 was to show an alternative, 00:15:55.638 --> 00:15:58.421 that we really can love our clothes again. 00:15:59.071 --> 00:16:01.296 And that brings me back to us. 00:16:01.296 --> 00:16:03.289 The citizen consumer. 00:16:03.289 --> 00:16:05.385 Because what I have realized in all of this 00:16:05.385 --> 00:16:07.622 is that we hold the power. 00:16:07.622 --> 00:16:10.809 And if we see ourselves as citizen consumers, 00:16:10.809 --> 00:16:13.486 and if we vote with our dollars, 00:16:13.986 --> 00:16:15.308 we can change the industry 00:16:15.308 --> 00:16:17.966 because they're just following what we're doing. 00:16:18.766 --> 00:16:21.067 And so, as a citizen consumer, 00:16:21.067 --> 00:16:23.599 these are some of the things that you can do. 00:16:23.599 --> 00:16:26.967 First, just check the tags; that's where it started with me. 00:16:26.967 --> 00:16:29.156 Understand where your clothing is coming from 00:16:29.156 --> 00:16:30.541 and what it is made out of. 00:16:30.541 --> 00:16:33.073 That already can advance things a lot. 00:16:33.073 --> 00:16:35.768 Second, check the seams of the clothing. 00:16:36.108 --> 00:16:39.008 In a lot of fast fashion, if you turn it inside out, 00:16:39.008 --> 00:16:41.946 even in the dressing room before you have even left the store, 00:16:41.946 --> 00:16:43.751 those seams are already coming apart. 00:16:43.751 --> 00:16:45.170 So you can really see 00:16:45.170 --> 00:16:48.449 whether this is something that's going to last a long time. 00:16:48.449 --> 00:16:49.866 Third and most importantly, 00:16:49.866 --> 00:16:51.278 love what you buy. 00:16:51.278 --> 00:16:52.979 There's so much marketing dollars 00:16:52.979 --> 00:16:55.779 being used to convince us that we like something 00:16:55.779 --> 00:16:58.530 that we don't really get to focus on what is our style, 00:16:58.530 --> 00:17:01.019 what do we really like, what do we really enjoy. 00:17:01.019 --> 00:17:03.892 If we focus on loving what we buy, 00:17:03.892 --> 00:17:07.809 we're going to end up buying less and enjoying it better. 00:17:07.809 --> 00:17:09.810 And finally, as a citizen consumer, 00:17:09.810 --> 00:17:13.130 you have the power to ask questions. 00:17:13.130 --> 00:17:14.866 You have the right to ask questions. 00:17:14.866 --> 00:17:16.589 Ask if the material is organic. 00:17:16.589 --> 00:17:18.830 Ask what the names of the factories are. 00:17:19.190 --> 00:17:21.112 Ask if the mills are certified - 00:17:21.112 --> 00:17:24.241 are they dealing with their dye and water appropriately? 00:17:24.881 --> 00:17:28.670 And think of your purchases in terms of cost per wear. 00:17:28.670 --> 00:17:31.454 Think of it like an accountant would think of these things. 00:17:32.084 --> 00:17:34.716 In that way, you're not stuck just on the price tag, 00:17:34.716 --> 00:17:38.841 but you can see your clothing as an investment in the long term. 00:17:39.760 --> 00:17:44.110 Because this chaotic and polluting and unjust system 00:17:44.110 --> 00:17:47.091 is really entirely within our hands to control. 00:17:47.491 --> 00:17:50.617 And what we as consumer citizens choose to purchase 00:17:50.617 --> 00:17:53.861 dictates what direction the industry goes. 00:17:53.861 --> 00:17:57.190 If we use our dollars to support that effort, 00:17:57.190 --> 00:17:59.269 to support slow fashion, 00:17:59.269 --> 00:18:02.144 we might find that we feel better in our clothes, 00:18:02.144 --> 00:18:05.511 and we'll be using our power to clean up the planet. 00:18:05.511 --> 00:18:06.485 Thanks. 00:18:06.485 --> 00:18:08.205 (Applause)