00:00:00.000hey y'all joe here and you are listening to under the influence i'm sitting in my closet
00:00:12.140right now just just sitting here staring at all of my stuff i have so much stuff
00:00:19.900and i just i need to get to a place where i'm not buying any more stuff because i don't need
00:00:27.840any more stuff. My kids don't need any more stuff. But like, look, it's really hard. For some reason,
00:00:35.320acquiring things seems to be a human compulsion and a condition of sorts. But I do want to try
00:00:44.640to be better. Not just because more stuff is bad for the earth, but because I don't need it. Because
00:00:50.300cleaning up right now is just such a beast. And so I want less of it. I do. I do. To start out,
00:00:59.540I've been trying to do a less by summer. So I can't do no by, right? But I've been trying to do
00:01:05.580less by. And I chatted with someone in the beginning of the summer to try to help me do
00:01:10.740that. That's going to be the first part of this episode. You might know Diane Bowden from the
00:01:16.720great podcast minimalist moms, Diane is so good at talking about how we can live with less and
00:01:24.920ways that real people can do that. Okay, because I follow some of these no buy accounts. And I'm0.84
00:01:30.180like, that's not my life. And also, I don't think it's your life either. Because I do think that a
00:01:34.680lot of these influencers are just capitalizing on the no buy trend. And they're probably just lying
00:01:40.040to you about what they're doing. But, you know, everyone is lying to you, friends. Everyone.
00:01:47.280Anyway, Diane is awesome. Okay, because it is no BS advice for real people. And I talked to her at0.75
00:01:54.540the start of my no buy summer, which has been going great. I have not been acquiring that much
00:01:59.760stuff, especially on the road when I'm apt to buy stuff because I feel like I have to bring presents
00:02:05.040back for the kids because I feel so guilty, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So first, we're going to
00:02:09.540talk to Diane about setting clear intentions about what we take out of our house and just
00:02:14.200living with more purpose when it comes to all of our stuff. And in the second half of this episode,
00:02:20.020we're going to dig into our kids stuff. Yeah, we're going to chat about sustainability,
00:02:24.520overconsumption on Instagram, and what that all means for back to school shopping.
00:02:28.500I'm talking to Mariana Sachs. She's the founder of an awesome company called Jackalo. Mariana and0.60
00:02:33.880I are going to dig into overconsumption core and how we are all being influenced to buy more
00:02:39.480more, more, more, more, and how we can try to rein that in, especially now as all of the back-to-school
00:02:46.460sales and back-to-school shopping lists are just coming at us from all directions. But let's start
00:02:53.220with how I started planning my low-buy summer. Here's Diane. Hi there. So thanks so much for0.97
00:02:59.220having me. I'm excited to chat again. I know. Me too. Me too. I'm so psyched to have you on because
00:03:04.420I'm embarking on my low buy summer it is not a no buy summer because that is not possible for me
00:03:11.320I've got it just you know I like to set myself up for success what I like to do but I'm going
00:03:17.020low buy I want to use the things I already have and I'm starting with my clothes too I've been
00:03:26.360forcing myself to wear the clothes that are in my closet that I haven't worn before some of which I
00:03:30.700haven't worn in years. And some of them I'm falling back in love with and others of them,
00:03:35.620I'm like, I think we're done. I think our season of life has passed and that is okay. And I'm just
00:03:42.560so inspired by all of your content, by your book, Minimalist Moms and your social media and your
00:03:50.620podcast about how we can aspire towards minimalism and simplify our life without, I think, setting
00:03:59.060the bar too high. Because if I do that, I know that I'm not going to be able to do this.
00:04:03.860Sure. Yeah, absolutely. I think you're right. I mean, James Clear talks about that in Atomic
00:04:08.360Habits, starting small so that you get that, you hit the bigger goal. And I always say,
00:04:13.520if you start slower and move through your home, if you can gain, well, I should say,
00:04:17.400if you start in a small space, you can gain that momentum to move through your home.
00:04:23.580But yeah, when we take on too much, I mean, maybe for some people, it's like ripping a
00:04:27.140band-aid off they just have to go through and just throw most of their things away but realistically
00:04:31.440for moms or if you are someone with sentimental attachment to items it's just not realistic so i
00:04:36.980i totally agree i think slow and steady wins the race that's a quote for a reason there's a quote
00:04:42.440of yours that i love that i actually wrote down on a sticky note um when i think about and it's
00:04:47.520it's on your website it's when we take the time to recognize the value of the possessions we
00:04:52.060already own, we're left in a state of gratitude. And I have to say that has been true for this
00:04:58.820experiment that I'm doing with my closet right now. Yeah, yeah. So I guess what are you feeling
00:05:03.900grateful for flipping the interview back on you? What do you feel grateful for with the clothes
00:05:08.140that you already have? And how do you nip away at that feeling of keeping up with the Joneses and or
00:05:14.320not enoughness. I love it when the interview is flipped on me. So I will tell you, I put on this
00:05:22.700jumpsuit yesterday that I haven't worn, I would say probably in two kids. So in like five years
00:05:28.680and it's this cute orange jumpsuit. It had a rip in the arm, but I was like, you know what? It's
00:05:35.060not even that big. You're never going to see it. I wore it to a party last night and I got so many
00:05:38.440compliments on it and it just, it brought me so much joy. I'm like, I did, I loved this when I
00:05:43.860bought it. I had forgotten about it. It'd fallen in the back of my closet. It looks like something
00:05:48.240you would see an influencer wear these days. I did a very monochromatic look with orange shoes as
00:05:53.900well. And it felt great. But to answer the second question, I will not be letting myself scroll
00:06:03.040through Instagram. I think that overconsumption core is so intense on social media that I really,
00:06:11.540I'm bricking it for the summer actually so that I do not scroll and that I'm not tempted to buy
00:06:18.380too many things that I don't need. I started an experiment probably at the beginning of this year
00:06:24.880maybe it was in the fall of last year regardless I do the hanger trick where I only have a certain
00:06:31.300amount of hangers so if I bring something in something has to come out because I'm not going
00:06:35.560to buy. Like, I don't have more than 30 hangers. That said, once something, once I start to
00:06:41.860question something, I'm like, OK, I'm going to flip you on the other way around. And then until
00:06:47.160I flip, I give myself about three to six months. And if I haven't gone for that thing, then I get
00:06:52.840rid of it. So if I do go for that thing, I flip it around the other way. So it's kind of just like
00:06:57.320I can look in my closet and be like, OK, I've been wearing you. I've been wearing you. I haven't been
00:07:00.540wearing you. And if I challenge myself to say, I guess I should say I challenge myself to say,
00:07:05.560am I going to wear that? And if not, it's gone. Does that make sense?
00:07:08.480No, that makes that makes so much sense. I also like I'm looking, literally looking at my closet
00:07:12.760right now because we just put all the kids summer clothes in our cabin. We share one closet
00:07:18.720here. But I like the idea. It's like I only have so many hangers. No new hangers are coming in this
00:07:24.220house, friend. Yeah. Well, it's funny. I actually do the same thing with my personal Instagram
00:07:28.800account. I don't let myself follow more than 400 people. So I just saw that there was 401 on there
00:07:34.460earlier today this literally just happened and I was like okay it's time to pull someone off
00:07:39.020because I can't possibly 400 is outrageous but I can't possibly keep up and I want to see the
00:07:44.900people that I love you're going back to what you're talking about this influencer-y over
00:07:50.960consumption uh what's it I don't even know what it's called when they do the unpackaging what's
00:07:55.920like the unboxing videos yes I can't do that because I do love clothes and so for me it's
00:08:03.260just like an alcoholic in a bar like I have to just turn it off turn away Instagram my personal
00:08:08.220one is where I see my people and just a few influencer type people are people that share
00:08:12.980good content so yeah that's what helps me cut down on it but also I'm pretty regimented and
00:08:19.500that might sound insane but I'm like no this just helps me stay in line with the goals that I do
00:08:24.780have well and you say a lot that minimalism doesn't mean getting rid of everything just the
00:08:30.600right things and what are some of your tips for figuring out what things are right to get rid of
00:08:35.960okay so I would say that's gonna obviously look different for everyone I'm more so I've been
00:08:42.940using minimalism as a tool not just for your tangible items but to get rid of things in our
00:08:47.480lives that might actually be relationships which I know is always controversial when I say that
00:08:51.940but one thing that I've always done is to write down I guess the things that I value versus what
00:08:57.280i've been prioritizing making priority in my life and then seeing where the disconnect is so i guess
00:09:02.480you could do some similar kind of activity with the things in your home and or just start to
00:09:07.060notice okay i didn't use that thing can i pull it out for a month and then if i don't go to it then
00:09:12.980i'm gonna not i'm gonna get rid of it so i think it's hard because marie kondo talks about things
00:09:19.160that have um served you and yet um what's it called let's spark joy she talks about things
00:09:25.540Those things that sparks joy. Yes. Yeah. And yet a hammer and a ladder we do own. They don't
00:09:31.540necessarily spark joy, but they serve a purpose. So I always just say like whittle away. It's what
00:09:36.240superfluous, the excess that you don't need and make room for the things that you love. So to me,
00:09:41.280I'm looking around. I see everything that I love. And once I start to not love it anymore,
00:09:46.600I question it. I'll either put it in a little limbo box of sorts and or I'll just get rid of
00:09:50.680it right away. But it also if it doesn't have a home, like if I find something obscure and I can't
00:09:55.660find a home for that thing and it could be the junk drawer. I have a junk drawer downstairs in
00:09:59.960our kitchen. If it doesn't find a home, then to me, I'm like, why do I own this? Like I know where
00:10:05.360my hammer is. I know where the ladder is. I know where the hole punch is like these random little
00:10:10.420things. You do need to own them because they are they're purposeful. But yeah, I don't know if that
00:10:16.540answers your question. No, it does. It does. I mean, I think it's just thinking about things in
00:10:20.800a different way. I mean, example, the other day, my husband is building us a new porch,
00:10:27.500porch bed couch. Yeah. For like reading on the porch. And he's like, I'm going to need a nail
00:10:34.080gun. And I was like, I just think there's someone in the valley that probably already has a nail
00:10:38.500gun in their garage. And maybe we don't need a nail gun. And we went to a party last night. And
00:10:44.600indeed five men have a nail gun yeah there's no need for us to buy that nail gun no absolutely
00:10:50.680my husband just borrowed a chainsaw from his grandpa to take over to our good friend's house
00:10:55.400to help him cut down a tree so our friend brandon went uh through two people basically to borrow
00:11:01.120this chainsaw so he didn't have to buy one i just think that's looking to the past and seeing how
00:11:05.420people were resourceful it's just being a good manager of your money your finances um and it
00:11:11.680Also, I think that it was kind of cool because my husband and our friend got to go have this bonding experience of cutting down the tree.
00:11:17.700So I think there's a connectivity there that when you borrow things from friends or a neighbor, put it out on the discussion board for your neighborhood, it just is a way to just keep in touch with people as well.
00:11:28.280And that's a huge part of how minimalism has been a tool for me is like prioritizing people over things, experiences over things.
00:11:35.040And it all is just it is just a way of life for me at this point.
00:11:41.680No, but I think it's, for me, I think it is about intentions. And it's just taking a beat to think about how will I use this thing? Do I have space for this thing in my house? And what do I want to make more space for in my life in terms of people I want to spend time with and how I want to spend my own time?
00:12:02.460Well, everything you own is inventory that you have to manage. And even if you're not like necessarily aware of every single thing in your home, it still bears this burden, this little like invisible gorilla on your back, so to speak, that we just know we have all these things to manage.
00:12:20.460And I just say, if your home is supposed to be a refuge from a chaotic world, if this is supposed to be my place of peace, I don't want the things contributing to the overwhelm.
00:12:29.620And so to me, I'm like, take back that control in your home and control what you can here because you can't control the world.
00:12:37.140And I just to me, I guess I like that being a control freak.
00:12:40.900I like that I have that sense of peace here.
00:12:44.100Right. Because we yes, we can't control the world.
00:12:49.260and i will tell you that my mental health is not as good when my home is a mess and it's very often
00:12:54.600a mess i mean there there are a lot of times when it is it's insane right now actually because i
00:13:00.020think there have been 10 kids here today and it's a disaster and my brain doesn't like it
00:13:07.440it doesn't like it and so yes like all of this just makes it makes sense to me and i feel like
00:13:16.000It gives me something to strive for as well.
00:13:19.260Well, and there's just little rules and tips of the trade, if you will, that you can implement to take back that control.
00:13:25.020One thing I love to live by is the one minute rule, which I do believe Gretchen Rubin actually coined this phrase.
00:13:31.520But it's if you can get something done in one minute or less, do it right then and there.
00:13:36.340So hanging up your coat, washing your dish, hang your shirt back up after you try it on and you don't like it, like put it back in your closet and sorting the mail like right away, taking care of it right away.
00:13:45.420Don't even go to the mailbox until you have time to just deal with it right then and there.
00:13:49.860So these little things do add up to the end of our day, to when we are exhausted, overwhelmed.
00:13:55.320And why would we want to pile all that on the end of our day?
00:13:58.520So then sometimes it gets pushed to the wayside and we don't address it.
00:14:01.420And then we have it waiting for us the next day.
00:14:03.180And it's just this cycle of, again, overwhelm, clutter that we could have just dealt with in one minute or less.
00:14:09.580And to me, that has been, it's made a huge difference in my life.
00:14:13.300Well, I also saved something that you posted five micro habits for June, which was was great. I'm going to read them here, actually, because they're wonderful. They're wonderful. Put shoes away in the proper place when you arrive home. Huge, huge. Shop with intention. So stick to your list. Keep workspaces clear. Put used clothes directly into the dirty laundry and sort the mail as you grab it from the mailbox. These are little things.
00:14:40.280Mm hmm. They're little things. But like I said, those things do add up and then they just build on one another. And then that's why we find ourselves on the weekends just having all this work to do when it's like if I would have just thought of my future self on Monday, I would have been grateful to have a time to rest versus time for overwhelm here and now.
00:14:59.080So I also like to just think about my future self. And again, I know that at this point, if someone's just like dabbling into minimalism or decluttering, they're probably assuming that I just am thinking constantly and just making all these decisions in the moment. But again, this just becomes a way of life. Once you start getting those circuits rewired in your brain, like this is just natural to me. So I don't have to overthink, like, am I going to hang up my coat? Am I going to have to wash my dishes? It's just second nature at this point.
00:15:24.680right but and that does take intention right and i think it takes and it takes practice too
00:15:30.020no one's going to do this overnight no no no and again especially if we're talking about
00:15:36.380decluttering the tangible things i mean with sentimental items in particular that takes a lot
00:15:42.160of mental energy often that we don't realize um is is needed to say goodbye to these things but
00:15:48.780yet that item is a representation of a memory it's not our memory that we're getting rid of but that
00:15:53.660can be really painful especially um i had an episode i think it was last year alissa henry
00:15:58.960she was talking about how she finally discarded her baby clothes after having multiple miscarriages
00:16:04.920and she had to say goodbye to that chapter of life she has a son but she wanted more and she
00:16:09.680just it wasn't happening for her so we talked about like moving through that emotion um and
00:16:15.840working through that honestly even in therapy but it's this item that spurs that emotion in us and
00:16:20.360that's what makes it so hard but it's not those items and so right right it could be a parent
00:16:24.420passing away there's many different things that i think uh for me it was like high school photos
00:16:28.900that i'm i didn't necessarily love who i was then so um that spurred a lot and uh a lot came up when
00:16:35.360i was getting rid of those things yeah i recently had to deal with that because i was cleaning out
00:16:39.300my closet at my mom's house and it was all these high school photos and i i kept some right but i
00:16:45.740I also chose to get rid of the ones where I don't know any of the people in them anymore, necessarily.
00:16:51.400I'm just like, oh, my gosh, why do I even have these pictures of these people?
00:17:01.900I heard save the best and get rid of the rest has been really helpful.
00:17:05.480Even if you have a parent that passes away, we don't want to turn our homes into these museums of relics of our mom's dresses that we're not using.
00:17:15.000So it's like if you want to keep a few of your mom's dresses, wear them, give them new life and then say goodbye to the rest.
00:17:44.360and some days and we we just got up here last night and it does look like something exploded
00:17:50.240in the sense already um and but i was beating myself up about it and i'm like don't beat
00:17:54.340yourself up like you get to try again literally in like five minutes okay so i also like to set
00:18:00.080a 15 minute timer and then especially if your kids start to as they get older your 15 minute
00:18:05.020timer uh ends up being an hour i have three kids and so it's like if we all four of us work we can
00:18:11.080get so much done in an hour if we're each putting 15 minutes towards the house. So yeah, I think
00:18:16.960what you said at the very beginning, little steps in the right direction do add up to a whole life
00:18:23.780overhaul. And it has made my life radically different today versus who I was in my early
00:18:29.20020s. And I know we're all trying to figure it out in our early 20s. But it's been a life of
00:18:36.160intention for sure. I like that you keep using that word intentionality. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
00:18:41.040Exactly. Well, I find your page so inspiring. You are one of the few places that I like to visit
00:18:46.840on the social medias. Will you tell everyone where they can find you online and also your
00:18:53.020wonderful podcast? Yes. It's at Minimalist Moms Podcast on Instagram and then Minimalist Moms
00:18:59.420Podcast wherever you get your podcast and then book same name, Minimalist Moms. Super easy.
00:19:04.860super easy we like to make things easy for moms okay yeah exactly thank you so much for being on
00:19:10.380today diane yeah i hope some of this little truth nuggets were helpful for people i think they're
00:19:14.480great i think people just want people want the little truth nuggets right like we just want to
00:19:17.760like like if i learn one thing that i can take away i'm like okay good i just i want one takeaway
00:19:22.000a day that's all that all that i can absorb at this point yeah well that's what you'll definitely
00:19:25.760find that on my page so come follow along okay we're gonna take a quick break and when we get
00:19:30.660back, we'll be here with Marianna Sachs, the founder of Jackalow. All right, in the second
00:19:44.380half of the episode, we are talking to Marianna Sachs. She is the founder of Jackalow, which is
00:19:49.020a sustainable kids clothing company. And we're going to dig into overconsumption when it comes
00:19:54.280to all of our kid crap? Oh, I've seen so much in terms of overconsumption in the past 10 years.0.98
00:20:02.400I think that we've really gotten into a throwaway culture for many things, but in particular
00:20:10.200children's wear. With fast fashion, the quality of kids wear has gone downhill really dramatically.
00:20:17.400And so it's become the norm that, you know, your kids play hard and they're going to wear through clothes really quickly.
00:20:27.140They may wear through them before they have a chance to outgrow them.
00:20:32.280And so oftentimes we lean in to fast fashion because we've learned that quality doesn't really matter.
00:20:40.520And it's just a really negative and kind of reinforcing cycle that, you know, the quality isn't great.
00:20:48.620So we buy cheaper and cheaper and just get used to having really low quality.
00:20:54.540And what are some of the solutions to this?
00:20:56.360Like just generally, and then I want to dig in on a micro level.
00:21:02.020Yeah, I mean, I am a really big proponent of for all fashion.
00:21:07.700So kids and adults wear, buying less and buying better.
00:21:12.900I think more often than not, people will bristle at more sustainable brands or sustainable fashion because the price point is higher.
00:21:22.280One of the most important things that you can do when you're trying to make more sustainable choices with fashion, and this applies to kids' fashion and adult fashion, is just buy fewer, better items.
00:21:34.080and with sustainable fashion, yeah, a lot of those brands are going to be a little bit more
00:21:40.320expensive. But what you're getting is better quality and you are getting better sourced
00:21:47.580materials. So you can choose one item rather than three or four of a different item that
00:21:56.520is actually going to last. So one of the things that I found with Kidswear is that when you invest
00:22:03.100in a pair of pants that are really designed to last, that outlasts three or four pairs of fast
00:22:10.400fashion pants. So you can get that better quality and better value in the long run with a bit of a
00:22:18.620higher investment. Now, I know that's not attainable for everybody. And so for folks where
00:22:26.240the price point really is a barrier, that's where secondhand is always the best choice.
00:22:31.700I mean, secondhand is frankly the best choice writ large, you know, that whenever we can
00:22:36.820buy products secondhand, that's going to be a more sustainable choice for the environment.
00:22:42.620And it's still a great practice when you're buying secondhand to look at brands that are
00:22:48.080not engaging in fast fashion, because a lot of fast fashion, while it may make it to the
00:22:53.600secondhand market, is still reduced quality.
00:22:56.600And so if you are buying a better made brand on the secondhand market, you're kind of getting a double win there.
00:23:05.820And I really think that there was such a stigma against hand-me-downs and secondhand clothes for so long.
00:23:15.180I was just reading a book where there was a mom and she was talking about how when she grew up, she had to wear all these hand-me-downs and she wanted to buy all new clothes for her kids.
00:25:17.440Yeah, so there's two things that that really means for me.
00:25:21.040One is, you know, we produce the new clothes.
00:25:24.320So we think about circularity in every phase of our production, from the design, ensuring
00:25:30.000that we are creating designs that are longer lasting through reinforced details or just
00:25:36.720through the style that like a raglan t-shirt is going to be longer lasting for one child
00:25:42.360than a t-shirt with a traditional like cap sleeve because it allows for kind of a diversity of
00:25:50.300shoulder placement within that t-shirt. So we think about all of those details in our production.
00:25:56.060We use circular materials where we can. So right now we use mostly organic cotton, but we also
00:26:03.240do about 50% of our production with organic dead stock, which is from somebody else's production
00:26:09.200run. We're looking into doing production with post-consumer fabrics as well, which is really
00:26:17.080exciting. And then when the kids outgrow the clothes, our new clothes that we sell, we buy
00:26:23.920them back and renew and resell those items on our website in a single website so that you can
00:26:31.160buy new and pre-loved in one checkout without any friction, you know, no sending you to a different
00:26:36.380website, no sending you to, you know, your Facebook marketplace group, whatever it is,
00:26:42.600to buy our clothes secondhand. Talk to me a little bit about how you can create more sustainable
00:26:48.800boys clothes, because I mean, I don't know why the knees split on everything, but how can you
00:26:55.360make that not happen? It's a really big challenge, honestly. I mean, I look at this as like the
00:27:02.660biggest challenge in children's fashion for active kids. I mean, the first thing is that
00:27:10.400kids blow through the knees because of high friction. You know, you've got kids who are
00:27:16.260really active and are climbing trees and sliding on their knees on the playground. You have kids
00:27:21.800that are, you know, sliding on their knees when they're playing with Lego. There's all sorts of
00:27:27.420reasons why the knees blow out really quickly on pants. The first thing that you can do is reinforce
00:27:34.500the knees. So that's what we do. We do it in a way that's seamless so that there's nothing itchy on
00:27:39.940the inside of pants, no kind of polyester layer on the inside. Oh, yeah, because kids hate that.
00:27:45.880That is an issue. That is a big issue in my house. Yeah, it's really an issue.
00:27:49.700and because we use organic cotton sometimes we use linen as well you know they're natural fibers
00:27:58.160so they're durable they're not as durable as you know a polyester and so polyester is a fabric that
00:28:07.700has goods and bads you know the bad is that it's truly unsustainable for our planet it will take
00:28:14.300200 years to break down in the landfill the good is that it is actually quite durable
00:28:19.200And so my mission is to create products that are really recyclable with today's technology. And if they aren't recycled, that they can be composted at the end of their usable life. So we stay away from all synthetic fibers. And everything we do is natural fiber and generally organic.
00:28:40.280um so what that means for us is with the reinforced knees we got a lot stronger it's not going to be
00:28:48.220100 perfect but that's why we offer repair services and i'm a really big believer that as
00:28:54.500a society we need to be much more open to repair of everything we have and there are ways you can
00:29:03.340do it invisibly and there are ways you can do visible men's that add character and we really
00:29:08.620embrace all of that. Yeah, I think that's a really interesting point because we live in a
00:29:16.200world right now where if something breaks, we just throw it away. And I try to avoid that
00:29:22.460as much as possible. I'm as guilty of it as the next person. But brands that actually repair
00:29:28.620things become lifelong brands for me. And it is a reason that all of our outerwear is Patagonia
00:29:36.460because they'll repair anything and then they recycle everything too uh and the patagonia
00:29:43.740jackets that we've had for my kids they've gone through all of my kids and they're more expensive
00:29:48.820than getting something at target but also the those coats the puffer jackets that that we've
00:29:55.420gotten for cheaper or that have been passed down to us they end up getting holes in them the zippers
00:30:01.000break we we recently replaced a zipper on one of those jackets it was 30 to replace the zipper
00:30:06.360which we could have probably bought a cheap jacket for $30.
00:30:11.620Although I have really moved to winter coats from Goodwill and vintage stores
00:30:19.340because people get rid of them so fast when they're cleaning out their closets,
00:31:01.080But it makes a huge difference in your life when you can do that, because look, shopping can be lots of fun, but shopping is also another use of time. And we are also time strapped in society.
00:31:14.280And it's like, for me, I would rather spend five minutes going to the bin that I have, that I know I'm going to be able to pull out the thing I need for my kid, than having to, you know, maybe like in D.C., get on the metro, get in a car, get on a bike, go somewhere and do shopping in person.
00:31:36.920It's fun every once in a while, but I don't want to do that every time I need something.
00:31:40.420no absolutely absolutely and it's gotten harder and harder to actually buy things in our
00:31:48.760neighborhood we try as much as possible but i can't fully cut amazon or target out of our lives
00:31:57.160because we would also we live in a city so we we do not live in a driving culture yeah um and it's
00:32:03.940not that easy to find all of the things we need one of the things that is hardest is actually kid
00:32:08.340shoes kids shoes are really hard they're really hard right and i'll i want to buy kids shoes in
00:32:15.640person because i want them to try these on right uh but it is very it is very very tricky
00:32:23.560let's take a quick break here we'll be right back
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00:32:54.600Are people sending things in to be repaired?
00:32:57.760Yes, but we don't get a lot of requests for that
00:33:00.200because of the way we produce our clothes.
00:33:03.660We have very few requests for repairs.
00:33:06.320What I'll see more is that when people take advantage of our circularity services, our trade-up, is that we will get some items that do need repairs.
00:33:18.540But I'd say, frankly, about 80% of the items we get back through our trade-up program don't need any repairs.
00:33:24.140And they can just be, you know, washed or sanitized and put back up on the website.
00:33:30.420Explain to me how that trade-up program works.
00:33:32.280Yeah, so it's really simple that we have a kind of subdomain on our website where you can log in and see all of your past purchases.
00:33:41.800If you don't see something or if you didn't purchase directly from us, so like if you got something as a hand-me-down or you got something at a boutique, you can still type in and find that product.
00:33:53.520And then you get a prepaid mailing label and it comes back to us.
00:33:58.220The thing that we do that's pretty different from a lot of other brands out there is that
00:34:02.740we allow you to send back things that you don't think are resellable.
00:34:07.600So a lot of times people will ask me like, well, like, you know, my kid got a big stain
00:34:11.840on this or they've been wearing this for so long that, you know, it's got a rip in it.
00:34:18.420Number one, it's really useful learning for us to see where things, you know, are strained
00:34:25.220And we can make product improvements based on that learning. Number two, we can recycle it responsibly. And that's something that I think is a lot harder for families out there that it's, you know, we don't typically know where to go to responsibly recycle clothes that are not in good condition.
00:34:47.360And so we take care of that for you and still give you a credit for doing the responsible thing in terms of recycling.
00:34:57.000What are some tips for how to deal with clothes that have a massive stain or a big tear?
00:35:14.600and i can i can close up a hole okay i can close a hole and it works so what are some what are some
00:35:22.320of your recommendations yeah i think learning some basic sewing skills is a great thing so
00:35:28.820i have a guide on my website that is a really basic how to mend guide um there are wonderful
00:35:37.820books out there about mending. There's one by a group called Our Woods that I really love.
00:35:45.980And Katrina Radabao has another one that is beautiful. And those teach a lot of visible
00:35:53.420mending techniques, which is really nice because there's less of a burden of doing it perfectly
00:35:58.600if you're trying to have it be visible. So it's a very nice kind of fun meditative activity
00:36:05.960to learn to mend if that's just not in the cards for you especially in urban areas you can find
00:36:14.760mending circles where someone has the skills to mend and might even be willing to do it for you
00:36:20.400so if you go to a dedicated mending circle time with something and say i don't know the first
00:36:25.200thing about how to do this can you help me or can you do it there may be someone there who's willing
00:36:30.160to do it. There are times where dry cleaners and things like that will be able to do it as long as
00:36:37.160they've got alteration services. That's a more expensive option, but it's good if it's something
00:36:42.960that you really love and you know you want to keep in use for a long time. There is a lovely
00:36:48.800little app called Mendit that allows you to find mending services that are not necessarily
00:36:57.300at dry cleaners that are just like independently certified menders and you can send products off
00:37:03.280to them for uh for mending purposes um one of the ones that i love is called old flame and they're
00:37:10.580in pittsburgh and you can um send items to them anywhere the other thing is you can just like
00:37:18.500figure out a way to reuse the item in a different way so i mean i grew up in a household that had
00:37:25.620real rags for rags. You know, you don't have to go out and buy microfiber for every time you need
00:37:33.280a rag. We are also now using real rags. So like old sheets, old towels. I now have a rag bag
00:37:42.640under my sink. It's perfect. I mean, there are times where you want something that looks nice,
00:37:48.020like your hand towel or your dish towels, you want them to look nice. But for just cleaning up
00:37:53.100a mess an actual rag is really good um so you can always just cut anything up and make it into rags
00:38:01.080and i do that too with kids clothes that are finally done like there there is a point where
00:38:06.540you're like no more for you no more yeah you're done you're done you're done you have lived a
00:38:11.100life my friend but then they turn then they turn into rags yeah and if you have a lot of things
00:38:16.820like that that you just it's just too much i mean for for sheets and towels and blankets
00:38:23.660typically dog shelters will take those um and then also trashy is a great way to recycle items while
00:38:34.060keeping them out of the landfill and they'll accept things that aren't in good condition
00:38:38.340clothing wait what is this i've never heard of this okay trashy i really like trashy um so
00:38:45.300So they are a kind of gamified system where you can get these bags that you, you know, you spend $20 with them, they'll send you a plastic shipping bag, a big one that you can fill with all sorts of fabrics, whether it's like worn out clothes, mismatched shoes, all sorts of things.
00:39:08.200you send it off to them they give you a credit to use on their website and they partner with
00:39:15.580sustainable brands so that you can then use the credits you've got on their website to buy things
00:39:21.900from sustainable brands so you can actually buy jackalope on one of their on their sister
00:39:26.900marketplace called four days so if you have like all sorts of stuff you need to dispose of and
00:39:33.080You're just like, I don't want to put it in the landfill.
00:40:00.100And what were the challenges in building this brand?
00:40:03.080Yeah. We've been around for several years. I mean, the first challenge was I am an outsider to fashion. I have always made things. I was raised in a household where my mother was a maker, her mother was a maker, and those skills that a lot of families have lost were never lost in my family.
00:40:27.960So I grew up sewing and knitting. But my career was in public health and social work. I was in
00:40:35.800a communication space around leading healthier lives. And one of the things that I saw was that
00:40:42.500a really good job that was doing something that's good for the environment is one of the best ways
00:40:49.040to lead a healthy life. And I wanted to be part of a system that was creating good quality jobs
00:40:56.160that did something great for the environment.