Podcast Episode: 235 – The Impacts of Fast Fashion on the Environment with Kristi Soomer

As health-conscious individuals, we put a great deal of effort into cleaning up our environment. We eat an ancestrally consistent diet, make sure our makeup and cleaning products are non-toxic and avoid plastics like the plague, but we often overlook our clothes. The truth is, our clothing can be just as toxic as these other factors. Today on the show, Samantha invites Kristi Soomer, the founder and CEO of the sustainable slow fashion brand, Encircled, to fill us in on the negative effects of fast fashion on both our environment and hormones. As Kristi describes the ethical and ecological differences between fast and slow fashion, it becomes easy to see why her company, Encircled, is so passionate about making ultra-stylish and comfortable work-leisure clothes in a way that honors its consumers and the planet.

 

In this episode of The Wellness Witch Podcast:

  • From economics to fashion – Kristi’s bootstrapped start to her business
  • Fast fashion vs. Slow fashion 
  • Common clothing chemicals to be mindful of
  • Tips for creating a more sustainable closet/capsule wardrobe

 

Click here to listen on iTunes, Stitcher, or Spotify:

iTunes – Click Here
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Spotify – Click Here

 

This show is sponsored by:

 

Resources: 

 

Where to find Kristi:

 

Where to find Samantha:

This show is produced by Soulfire Productions

Top 3 relevant quotes:

  • “In the beginning, it was really pretty scrappy. I bought a sewing machine off of Craig’s list, broke it the first time I used it and sewed my first sample on my living room floor.”
    • Kristi Soomer
    • 11:10
  • “Fast fashion is built on taking trends from the runway, and dropping them in the store within the next week. Their goal is to push out the cheapest, trendiest product possible at a really low price point and they’re usually using poor fabrics and exploited labor to get to that cost.”
    • Kristi
    • 17:53
  • “Most of us are accumulating all these clothes in our closet that we’re not only not wearing, but we’re also wasting financial and environmental resources to have them created.”
    • Kristi
    • 20:24
  • “Just because a brand is more expensive does not guarantee that the people who are making the product are being paid properly or that they’re using sustainable materials. With their margins, you would hope they’re paying their workers fairly, but it’s not always the case.”
    • Kristi
    • 21:59
  • “We give so much attention to cleaning up our makeup products and not drinking out of plastic bottles, yet we’re wearing plastic. Our clothing can be just as toxic as the other things that we’re trying to be conscious of eliminating.” 
    • Samantha
    • 34:44
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