Black Material Geographies - Episode 9
Redesigning Supply Chains
In this episode of Black Material Geographies, join Teju Adisa-Farrar as she speaks with:
Tameka Peoples, founder of Seed2Shirt
Ibada Wadud, designer and founder of the handbag line, lulah.
Latoya Ramos, founder of Pluvrichor, sustainability advisory & impact brand strategy studio in NYC
Baily Rose, founder of The Tailors Union
Brands Working Within Circularity
Tameka Peoples explains her farmer enrichment program, where she works with the cotton farmers she sources from in Africa, to identify and fulfill their needs; i.e.: mechanization and new regenerative agriculture processes
Rebuilding the education of fashion and sewing techniques within communities, is a working goal for Tameka, as well as the other brand leaders in this episode.
We learn that 90% of cotton that's produced in Africa, predominantly West Africa is mostly exported to other countries to be refined.
Working together to transform supply chains is about finding ways to include those of us who have been systemically excluded or forgotten.
Latoya Ramos, through her company Pluvrichor, works with fashion brands to reconfigure their sustainability plans to become rooted in circularity and consider their impact on the environment.
Ibada Wadud explains her successes in building a pipeline of employment within the fashion industry for women who are returning citizens, whether formerly or currently incarcerated and partnering with mission aligned organizations to create curriculum to support that.
Organic regenerative and sustainable are often conflated without actually understanding the nuances, and large brands especially benefit from this conflation without putting in genuine work.
How can we create new standards? The process will be tough as it will involve proper enforcement, but co-creation is a key requirement, as Ibada discusses.
Baily Rose introduces her work of creating the Tailors Union which connects slow fashion designers with citizens regionally.