Did you know that every year, 3.2 billion trees are cut down to make paper packaging, or fabrics such as rayon and viscose? Many of these trees come from the world’s most ancient and endangered Forests. We're smarter than that, says this week's guest, Nicole Rycroft, Founder and Executive Director of Canopy Planet.  Canopy is on a mission to protect the world’s forests, species, and climate, and to help advance Indigenous communities’ rights. And Nicole wants fashion industry to transition to what she calls 'next generation solutions' - using waste feedstocks instead of virgin trees to ma ..read more

Independent fashion brands are changing the sustainability conversation globally, but how can they step up their impact? Often it's smaller brands that are leading innovation, but the bigger ones get the attention. Emerging African designers are well-placed to lead the way on authentic sustainability storytelling, but they need to excite investors from the Continent, as well as the global playing field. How can they amplify their message? Who should be listening? What is the role of fashion education and accelerator programmes on moving this forward? In this lively discussion with Nisha Kaniba ..read more

How can innovation and artisan craft come together in a large global brand? What is the role of design when it comes to implementing sustainability? Designers don’t not create brands’ ESG goals but they have to put them into practice when they imagine the product, particularly when it comes to materials. “We don’t have the final answer but we are all responsible to ask the questions,” says our guest today, Sophia Amanzi-Oyugah, who is Adidas’s Senior Design Director, for Originals Creative Direction. A beautiful conversation about creativity, opportunity, sustainability and inclusion, and the ..read more

There is no sustainability without dignified working conditions and respect for human rights, yet fashion’s supply chains are notorious for their failings on this front. This week, Simone and Clare talk with international labour rights expert Auret van Heerden about what can be done. A TED talker, with a background at the ILO, Auret is the man Bill Clinton tasked to lead a team to get to the bottom of child labour issues in the US, and he’s advised everyone from Apple and Nike to the Ethical Fashion Initiative. What’s the first question he asks brands who are serious about ESG? Find out in thi ..read more

Fashion is Italy’s second biggest industry, so it’s got the opportunity, and the responsibility, to make a big impact. After the Ethical Fashion Initiative collaborated on the Sustainable Fashion Awards at Milan Fashion Week in September, Simone and Clare are delighted to welcome Carlo Capasa, chair of Camera Nationale della Moda Italiana (Italy’s peak fashion body) to the podcast to discuss how the industry is stepping up. How much progress has been made? What are the biggest ESG challenges today? What is the role of cross-industry collaboration? And, will legislation change the game?  T ..read more

Our guest this week is the Lagos-based fashion designer Adebayo Oke-Lawal, founder of Orange Culture. This luxury label has combined fashion with activism since 2011, and is ethically produced in Nigeria.  His work has won him accolades in international fashion circles but it's his approach to movement building and giving back that wins hearts. This is an inspiring conversation about standing up for what you believe in, challenging toxic masculinity and mentoring a new generation emerging African fashion designers. This podcast is brought to you by the Ethical Fashion Initiative. Find out ..read more

This week we’re focused on contemporary African art. Your host is the Nigerian writer and journalist Ayodeji Rotinwa, who welcomes the renowned Ethiopian gallerist and self-taught art historian and Mesai Haileleul to be interviewed. Mr. Haileleul opened the first gallery representing Ethiopian artists in Los Angeles in the 1990s and now, with Rakeb Sile, co-runs Addis Fine Art - a leading contemporary gallery specialising in art from the Horn of Africa and its diaspora with venues in London and Addis Ababa. This is a podcast about how the African contemporary art market is booming internationa ..read more

In 2020 Project X, The Opportunities Are Here arrived in Uganda, presented by the Ethical Fashion Initiative and the EU. Surely the EFI’s most fun project to date, this televised talent competition followed a nation-wide call for young creative entrepreneurs in Africa. But there’s also serious agenda - building economic opportunity. The show’s judges included Joram Muzira Job, Uganda’s top model agent, and in this fabulous interview with podcast hosts Simone Cipriani and Clare Press, Joram shares his career story and advice for the next generation coming through. We talk Kampala’s thriving fas ..read more

This week's podcast is guest hosted by American stylist and creative director Alexander-Julian (AJ) Gibbson. In a vibrant conversation with Abrima Erwiah, co-founder and president of fashion social enterprise Studio 189, you'll hear all about creating, running and building a fashion business with purpose in Accra. Studio 189 is an award-winning fashion label based in Ghana and the United States. Its goal is to promote African and African-inspired fashion. Abrima and AJ explore the challenges and benefits of local production, the human aspect of slow fashion and to the beauty of knowing the sto ..read more

Alexander-Julian Gibbson is a Houston-based stylist and content creator known for his directional shoots for magazines (think GQ, Vogue and Flaunt) and musicians like Patoranking. This week, Simone and Clare meet the Nigerian-American creative force to discuss Lagos style, why the world is looking to African fashion right now, and career pathways for emerging Black creatives. They also have a frank conversation about the state of diversity and inclusion in the global fashion industry, what needs to change and what's being done. Find out more at https://ethicalfashioninitiative.org/ Our music i ..read more