Ep. 51 Rooted in Style: Sustainable Fashion with Larissa Leath & Saige Thomas

In this episode, we sit down with Larissa Leath and Saige Thomas to talk all things sustainable fashion, creativity, and community. Larissa and Saige share more about their backgrounds in fashion, media, and production, reflect on the success of last year’s sustainable fashion show at our 2025 Garden Awards Gala, and give us a sneak peek into what they are bringing back for this year’s celebration.

They also share practical tips for building a more sustainable closet, from rethinking how we shop to giving new life to the pieces we already own. Whether you are a fashion lover, a sustainability advocate, or just looking for simple ways to make more mindful choices, this conversation is full of inspiration.

Catch Larissa and Saige again at our 2026 Garden Awards Gala on Friday, May 29, from 6:00 to 9:00 PM, where they will be helping bring our sustainable fashion show to life once again.

Tickets are available now through Eventbrite. Get yours today and join us for an evening of awards, community, sustainability, fashion, and celebration.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey folks, welcome to another episode of the Growing Our Future podcast. I have two amazing guests with me today. Larissa Sage. Welcome, welcome. So we're just gonna jump into it. Uh go ahead and let's do a little introduction. Larissa.

SPEAKER_02 0:14

Hey guys, hey everyone. I am Larissa Leith. I'm the owner of Be Eclectic magazine. Um I am, gosh, I'm a fashion lover, I'm an environmental lover, I love gardening, and so I'm so happy to be here with Steven with Garnopia.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Heck yeah, and um we'll talk about how we met, but go ahead, Sage.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Hi, I'm Sage. I'm the president of TFII. I'm a photographer, producer, filmmaker, baby filmmaker, I should say. Uh, and I love sustainability and I love plants. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Wonderful, wonderful. Well, I'm just so happy to be having y'all here today. For those of y'all who don't know, last year we did our first ever fashion show at our Garden Awards Gala, and that was because of these two amazing women, and we'll be talking about that in a little bit. Um but before we get into that, I just want to hear a little bit about your background and how you got into fashioning and or gardening.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

Okay, so uh gosh, in summary, I'm gonna say the COVID pandemic. I was gardening way before then, but uh we all need a mental health break, right? We need a safe space, and so I started gardening and dabbling a little bit more in fashion because of the pandemic.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Go ahead, Sage.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

So I got into fashion actually whenever I was in high school, I really wanted to design sneakers. Uh, but then I realized that that probably wasn't the best way to make money. So I actually ended up joining the military, got a bonus, used the bonus to buy a camera. From the camera got back into fashion. Um, as far as gardening and plants, I think that um I think that food is kind of the most natural medicine for our bodies. And after seeing a few documentaries and reading some books about that, it really just kind of made sense to really be investing in my health that way. I can't say I'm the best gardener. I've definitely killed mint, which mint you should not be able to kill, but I have.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

That's a tough one.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Definitely tons of lavender has been slaughtered as well. Rest in peace. But yeah, so that's how I got into that. Okay, wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

So a little bit of COVID, high school into the military. Um so Larissa, we met when we did a victory garden program. So shout out to ARV and David and Skeets and all those folks. Um we put out an application and we wanted all of our uh participants to be sort of spread throughout the city. And so you're on the northeast side of San Antonio, and you are already doing some growing. Um, and then from there we helped sort of expand it, and now you got this whole fig initiative, and you do composting. So, talk a little bit about your initiatives.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

Yeah, okay. I I'm gonna start nerding out. Watch out, guys. So, first of all, thank you guys so much for that victory garden. It is incredible. Um, I've been adding more to it ever since. Has it been two years?

SPEAKER_01 2:57

I think we did it in 24, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

Okay, and um I've transformed my entire front yard into a massive garden. And so um I also partner with some food pantries in the area, and I'll go pick up truckloads of wasted food, and I just bury it into my front yard. I have a compost bile, I ha hot compost, I have the red wiggler worms as well, and um it's just turned into this I don't even know, this huge movement, even with my neighbors starting to plant more, and um just getting like my family members involved. And then I found out about figs about a year ago, and so now I have like gosh, 18 fig trees in ground, and we have it's just crazy to think in a front yard 18 figures.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Because I have like in my front yard, I probably have like well I only have one fig tree, but I planted about six pomegranates. I have like 15 fruit trees, so 18. Yeah, you're getting there.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

So you want to plant them at least 20, 10 to 20 feet apart. I figured it out. So we I have 18 in ground, I have more in pots, and now we have South Texas figs, and we're about to hit 2,000 members on Facebook. Yeah, so we have little events, yeah, and we like we give cuttings away. I actually there was a sweet lady last month. I took some figs and I dug some holes and I buried them in her backyard, so now she has figs, and I don't know, it's just beautiful movement for people seeing like how important it is to be self-suspicient as as much as you can and grow their own food. Like it's uh it's beautiful and it feeds my soul.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

Yes, food and fashion, and food and fashion. I love it. Okay, and we'll talk a little bit about be eclectic, but um sage, um, you were recommended to us from our board chair Andreas Narvaez last year. But tell us a little bit about TFII and the work you do.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

Absolutely. So TFII is basically an education-based nonprofit for fashion entrepreneurs. So basically, we try to do a full triage of the fashion entrepreneur, whether it's finance, legal, um, even whenever it comes to making a tech pack, things like that. We've really tried to do a full triage of the fashion entrepreneur and provide free resources for things that they may need. So, like, for instance, if they're just getting into their first brand and they need to do like a PL statement, things like that, we bring in uh subject matter experts who can give free workshops so that way those folks can understand, okay, you know what, what are my profit margins really? Like what how much do I need to make off of this in order to be sustainable for six months in order to reinvest that you know that profit back into my inventory so that way I can actually expand. We bring in folks who really know all the things that we personally don't, you know, uh, who can help them and develop them as as business folks, so yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

That's so interesting. I never thought about like fashion as the the model as a business, but the industry, there's so much around it, right? And of course, models do make money and the photographers make money and the makeup art, like all there's all that around there. So if somebody wants to get into the fashion industry, like how what do they do?

SPEAKER_00 6:02

So for TFII, um, if you're trying to get into TFII, we have like mixers, we have free events that they can come and learn more. But in terms of getting into the industry altogether, it really just depends on what avenue you're in. So if you're a model, they do a lot of creative meetups where you could just show up, there's gonna be a ton of photographers, you can take some photos, or you can really reach out to photographers who are doing really, really well and say, Hey, I want to learn more about this, or I want to book you, maybe do a TFP shoot. Um, if you're TFP shoot. Uh trade for photos, so that means nobody's paying for anything. The photographer's not paying, the model's not paying. If there's a stylist or a hair makeup artist, nobody's paying for anything. We're all just coming together to collaborate. Um, so like I did some photos of two local models as FridaCahlo, and we pretty much all just pitched in together. We collaborated with uh Casa de Frida, which is a boutique over at the creamery, they're in an airstream, and so those photos actually ended up getting uh edited or getting posted to Photo Vogue, um, which is just an online platform through Vogue that you know you can have you can submit your photos to see if they'll pick them up if they're good enough. And so all of our work together was able to create something beautiful for that, but it was TFP because none of us got paid for it, right? Whereas ideally, you know, for a brand food for a branch shoot everybody would be getting paid. Okay. But yeah, so it just depends on what avenue you're in. But really, I think the the most important thing is to find events and to find a community that is supportive and where there is like educational um benefits to it, so that way you can continue to grow and evolve into you know whatever it is that you want to be.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Um I know there was the uh the Met Gala was this week, right? And so you're seeing all these things on our on my feed about what people were wearing and all that. So again, fashion is just like so interesting, and so like thinking about it and your brand, be eclectic. Tell us a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_02 7:53

Yeah, so Be Eclectic magazine is well, I say it's the premier fashion magazine for the state of Texas. Okay, and we did yeah, we did win, I think that was also 2024, uh, for Best Magazine, yeah, Texas fashion industry. And what I wanted to do was create a platform that really showcased not the typical model and not like the typical creative, more diverse. And um, I mean we've been able to well, we've been we've been showcased and we've won some awards as well. Um but yeah, I I really just want to work with folks you don't usually see in mainstream media and mainstream fashion, if that makes sense, and really push that diversity and the sustainability aspect because we've worked with gosh uh a lot of sustainable designers, yeah.

unknown 8:46

Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

And is uh a website, what's the website? Or is it a magazine you print?

SPEAKER_02 8:51

Yeah, it's the eclectic mag, and you can order the magazine through the website, yeah. And we're on Instagram and Facebook.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Okay, yeah. Well, let's shift gears a little bit talking about the Garden Awards Gay La fashion show. So last year, the ups, the downs, like how tell me a little bit about last year.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

So last year I don't really feel like there were really any downs. Um, I think that one maybe one potential down that is worth being talked about in the community is the ability for hair and makeup artists to do hair and makeup for all like textures, all tones. That was a little bit of something that we ran into last year where I think we had some newer hair and makeup artists on the team. So it was a good teaching moment, right? For them to be able to realize, okay, you know what, this is something that that um this is something that's worth spending more time on to make sure that we're really really good at it. At the end of the day, they did amazing. Um, but it is something that you know it's good to be transparent and be honest with the team so that way we're all just getting better, right? But other than that, I think everything went really, really well. I mean the models had Chick-fil-A backstage, so you can't really complain. Um But yeah, I would say uh, you know, as far as the collaboration between Be Eclectic, uh Looking Friday, as well as we had someone who came in who does basically like I want to say there were like acrylic, but there were molds of D like flowers inside the acrylic. So that was just insane. I'd never seen that before. So I was really excited about that.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

But yeah, beautiful. And then I mean the backdrop, I really like the shots with the mural, and then some of the photos that they did outside that we're using as well. Um, and what about you, Larissa? Like, how did you feel?

SPEAKER_02 10:34

I mean, I completely agree with Sage. I think first I love the fact that Sage and Texas fashion industry they are working with that diversity, trying to find the makeup and the hair artists that are able to work with different skin tones and hair, all types of hair. Um, no downs. I think it was seamless with like all of us collaborating together, blossom and love that incredible floral jewelry because she preserves flowers and how she's just able to like make the purses and the watch, you know, like the the flavor flavor necklace, you know what I mean? Yeah, and we just all work so well together. It was just and then the mural, like it just all came together perfect. It couldn't have been any better than that. So this year it's just gonna be even better. 10%, 100% better.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

We've uh been doing our walkthroughs and we're sort of talking about like the best way to go, and I'm just like it's gonna be amazing because you know the way that they were able to walk through the crowd, everybody was able to see it, um, the music attached to that. I don't know. Was that your playlist that we did? Um, you know, matched it perfectly. Yeah. I hear the nature right now. I feel like I'm back at the fashion show. But this year, like um, what are y'all excited about for this year?

SPEAKER_02 11:47

Um this year, my creations are a little more loungewear, linen, cotton, and um still the fresh floral accents, some more head pieces. I think I'm excited about that. A little more casual, but still like showing excellence. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

I would say I'm really excited about the models that the designers chose. I think they chose a really good variety of models. Um, I'm also really excited about Looking Friday's new line. They haven't released this anywhere yet, so this will be the first time that it's shown. And I do know that there's some really beautiful greens in there, so I'm really excited for that.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Yeah, it's uh we're in our slack for our staff, and they're like, um, is there a certain color we should wear? I'm like, green, right? That's we're around green all the time. Uh I wear green too much every day. I can see a green shirt. My whole wardrobe is green shirts and tan pants. That's it, that's it. Um well, yeah, again, bringing the fashion show to the gala um was something that we wanted to separate ourselves from other galas. There's so many um galas every single day, right? And then I think another component of that is like, you know, I talk a lot about fast fashion, right? And how unsustainable the fashion industry is, and we can just buy something on Sheen or on Timu or whatever, like and it's here the next day. So, how can y'all encourage people to be more sustainable in their fashion choices just day to day?

SPEAKER_00 13:15

I think it's really important to have uh capsule collections or even just kind of like a foundation of your uh of your wardrobe where there are pieces that can really work with a bunch of other pieces, right? So, like for instance, you mentioned the tan pants that goes with white shirts, that goes with green shirts, that goes with black shirts. Having those staple pieces that you can use for a lot of different outfits goes a long way. And then of course, wherever you source that piece from, right? So making sure that it's from a brand that's ethically, you know, mindful or that you know makes a really good product that isn't gonna, you know, disintegrate or get a hole in it in like three years, but could last, you know, potentially 10-15 years. I've been wearing this jumpsuit since like 2019, I'm not even gonna lie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My word for I'm not a fashionable person.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

I'm like, man, this is like a 2012 shirt.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

But that's great though, right? Like it's amazing. And and it also shows us that like there are there there are textiles that will last an extremely long time. So I think that as long as you're intentional and mindful about where you're sourcing your clothes and you don't fall for the the trending pitfalls or like, oh, this is on Amazon, you know, balloon pants are in, I'm gonna go get some balloon pants off Amazon. As long as you don't fall for those things and you really choose kind of like evergreen garments, I think you're set.

SPEAKER_02 14:32

Yeah, no, I completely agree. Yeah, it's like what's like timeless, even in a casual way, it doesn't have to be something fancy. And like from the designer standpoint, my mom's a seamstress, she did a bunch of stuff in Las Vegas, and so that's kind of also where I get like that fashion background from. But we always are looking for sustainable pieces like when we go thrifting, because we're huge thrifters, and we remake it's a lot of breakdown and recreation, a lot of destruction in a good way, and so we can create these new designs, but we're using the old and like prior clothing, you know, and prior fabrics, but we definitely focus on the cotton and the linen, and we like don't want anything to do with polyester, yeah, because that's bad for the environment. Yeah, that's yeah, cancer and so many other things. So, yeah, I think designers should focus on the sustainable textiles, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

So you bring up uh some good points. Um, one sewing and thrifting, right? So um for a while I was going to Goodwill. Um I think this is a big one. Is there is there another thrift like big thrift store that y'all would recommend?

SPEAKER_02 15:39

There's a lot. Yeah, Buffalo Exchange is great. I love the ladies at Buffalo Exchange. The one here, it's like eight dollars or less. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

What about you, Sage?

SPEAKER_00 15:48

So I personally really love uh I love St. Augustine. It's in Blue Star. All of my old Western Pearl snaps come from there, and this the prices are so good. So I would say definitely that spot if you're looking for like true gems at a great price. The thrift thrill is another big one. Um, I think designer consignment is also a very like you know, a very sustainable way to go. Those are like pre-owned kind of designer pieces that you can buy, and you know, you're buying them at a lower price. That that garment is living a second life in your wardrobe, and honestly, there's some really amazing stuff like Moss Designer uh consignment. Love them, like I've spent way too much money. Moss Designer Consignment, uh, it's actually an Alamo Heights, like right off Broadway type area. But um, that place and then Otra vez is another good consignment spot. They're near like almost park, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Okay, no, that's great. They give me some places to go check out, and um they are women though mostly, so I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Maybe I'll bring Kendall. Um, but yeah, I think that you know, sometimes and I do it a lot, I give away a lot of clothes again, usually to Goodwill, but I know a lot of good stuff is out there, right? And it's just like you know, it doesn't fit me anymore, or I haven't worn it in five years, so I'm just trying to clean out space, right? Um, so encourage y'all to do that. And then the second thing you brought up was sewing. Like, I don't know if it's a lost art, but I feel like not that many people sew a lot anymore. What would be some tips on like just starting?

SPEAKER_02 17:17

Well, I just say YouTube University, it's really easy to just kind of search it. I mean, everything is out there for us already. You just have to look for it, yeah. And just baby steps.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

What like uh not sewing by hand versus like getting like a little machine?

SPEAKER_02 17:31

Alright, so I'm the wrong person to ask. I sew by hand. My mom does the machine. So if I have something real tricky going on, I'm like, hey mom, I'm coming over, I'm gonna drop this off. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, we hit it from both sides.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

My sister uh started to get into it a little bit. She was doing like a little bit of like reselling materials and stuff like that. So, you know, seeing her on it, I'm always worried that I'm gonna like cut my finger or something. Yeah, we got needle but no, I think that again if people could, like you said, buy garments or or buy materials, and y'all bring up another point about the different types of materials, which I'm probably wearing polyester or vine or whatever. Um and it's it's uh one like what's available, right? So like these are from Walmart, right? Yeah, 20 30 bucks. I got my little uh cargo short, but like if I'm looking for quality materials, what are y'all recommending? I heard cotton. Um is dinning cotton or what is that?

SPEAKER_02 18:27

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cotton, wool, leather, linen. What am I missing?

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Um, I mean, I think that's those are pretty much the main ones. People talk about hemp. Oh, yeah. Yeah, hemp is yeah, hemp is a good is a good option too. I would just make sure whatever you buy, just look at the look at the actual little tag. And then, you know, depending on what that if it's mixed or if it's you know 100% cotton, something like that. If you're not sure, I will stand there in the store, not care what anybody thinks, and I'll look it up on my phone and kind of verify like okay, is this something that could potentially you know be harmful to me later or not? Because a lot of the fast-fashioned garments are incredibly harmful to us and for our health, and you know, having that on our skin, skin's the largest organ of the body, it's gonna seep through there, not to freak anyone out, but it is really you know conscious to be aware of what you're putting on your body.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

Yeah, yeah. The tough part for me is because we're outside so much, like when you sweat in a cotton t-shirt, it's different than sweating in like a dry fit, right? So finding that balance, but I know you can get materials that are like lighter or the the way that it's I guess constructed, it's not as thick, so it won't hold the moisture as much, right? Um, so a little bit of experimenting that we need to do on our side. Um, but for y'all out there, you know, these are some great resources. Education, magazine, gardener, um, anything upcoming in 2026 that you want the people to know about.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

Let's see.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

Well, or 2027 or 2030, or whatever. Sage on the spot.

SPEAKER_02 19:56

Well, you know, I we're we're we're gonna work on some collaborations with Be Eclectic and um Texas fashion industry. I really want to be able to sponsor a model to go to like Toronto Fashion Week and some other fashion weeks, you know, covered by like the eclectic and Texas Fashion Industry. I just put you on the spot.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

We've talked about this before. Yeah, we already agreed.

SPEAKER_02 20:19

Boom. So we do have some good things, you know, coming forward, even with designers and like sustainable lines. So yeah, there's gonna be some collaboration with us as uh for a fashion show for me right now. You know, we'll do Juneteenth.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Tell us about the Juneteenth. Listen, being created in the moment.

SPEAKER_02 20:40

In the moment, we got a cardobino, we got a Texas Fashion History, we have Via Collectic Magazine. We're gonna throw a back to the roots to the root, yes, that's it.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

That's it.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

That's it. Juneteenth, it's uh street style fashion show, yeah. So, you know, we're still working out some details, but um, we're here to celebrate the diaspora of of black, of African Americans, of black history, and I'm I'm beyond excited about it.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

So Juneteenth is on a Friday this year, it's in about a month and a week or so. Um, and so we have done a fashion show at Argala, we're doing a second fashion show, but we also wanted to continue to bring it to our community because we understand not everybody's gonna be at Argala, right? That's just the reality of it. But um, if y'all can come out, it's gonna be a free show. Um we're gonna do it on the street, we're shutting down the streets, so we're gonna have a street closure. Um, as she mentioned, really focusing on African American, black America, but back to the roots as well, right? Connecting it because there's so much fashion in Africa. I was just on the call right now, and one of our fellows is uh from Africa, and you know, just the reminder that we're global people, right? There's a melting pot that's occurred here in America, um, but that connection to the roots is really critical. So um stay tuned if you have any questions. But it's gonna be amazing. It's gonna be probably around 7 30 p.m. Um as the sun is setting. Um A street fashion show and uh excited to be collaborating with y'all on this project. But what about you, Sage? What are some upcoming things? I heard about June, maybe?

SPEAKER_00 22:09

Um, so we do have Texas Fashion Week Spring returning in June, June 1st through the 7th. We have uh some mixers, we have some panels, some workshops, we have a sustainability competition as we do every single year with our local high schools and colleges, universities across Texas. Uh so super excited for that. And then we have our three runway shows at Frost Tower, and then we'll wrap it up. But yeah, so super excited.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

And uh, where can people learn more about that?

SPEAKER_00 22:36

Texasfashweek.org.org.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

Okay, perfect. And uh your website social media again?

SPEAKER_02 22:41

Yeah, yeah. Be eclectic magazine. You can find us online. Oh my gosh, did I just say online? You cannot find us online, you can find us online. Yellow book pages online the yellow book pages, there's a phone book, there's a telephone, whatever. Yeah, uh Instagram, Facebook, yeah, website.

SPEAKER_01 22:56

Okay, wonderful. And again, we have our Garden Awards Gala Fashion Show May 29th from 6 to 9 p.m. We'll be doing the fashion show around 7 p.m. or so after the cocktail hour. You don't want to miss it. And get involved with these. And if you're just looking for a new style, if you're looking for a way to be sustainable, if you're looking for um some local resources, here they are. You know, people think about fashion and they're like, oh, New York and Paris and LA. We're here in San Antonio, right? Central Texas, we got fashion too, y'all. Um, if y'all have any questions, y'all can always hit us up at Gardopia Gardens. We have this on podcast, uh, YouTube, uh Spotify, all those types of resources, and uh, we'll see you soon, hopefully. Peace.