Sneaker Impact News

Sustainable & Healthy Fashion: Taryn Hipwell Teaches Us How To Shop for Shi(f)t (& Suck Less)!

• Bryan The Botanist, Bryan Huberty • Season 1 • Episode 33

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Join host Bryan on Sneaker Impact News as he welcomes Taryn Hipwell, a renowned healthy fashion consultant, founder, author, and educator. In this episode, Taryn discusses her journey in sustainable fashion, highlighting her initiatives like 'How to Shop for Shi(f)t' and Beyond the Label. They delve into the importance of healthy fashion, transparency in the industry, and upcycling creative ideas. Taryn shares her passion for dance and yoga, and offers a compelling message on how to wear your values to create a better world. Don’t miss this enlightening conversation about the future of fashion and sustainability!

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Bryan The Botanist:

Hey guys, welcome back to sneaker impact news. I'm your host, Bryan. And today my special guest is Taryn Hipwell. Taryn is a healthy fashion consultant, founder, author, educator, speaker, event producer, and community organizer for Remake. She's a global speaker, passionate, healthy fashion consultant. Taryn helps align brands and future designers with best practices and transparency, circularity and sourcing cleaner fabrics and raw materials. She's the author of How to Shop for Shi(f)t, the community organizer for Remake in Florida, and the founder of Beyond the Label, which started as a partnership with TEDxLA to educate locals on the true health, social, and environmental costs of their fashion purchases. Recently, Taryn won Sustainable Expert at the MANA Fashion Awards of 2024. Taryn, welcome. How are you doing?

Taryn Hipwell:

I am doing amazing. I've been. Looking forward to this day for a really long time, because even before I met Mo I'd heard about Sneaker Impact, because when you share with people that you're a sustainable fashion educator, they want to tell you who the cool kids are in the city. So, I've only been in Miami for about four years. The first two, I felt like I really didn't get a great feel because it was during COVID, so I feel like I've only been here for two years, but as soon as I started, Playing the game, people were like, okay, you need to meet these people. They're one of the people that are great in this city. Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

Well, we're going to go and learn today all about who you are. I want your voice to come through and everything you've learned about fashion and sustainability, I want you to share with the world today. So first start us off. What is healthy fashion?

Taryn Hipwell:

Healthy fashion is a term that I created based on the fact that I have hypersensitivities to toxic chemicals in the fashion industry. What that looks like is it could be the dyes, the, uh, pesticides. finishing agents, all different types of things, bleaches, and my body just tells me, this is not good for you. You should not be wearing this on your skin. So I created the term healthy fashion specifically because that was the place that I was playing in and I, I've always I've always told people I'm a humanist before being an environmentalist. I care about how your clothes affect your body, um, before I care about the, like, how it affects the environment. However, when you change it to be a healthier, uh, fabric and fiber, and you know where things are coming from, then you have this opportunity to have a positive effect on the environment. And with that, that's one of the reasons why I'm excited to be here today because when there are things that are plastic and polyester, I love the idea of being able to create things that may not be worn against the skin but are made, uh, to be used in different ways. So the fact that you have flooring and you have, um, the lower part of a shoe or like the, the rubber can be made into certain things gets me really, really excited. Um, and I Different

Bryan The Botanist:

materials for, from the shoe are used for different purposes, but they can be upcycled. Um, that's, that's awesome. So how do you help brands that you've consulted with?

Taryn Hipwell:

One of the brands that I'm working with right now, it's a startup. They're based in Pittsburgh. I get really excited because I'm originally from Pittsburgh, and they, they want to create something where it's gonna be sustainable, but also they want the edge in gym wear, and I don't want to say too much because, you know, But it's

Bryan The Botanist:

active wear.

Taryn Hipwell:

It's active wear, and, and the fact that what I really love for New designers to do is think about what is your story? What do you care about? It may not be related to fashion at all And I've I've shared with people to even if they're they're not sure what their value is or what what they care about to look At the sustainable development goals and there are 17 different boxes. And if you pick one You may there may be some people that want to Create a business that's based on, uh, women's rights, another one that's, um, sustainable cities, uh, you know, and it's interesting because when I presented it to a class recently at the Florida Fashion Institute, everybody picked a different box and there was seven people in the room and I was so happy because then it proved that everybody's going to have a different business model and if you play from the place of where you, what you care about the most, you're going to be able to find other people that care about that thing.

Bryan The Botanist:

I love that. So you give people a lot of options. Brands are, you know, it's really about, you know, the story, like you said, and, uh, you know, I've worked for a couple of startup brands and Sneaker Impact, you know, we have a special story, so I know we would probably check different boxes than, um, someone that creates apparel. And speaking of apparel, here I am wearing, um, And, you know, I've heard that it breaks down in the laundry machines and can shed microplastics. And we were talking about that yesterday with Kelly from PIRG that you can install, install a filter on your washing machine, but, but tell us a little bit about the different materials and, you know, that, that you work with.

Taryn Hipwell:

Well, the conversation of microfiber is. I began my education with that, with the Five Gyres Institute. And that was about 10 years ago. And amazingly, Anna Cummings was in town. Uh, she partnered with Debris Free Ocean recently in Miami. And they're even opening up the conversation of microfibers from clothes, um, that are in the oceans. And for me, I. started thinking about, okay, if it's in the oceans and then people are eating fish and it's on the fish and it's in the fish, then what is it like if the human body has these microfibers against it? And there is now, finally, scientific evidence in medical research that is verified that shows that there's plastic, like PFAS, so forever plastics, that can remain in your Body. Sure. Um, from just wearing things against your skin and I Had been talking about this for the longest time, but there wasn't a lot of research and like specific facts And so there's a book called to die for DYE by Alden Wicker And I appreciated the fact that she did deep dive into finding out where things are made how they're made how they affect the human body and it's it even I guess verified some of the things that I had been talking about, but I had to be honest with people that there wasn't proof and now there is. So it's a very new conversation to many people. However, I've been talking about it for about 15 years now. Yeah, so maybe

Bryan The Botanist:

we should take a rewind and talk about how did you get started in fashion? Where did you grow up? Have you always been into fashion since you were a little girl? This is your initial dream to become a fashion consultant for sustainable fashion or what? So that's where did you grow up in Pittsburgh?

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I was born in Colorado, so I feel like maybe some ounce of my being, um, and my sustainability love probably comes from there cause I'm a little more nerdy about sustainability than the rest of my family. Um, in Pittsburgh, I share with people, we grew a bougie redneck, which means I played in the dirt and I also cleaned up real nice. And so I, I got, I went back and forth between really loving nature, but Also enjoying, feeling sparkly and, and dressing up, especially for like Easter, like the gloves, the hat, the everything. And when I was about 12 years old, I got a D on my report card. My parents had a rule that if you got a D, you were grounded for the next nine weeks. And I happened to get mine right at the beginning of summer vacation. And so I asked my mom if she would put her sewing machine in my room. My sisters are twins. I took their duplicates, started chopping them up, and I've been up since. Cycling since I was about 12.

Bryan The Botanist:

Oh my God.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah. So, uh, like my journey with going back and forth between educating brands to do things more sustainably, because I would like to see more fiber and fabric in the clothing, uh, to be natural and biodegradable. And then with. I still want to keep as many things out of the waste stream as possible. So whatever we do have, um, now that exists to be able to make it into other products. And so I teach upcycling and I've been teaching upcycling for about 15 years now also. Um, but when I went to college, I went to the school of the art Institute of Chicago.

Bryan The Botanist:

Um, and I'm from the Midwest. I'm from Madison. So that's nearby. Oh

Taryn Hipwell:

yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

So you went to the art Institute of Chicago.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yes. And it was great because I looked at, uh, well actually, okay, I'll take a tiny step back. My dad said no New York and no California. So even at that time it was between Chicago and Miami. I ended up going to school in Chicago and then I moved to New York for my first fashion job where I had hypersensitivities to a lot of the fabrics and I had different sensitivities to different fabrics. So then by that time I made my way to Los Angeles, which I ended up hitting all four of the the cities. The no

Bryan The Botanist:

go places.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, and then when I was in Los Angeles, I I was able to be part of the beginning stages of what sustainable fashion is. So, there were a few people that we were outspoken. I was doing my best to connect silly, sassy, and sexy.

Bryan The Botanist:

Okay. Is that a brand?

Taryn Hipwell:

No, that was, that was a concept. Oh, It's a vibe? Yeah, a vibe, because at that time, like, when you say granola eater,

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah, I was gonna say granola earlier when you said bougie, uh, bougie redneck, yeah.

Taryn Hipwell:

But when you say granola eater to somebody that's younger, they might not even know what that means.

Bryan The Botanist:

But

Taryn Hipwell:

back then it was like you were either a granola eater or you're a silly sassy sexy and I was like, I want both. I want silly sassy sexy and sustainable. Okay, and I created something called eco divas. Okay, and with that I Even getting to ask people I had created a webisode series before there was even real webisodes in existence Yeah, and yeah getting to ask people like what does the word eco divas mean to you? Mm hmm and I loved watching people's faces and absorbing, like, the, the idea of those two things being pushed together. And that led me to TEDxLA. So TEDxLA plus EcoDivas became Beyond the Label. And I went from very female specific, and the tagline for that was Hugging Trees in Heels.

Bryan The Botanist:

Okay, I like it.

Taryn Hipwell:

You know,

Bryan The Botanist:

yeah again combining the two different worlds. Yeah, you don't have to be in just one

Taryn Hipwell:

exactly and and then We when we partner with TEDxLA. I wanted to make a gender neutral so it became beyond the label

Bryan The Botanist:

Okay, and I like that.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, it's

Bryan The Botanist:

like reading your labels. I used to work for a nutrition company We had a hashtag read your labels because what you put in and on your body matters. So this is Same thing what you're putting on your body. I mean, we're going to talk about some of these sensitivities But so you created beyond the label. Yes. You're one of your first brands

Taryn Hipwell:

and I had the opportunity to work with vector apparel, which is also La relaxed and they helped me to create a nutrition label t shirt and we took a hybrid of a nutrition label and a label from a shirt and Put them together and put these are the good things. These are the bad things.

Bryan The Botanist:

Was it on the front or was it on the front? Very

Taryn Hipwell:

big and then we got notes from UCLA students that maybe you should put it on the back So then when students are sitting in class, then whoever's sitting behind them will actually read the label on the back of the shirt. Yeah, and

Bryan The Botanist:

it's on the back of a package

Taryn Hipwell:

too. Yeah, or like when you're standing in line at the grocery store.

Bryan The Botanist:

Mm hmm. That's a really good point.

Taryn Hipwell:

Right? Um, and then from there, we created a guidebook called How to Shop for Shi(f)t. Yeah. And there's a parenthesis around the F, and it says, Why? Because we give a F. And I love playing in that silly space where the conversations in sustainable fashion are so heavy, but being able to find ways to find the comedy in the dark side and to be able to present information to people. in a way that you can basically have a conversation and play with them exactly where they're at. That's also why when I got to Miami, I started to realize in Los Angeles, speaking openly about sustainability is Second nature. Everybody's drinking the Kool Aid. We're all, like, on that level. Um, in the state of Florida, not specifically Miami, because I'm definitely finding my tribe, um, some people just are not interested. But the

Bryan The Botanist:

reputation for California is that that's where all the laws are for protecting the air, whether it's you get your car tested every year for exhaust. That's where everyone bought the Prius and the Teslas and the, you know, and I'm an EV driver now, but I just got one recently. But in Florida, we have the reputation of You know, sun and, you know, kind of vacations and tourism and stuff, but it's not known to be as progressive as California. So, but we're getting there now. We're, we're, I mean, now with Zero Waste Miami, Debris Free Oceans, all these great groups now that are just. It's really turning the page on that old chapter. Yeah. New people are moving here, too, all the time, like yourself.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah. Well, I migrated here right before COVID, and then I've had, like, three or four friends move to the state of Florida after I got here, and some of them are from New York, some are from L. A. I even had, like, a friend come down from Chicago, and I've also seen people leave and go back to their, like, original homes, too, and so it's a really Right now, because the conversation is getting bigger and is catching up to me to where New York and L. A. have been playing. And I do my best to introduce people to concepts, especially, so since I've been here. I really wanted people to start thinking about the EU and their digital passport laws. And I've been talking about this for the whole four years that I've been in the state. And I shared with people that transparency is key. Brands are going to be expected to basically catalog everything in their brand and have it in a way that it can be presented, uh, for a shopper to be able to make an educated. Where

Bryan The Botanist:

it's sourced, where it's produced.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, and I, and I shared with people, I'm like, okay, if this is happening right now, and it's put into law, and you're going to see it go to Los Angeles next, and, and New York, and then I really wanted to, to get it here. I want to kind of skip some steps, and like just get us up to, up to par with the conversation, and it, it's happening, because now there's a voluntary, uh, traceability act that is happening in Los Angeles, and now it's, it's, to fruition. And so brands that are Um, being started in Miami, if they do want to sell to Europe, if they do want to sell to California, they're going to need to know these laws and, and it's easier to start a business from the cleanest, most transparent place possible. Then it is to just get it started and do it any way you can and then have to change it later because you've already took all the time to find your fabrics and to find your producers and maybe you have a full service and they're kind of skimping on things and don't have

Bryan The Botanist:

Don't

Taryn Hipwell:

have information or background about certain parts. When you're starting a

Bryan The Botanist:

business sometimes you're just trying to get that bottom line as low as possible or as You know, your profit margins up, but I know that, you know, nutrition companies, it's all these trends are that, you know, everyone's, you know, talking about sustainability because that's what the public is demanding more and more. Um, so the digital passport from the EU, that's all about traceability,

Taryn Hipwell:

traceability from the ground up, like

Bryan The Botanist:

they want to know everything about the product, so they won't allow GMOs and I know, and they don't want to allow. Dirty fashion and neither probably.

Taryn Hipwell:

They are doing their best to combat fast fashion as well as even luxury brands that are doing things that are unethical.

Bryan The Botanist:

Hmm, okay. So no more of this using child labor and

Taryn Hipwell:

no

Bryan The Botanist:

getting away with it. Correct. Okay, I love it. So in LA, TEDx, were you a speaker there?

Taryn Hipwell:

I was. So with TEDx I had my own night where I did a TEDx speech and it was great. I was grateful to be able to have to really open up the conversation of what your fabric is made of and to get people to think of sourcing, um, in a way that is by ingredients. And I have to say one of the fun things for me was when I started Eco Divas, we launched at the Sundance Film Festival and one of the brands that we were able to take up there is called Groceries Apparel. And even on their website, again, 15 years ago, they were putting, Their, their listing of their sources of the different fibers for each of their shirts as the ingredients. And so that was the first time I had had that conversation. So when I

Bryan The Botanist:

the

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, like the dyes and they were doing so well during COVID that they opened up a second floor in the building that they had their production and it's all vegetable dyes. So they do pomegranates and carrots and avocado pits. What's the name of

Bryan The Botanist:

that brand again?

Taryn Hipwell:

Groceries Apparel.

Bryan The Botanist:

Groceries Apparel. Interesting. That's a California brand?

Taryn Hipwell:

Yes.

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah. I know I'm wearing the sandals from a California brand called Flex, and they're made out of, uh, recycled, um, microplastics, not microplastics, recycled, uh, foam and rubber, you know, that's, um, post consumer and we're working with them at Sneaker Impact too. So that's really cool. So TEDx was a big opportunity for you to share your message. Um, and you're an educator, you're a speaker, author. When did your book come out? How to shop for Shi(f)t.

Taryn Hipwell:

I believe the book came out about seven years ago, and I have a few people encouraging me to write, um, a follow up to it. That was my love letter to designers, but I wrote it in a way for shoppers to really take on being able to think differently about how they shop. And I do feel like A sourcing guide is something that is much needed because there are a lot of people that are confused about how to know if things are as clean as they say that they are. It takes a lot

Bryan The Botanist:

of research. I mean, yeah, that's why people watch like YouTube videos and stuff to get Like, I'm wearing some Lululemon pants right now and they feel great, but I don't know where they came from. I just have to trust Lululemon, you know what I mean?

Taryn Hipwell:

Yep.

Bryan The Botanist:

And sometimes people fall in love with a brand and I have no shade to Lululemon. I think they're great. But you know, um, I don't know if it's organic and I get itchy sometimes for my clothing and I'm sure that has to do with Some of the chemicals, I do have a little bit of organic clothing and a little bit of hemp and a little bit of bamboo, but like one or two articles of clothing, you know, it's like, it's not as easy to find, you know, in stores, it seems like, like, you know, you have to source it or you have to look a little deeper, find these brands. Like, you know, it might not be the cheapest either, but it might be higher quality, right. Or it could be longer lasting, or it could just be better for the earth. And we have to think about these things versus just the price or the feel or the name brand. You know, like some people are all about Gucci or whatever that they love, you know what I mean? Like Nike or whatever, you know, so, but what do you think about brand loyalty and brand loyalists versus like being more You know Considerate of your health and the planet

Taryn Hipwell:

It's a very very interesting question. I almost feel like I know I'm not the norm But I am a brand loyalist when it comes to fiber science companies. So once I start to do my research about a fiber that I don't have a allergic reaction to, then I reach out to them to find out what brands they're selling their fibers to. And sometimes there's a second question that could be, uh, how are they processing their fabric? to see if the fabric is also being dyed in a way that's more sustainable. So when I also work with brands, getting them to, to even reach out to a fiber science company and maybe to ask questions, um, may not be that easy. That's why I think it's more fun to work with myself because I'll know like which questions to ask, where to figure out, uh, like, where different manufacturers of certain kinds of fiber and fabric are located. Okay. And, Um, when it comes to, yeah, being brand loyalists, like I'll share with anybody, there's a brand reformation and I know that they got their start from second hand fabric and then they started integrating sustainable fibers and fabrics. And now they're to the point where they're creating their own fibers and fabrics. And I trust them, um, on different levels because I, I have had the conversations with the people that are doing the sourcing and I understand that when they come up With a problem, because they, they did end up deciding to use leather versus a faux leather for the longest time because they just couldn't find a good quality faux leather.

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah, I know Tesla uses faux leather.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, and I believe they're currently in production to create their own with a fiber science company that's hitting all the marks. Reformationers. Yeah. Cool. And, um, they're, they're working with multiple, uh, canvas, wait, canopy. They're working with multiple canopy. certified wood fiber fabric companies too. And, and so once you're like, like myself, when I'm in the sustainable fashion bubble, we're, we're aware that there are a lot of lanes. And similar to food, where you might have the nut allergy aisle, and then you have the gluten free aisle, and the soy free aisle, and the nut, like, all of the different free or issues. Fashion is similar to that too, because there's different certifications or audits for, um, recycled products. Plastic and polyester versus recycled blend versus cotton versus uh, different plant. Die free or whatever. Yeah, or like tree versus. Or vegetable dye versus

Bryan The Botanist:

artificial dyes.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah. Is it

Bryan The Botanist:

how it's also grown or is it more the processing? Because like I know that when you grow certain Like i'm gonna get this wrong. I know that polyester is not made from a plant, but cotton is. No, it's made

Taryn Hipwell:

from Petroleum.

Bryan The Botanist:

Petroleum. Yeah. But cotton is made from a plant.

Taryn Hipwell:

Cotton is made from the cotton plant, and then there's two ways Well, there's multiple ways to grow it. If you're going for the most clean, there's regenerative and organic and then So the chemicals

Bryan The Botanist:

used in growing up those plants could cause the sensitivities?

Taryn Hipwell:

Yes.

Bryan The Botanist:

But it could also be the processing, I'm sure.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yes, and I never even knew that there were synthetic Pesticides until recently and that actually Like Roundup

Bryan The Botanist:

or that's a herbicide, but like things that prevent Like bugs and stuff. Yeah disease.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah,

Bryan The Botanist:

so they're spraying stuff on that carries along through the supply cycle on Yeah, um, do you create videos online about this or how do you show you you're creating you're writing a lot And you're, I know you're going to start, we were talking off camera about your interest in creating your own podcast to share a lot of this knowledge.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, I have been talking about all of these things for about, yeah, 14, 15 years. And most recently I've been more teaching and speaking. And I started doing some Teacher Taryn videos on Instagram. I want to get back to that, but I'm starting to realize it's doing a podcast and being able to create a course that's a basic course for people that do want to start as clean as possible so that they don't have to make a lot of pivots as they're building their brand. They can learn about the different technologies that exist. That are either the digital passport or something that's going to help with transparency depending on the size of their company There's different ones to work with and and then also yeah being able to source as clean as possible

Bryan The Botanist:

How do we get the price down? How can consumers afford to wear clothing? that is healthy for them and the planet because sometimes you know organic is more expensive in most cases than I'm going to pick on the gap.

Taryn Hipwell:

Right.

Bryan The Botanist:

Although I know they're doing a lot. I know they take back clothing and recycle clothing that you don't want. But how do we, how do we, how do we get the cost to be something that people don't object to? Or is that always going to be a more higher price point for more of a, you know, allergen free item?

Taryn Hipwell:

Well, if you're somebody that shops fast fashion and you really are looking for like a 5 or 10 item, my first suggestion is Look for natural fibers in the second hand market. And if you So go to a

Bryan The Botanist:

thrift store or somewhere like Mids Market down the street?

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, Mids is amazing. And, uh, like Just assessing visually, 80 percent of what they have in there is cotton. So they have a lot of denim, sweatshirts, button up shirts, things like that. So I get really excited when I'm in a place that has second But in Miami,

Bryan The Botanist:

it's like, you know, the dry fit feels good. You know, the runners are used to the, you know, the whatever, the Nike and Brooks and Adidas dry fit. This is Adidas, you know, like. But it's not good if it's, uh, shedding into the water, you know what I mean? Like, that's what I guess is, right? It's shedding and it's also not good for my skin.

Taryn Hipwell:

Right.

Bryan The Botanist:

Um,

Taryn Hipwell:

I didn't

Bryan The Botanist:

even know that. Like, here I am eating so healthy, and I just recently, last year, learned that polyester is, uh, full of microplastics.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yep. It is microplastics. I mean, that's, that's all that it is. And it, it's even interesting sharing with people for the first time sometimes that it's made of petroleum. Like, they just don't even know how to A hundred percent,

Bryan The Botanist:

basically. Yeah. And with some other small, I'm sure, ingredients in there like dyes and stuff, but the dyes, what are they made out of? You know, if they're not organic or plant based, are they made out of just, what, chemicals or that people are?

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, it's interesting because most dyes are made of chemicals in general, but it's just the Like paints or? Well, I'm trying to figure out, like, what is the I'm thinking,

Bryan The Botanist:

like, acrylic paints. Like, how did they get the sneaker impact down here?

Taryn Hipwell:

Yes. Okay. So we can answer this in different ways. When I also did the Nutrition Label Tee, I got to work with the brand is now called Yes And, but it was the brand that they had right before that and they had seaweed printing for the actual Nutrition Label to be printed onto a white t shirt. And that was pretty amazing to see that it is possible. Seaweed. Seaweed. And you can

Bryan The Botanist:

turn it into any color.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

Wow.

Taryn Hipwell:

And even in the city. And it

Bryan The Botanist:

lasts.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah. And in Miami, we have like fiber science companies. There's a bacteria based, uh, dye that is called Tinti, and there's up in Orlando another company that helps to adhere natural dyes and dyes onto fiber called Source. So we have things coming out of the state of Florida that are playing at a higher level in the space of sustainable fashion. Is

Bryan The Botanist:

this recent? This is pretty recent. Recent

Taryn Hipwell:

to me, but that's what I'm saying. I've only been here for four years in Miami and the last two years is when I started meeting people. I've heard the

Bryan The Botanist:

fashion scene has just blown up here. Cause like, I interviewed Martu Freeman. Yep, she's awesome. I saw you in a photo with her talking, you and Mo and our founder and Martu.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yep, Ashley. She's one of

Bryan The Botanist:

our fashion experts. Um, she told me that she moved down here from New York to help build the MANA fashion brand and her own brand and that I remember I moved here in 2008 and the scene was totally different. Yeah. Totally different. 2007, 2008 and it wasn't like Miami Beach was, I mean, it was different than it was in the 90s, but it was nothing like it is today.

Taryn Hipwell:

Right.

Bryan The Botanist:

I mean, definitely COVID changed everything. We got a massive influx of new Intellectual, you know, firepower. Yep. Um, but I've just seen the sustainability movement grow tremendously in the last ten years, since about 2015. Um, which is exciting because, you know, people always think that Miami's this big club that you just go to the party and, and there's the worst connotations of drug and alcohol use or just disrespect for, you know, consideration for the environment, but there's so many people, like I always tell them, you need to find your community anywhere you are. I'm a runner and I'm also into other healthy things like gardening and there's plenty of people down here gardening I can hang out with and there's plenty of runners everywhere. We have a huge running scene. But that doesn't get the attention of the media, the media sees all the money, they see all the, you know, yachts and all the, you know, the billions, you know, that are coming in from like the people like Ken Griffin and Jeff Bezos, you know, all these, you know, the richest people in the world, you know, are living down here. So it, it, it obscures the spotlight on sustainability. So I, I love that, you know, all these groups now are starting to really, you know, I, I met you, I didn't meet you. I met you at Reuse-a-palooza. That's, I think, where I first met you was at the things lab. Shout out to Susan

Taryn Hipwell:

and her

Bryan The Botanist:

partner. Um, and, uh, met you there. You were helping run the Reuse-a-palooza event. And then I saw you last week at the psychedelics for climate action, uh, um, conference, which, uh, our dear friend Marissa, who you've known for. A long time. A

Taryn Hipwell:

long time. I mean, it's amazing as you're kind of sharing all of the different places. I mean, I love Susan and the fact that she really is making the sustainable part of upcycling, reworking, redoing things more accessible. And then with Marissa, it was great because she actually gave me one of my first speaking opportunities. And I think it was called Beer in Bags. And it was To teach people at her impact hub at the time, uh, the one that she was running. In New York, right? In New York, yeah. How to upcycle a t shirt into a tote bag.

Bryan The Botanist:

Oh, wow. I would love to do that. I've got a lot of t shirts that I want to. So do you need a sewing machine for that or you can just do it with

Taryn Hipwell:

I can teach it both ways. So if I'm told that you're not, like, there is no sewing machines, then I teach people how to hand sew, and it's really great because even this summer I got to work with Girls Inc. and had, uh, second through fifth graders hand sewing and teaching them how to do a whip stitch and a running stitch. Stitch and then at the very end having them wanted to teach their parents how to do it.

Bryan The Botanist:

That was

Taryn Hipwell:

like one of those moments where my heart was just so happy. Well, I

Bryan The Botanist:

can see how much you light up talking about sewing. So I have to ask the question, is this more like 99 percent women and 1 percent men? Or do you, I mean, cause I'm interested and I want to take the class, but I'm like the only guy in my Pilates class at shout out to Pilathon down the street. But I've gone there for a couple of months straight now. I haven't seen a single guy in there but me. It's all women. Is it the same way in, uh, In the sewing industry and in the fashion industry, are there some men that are trailblazers? Well,

Taryn Hipwell:

it depends because there are certain groups that I am brought in to teach an upcycling workshop. And so with Girls Inc, specifically girls, um, with Marangoni, it was summer camp. So it was students from all around the world. Typically there would be about two to three. Boys per 10 or 12 girls. Okay. So, yeah. So heavily skewed towards women, but

Bryan The Botanist:

that's probably to be expected in the fashion industry.

Taryn Hipwell:

But when I got to work with the Children's Fund, it was half and half and I always get so super excited when young men sit behind a sewing machine because when I set up that particular one, I was like, okay I'm gonna teach everybody the hand sewing but if you're feeling ambitious and you want to try to get behind the sewing machine You know, and I have this really great assistant, Val, um, that was helping me and they all wanted to sew their own pieces. They wanted to see what it felt like to be behind the machine and that was the coolest. So I get, yeah, really, really excited about that. I

Bryan The Botanist:

want to find like the little sewing machine that's like You know, more, you know, I know my, my older brother, he has like the antique ones that were passed down from my grandma, you know, and those like from, you know, the fifties and forties, but, um, which, you know, I, and I think I have a friend that is like my friend, a shout out to Kevin in Hollywood. Uh, he's, he's got a clothing brand and he, he's got like seven sewing machines and he, he does it out of his van and he, he, he sews all this stuff for all these festivals and he's super, you know, of the earth as well. So, um, there are guys out there doing it.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yes, yes, there are. And. Groceries apparel. It was two male founders, um, one of my favorite humans in the whole world is Adam from Triarchy Denim. Okay. Um, he and his siblings started a brand that is sustainable denim and they even, again, this is one of those things where early on he stopped his entire business model. I shared with him as many pieces of information about sustainable denim as I could possibly put in front of him. He ran with it, created his own story about reducing water, and now is working with Candiani, which is one of the top fiber companies in Italy, to produce their own biodegradable denim. Denim that they use to compost and grow tomatoes with and then had a dinner to eat the tomato sauce.

Bryan The Botanist:

Whoa.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, so.

Bryan The Botanist:

And I'm a big gardener. I've got my own compost tumbler and I've got a compost pile. I've got my raised gardens and I'm, I'm learning more and more. You know, you can use cardboard in there, but you got to remove the, you know, the, the, whatever, the tape and the, the labels and everything. But, um, that's good for the bottom parts and leaves and, but I didn't know you could. Compost denim. Is it a special kind of denim or is it all denim?

Taryn Hipwell:

Not all denim, because most denim does have stretch in it. The reason why theirs is compostable is it's the first plastic free stretch denim.

Bryan The Botanist:

So does that have to say a hundred percent denim? You got to look at the label?

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

Okay.

Taryn Hipwell:

If it has a certain amount of lycra.

Bryan The Botanist:

the metal on the zipper and stuff.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yep.

Bryan The Botanist:

Okay.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, and I also have a friend up in Tampa, Erica, that I, I love the fact that she took on biodegrading underwear just so she could show people what it looks like with the polyester strings in it. And the like band, like the only thing that was left was like the band and the elastic around the legs.

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah. Wow. These are all great concepts. I mean, I've never even thought about biodegradable underwear. You also had a really good idea for Sneaker Impact. So, but let's talk about, um, before we get into a couple of other topics. Hachem, our founder? Cause I think you met him before you met me.

Taryn Hipwell:

The first time we met in person was I had put together the panel at St. Thomas University and Moe was somebody I had, again, Was told was one of the cool kids. You need to play with this person and Then I had had Martu and Ashley is the person that runs the department The fashion department at st. Thomas University and my friend Sarah Phillips was in town. She's also a Remake At the time we were co community organizers for the Remake organization And she also works for better cotton and what was great is you have somebody In the recycle side, the circularity part of it, which was Moe, you have Martu, who has been in all aspects of She worked for

Bryan The Botanist:

some of the biggest brands in the world. Yeah. Polo, Ralph Lauren. I mean, she worked personally with him and many big fashion brands in New York City. I was so like, whoa.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

Like, she was on the floor, like, she started like, you know, as an intern and worked her way up. And it's just so incredible, the story. Now she's teaching it just like you.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yep.

Bryan The Botanist:

So you guys are like peas in a pod. And you were on the stage with Moe.

Taryn Hipwell:

And Moe. The founder. Yeah. Was that

Bryan The Botanist:

at St. Thomas.

Taryn Hipwell:

St. Thomas University. For a fashion

Bryan The Botanist:

talk to the students. Yeah. And then you guys had a fashion show, I know, too, based on sustainability, right? Because I remember, well, I know we had like night, we made like some swimwear or something out of our grinded.

Taryn Hipwell:

That might be something that you did separately, but that particular event there was a screening of a film. This is gonna break my heart because I can't remember the name of the film. I'll try to remember so I can share it with you later. But yeah, there was a screening about a student. They followed her journey of winning some sustainability prizes and what she was putting the money towards her trials and tribulations of trying her best to have a brand that was ethical, sustainable, as clean as possible, all the things. And the trials and tribulations are heartbreaking because it seems like it should be an easy process. But it really wasn't. And then being a new designer, one of the things that I've heard in, in the city of Miami that sometimes happens and it's kind of a good problem. But because more of the brands that are medium size are looking for more local production of fabric, fiber and fabric. Yes, they're

Bryan The Botanist:

looking for local. Yeah. Martu was saying too. It's hard to source. It used to be harder to source things locally.

Taryn Hipwell:

Right. You'd

Bryan The Botanist:

have to get it from. farther areas of the U. S. or other countries.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, so now that the, that the medium brands are being able to get more fabric, a little more local, it squeezes out the smaller, like, brands or the startups. So it's, it's, like I said, a good problem to have to know that the medium sized brands, That do have more production. So I would love to encourage more manufacturers to come and set up shop in Miami because there is such a desire to do differently. There's just a difficulty in finding things that are, are cleaner and better. I

Bryan The Botanist:

think that's a good transition to mana fashion.

Taryn Hipwell:

Um,

Bryan The Botanist:

you know, Martu told us a little bit about them and you can tell us some more, but you won an award from them last year as the sustainability. Expert?

Taryn Hipwell:

Yes.

Bryan The Botanist:

Tell us more about that.

Taryn Hipwell:

I was grateful to be nominated because there are two really, really incredible women that I was nominated aside, and one of them is Gabriella Smith. And she has been doing upcycling with the city of Miami and students at Miami Dade College and different organizations for years, even during COVID, um, I got to go to an event that she was putting on. And I feel like that was one of my very first times getting to see what Miami was doing. And then there, there was another woman, Jacqueline, who works for waste management, and I'd heard about her, but I hadn't actually met her. And. I had it in my space. I'm like, okay, I'm still the new girl here, and I'm nominated at With these two incredible powerhouses and when they said my name I literally almost fell out of my seat because I just didn't expect it at all. Yeah, and you were

Bryan The Botanist:

new here

Taryn Hipwell:

yeah, and it makes me grateful because I know that there are things that I'm sharing from a place of Having been talking about it for a long time and doing my best. In LA, a bunch,

Bryan The Botanist:

and in New York City. These are big hotspots.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, but both of them are up to big things. I'm really Shi(f)ting the community and I've seen what they've done and I should actually mention I've only been here for four years but I've known about the sustainable fashion space in the city of Miami for about seven or eight years. So when I did a Is that why you

Bryan The Botanist:

moved here?

Taryn Hipwell:

Part of it. Part of it.

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah we didn't ask you why you moved here.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, uh, I can kind of dive into that a little bit. But, um, yeah, seven years ago when I did the How to Shop First Shi(f)t, the first version, Mm hmm. didn't include Miami, I started making friends with a woman, Colleen, who was the point person for Miami for an organization called Fashion Revolution. Okay. And I, I actually decided to move to Miami. Um, during COVID because I was thinking about going back to Los Angeles and she's like, no, no, no, just come down here. We have, we have things for you to do. And I'm, I'm grateful that she encouraged me to come down because I did sneak Miami into the second version of my book seven years ago. So there was a version that was great. Created eight years ago, and then we did an update and then I snuck Miami into it And it was to show Fashion Revolution events in Miami, New York and LA.

Bryan The Botanist:

Is this available online as an e book or also in print?

Taryn Hipwell:

It is. It's an e book. It's on, uh, On Amazon and it's called how to shop for Shi(f)t and you have to put the parentheses around. We're gonna put it

Bryan The Botanist:

in the description I already have it in but but yeah, there's a parentheses around the F.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yes.

Bryan The Botanist:

So is that a play on words?

Taryn Hipwell:

It is Yeah, the hot why because we give a how

Bryan The Botanist:

to shop for shift

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, well the Shi(f)ting

Bryan The Botanist:

like consciousness or shifting value shifting consumer decision making.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yep

Bryan The Botanist:

Not the S H I T.

Taryn Hipwell:

Well, the reason why that became the title, I had a friend and she could tell that I was a little frustrated trying to come up with a name for it. She's like, literally, what do you want to do? It's a great name. Yeah. And I was like, I just want to teach people how to shop for shit. And she was like, okay, so that's your title. And then I was driving cross country and when I realized that like if I shoved a little F in there and it was Shi(f)t, then it was the positive version and not like shit and shitty shit. It was like the good shit, which is shifting the shit. Yeah, I just said shit like 18 times.

Bryan The Botanist:

That's all right. It's YouTube. I think we can swear on YouTube But we either have to mark for kids or not for kids. So I might have to say yes, it's for kids I

Taryn Hipwell:

would rather like the younger generation get to hear me And yeah with with that it was just yeah play on words. It was just Using humor to get people to think a little bit differently about how they shop. And again,

Bryan The Botanist:

you're lightening up the conversation, because it can get heavy, you know? Like, people often advise me not to get too preachy about, you know, the environment. Although I do have three degrees in environmental science, and 20 plus years of experience. So like, like you, I'm an expert. But I also want to be humble, because I'm learning every day.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

Every day, but every person I talk to, we all have different backgrounds. Yep. You talk to me about botany or about running, and I'm definitely an expert, you know, but you talk to me about fashion and I don't know about sustainability. I defer to you. So, I mean. This is really important. We want you to be one of our fashion consultants and experts. I want to read the book. So we'll definitely include a link to the Amazon so people can check it out. Um, anything more about how to shop for Shi(f)t or do we want to move to Remake?

Taryn Hipwell:

well, one thing I'll say about the book, it is. It was ahead of its time with a lot of the information. So a lot of it still lands very well today. However, with COVID there were brands that didn't make it through. There are other brands that are now thriving. And so when you're reading it, I do list several brands that are no longer in existence, a few organizations that are no longer in existence, and there are new brands and organizations in place of them that have just come up in the last. Sure. Beyond the Label, which was my baby, to become a community organizer for Remake because I noticed that Remake was having a bigger conversation on climate action and worker rights, and I also believe that part of worker rights, and in addition to how they're paid and how they're treated, is also what they're exposed to. And their goal is to, yeah, How workers are treated, who's not getting paid, how they're being exploited.

Bryan The Botanist:

Their workplace environment.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, and, uh, Safety. Yeah, and I, I felt that it made more sense for me to be a part of an organization that was wanting to grow legs in Miami. Does Remake

Bryan The Botanist:

a fashion brand or is it a collective of experts like yourself or what is it exactly? Because I don't know anything about Remake.

Taryn Hipwell:

The interesting thing is is they're switching their language in the very near future and they had in the past called their They would call people ambassadors. And they're going to be shifting that to change makers. And me as a community organizer, I share with people sometimes, I feel like I'm kind of the mom of the group, where multiple different people may want to do different events. in the city of Miami or Orlando or over in Tampa, and I do my best to help foster communities so that they can have volunteers to be able to put on the event to find ways for, uh, us to partner with organizations that are doing events and activations in the city of Miami so that we can have a bigger conversation. Um, and it's been great getting to see there's. My friend Tina, she has ReCircle Society, and she is the sustainability lead at Perry Ellis. And she's taking on having more clothing swaps and introducing more people to, um, to upcycle artists. And that's how we met. There were two parts of me being at Re which was I, I do the upcycle workshops with Susan for lab and I was also there as part of ReCircle Society and Remake to educate people both about the climate justice and worker rights, as well as sustainability, social good.

Bryan The Botanist:

Are they a nonprofit then? Or are they a for profit? Okay. Nonprofit. Excellent. And we're a social enterprise, so. Um, but there's a slight difference. We're not a nonprofit, but there, you can be a for profit social enterprise and still do good. Or you can, you know, it just depends on how you want to structure yourself. So that's really cool. Uh, you've been involved in so many organizations. I mean, this is incredible. Um, you know, circularity, that's a big topic that we care about at Sneaker Impact. Um, I know you have some materials here you brought in from our lab.

Taryn Hipwell:

You

Bryan The Botanist:

want to share some of them and talk about how some creative ideas you have and what you and Moe have been talking about.

Taryn Hipwell:

It's really great to see what Sneaker Impact is doing and the fact that they're able to separate the different parts of the shoe into different pieces. And about 14 years ago, I had shared about Nike Grind because they were able to separate things. And then when I found out, you guys are taking this to different levels. You're able to separate the pieces in a way that you can create flooring and you can create I love that this has the, the feel of a shelf. Like you pick it up and it just has weight to it. It could be

Bryan The Botanist:

a shelf. It could be a chair.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

We also are really care about purity levels. We'd send it off to labs after it goes through an intense amount of processing. I mean, first it's grinded, air separation, nitrogen gas, I'm giving away secrets here left and right, Moe's like, Bryan. But, um, it's top secret. I mean, you know, we don't even have photographs of what we're doing here yet, but we're gonna have a documentary, but they're, they're separating it and they're, getting it to a purity level of over 99 percent purity so that it can be used for post consumer, uh, products like sandals and yoga mats and floors and also shelves and even eventually shoes, clothing. You had a really good idea that I liked. I don't want to steal your thunder.

Taryn Hipwell:

plug this because I would love to will this into existence. So you were sharing the upper and it's called fluff and I didn't actually know what the term for the top of your

Bryan The Botanist:

shoe Yeah, is called the upper versus the bottom which is the midsole and outsole.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, and and so I was asking, you know, what were you guys planning on making this out of? Because I have seen, uh, this turned into carpet padding, um, by another organization based in L. A., but I know I would like to see more luggage be made from the circularity of shoe parts and just An apparel

Bryan The Botanist:

too. We get a lot of apparel that we can't give a second life to. Most of it does get a second life. We collect apparel and shoes and give them a second life in developing countries where people are creating businesses out of them. But some of the fabrics are beyond repair and some of the shoes are, so those go into our grinding program and you're holding six millimeter fluff of like, you know, it's fabrics. On the top of the shoe. So that could be made into so many things, but I never thought about luggage. Yeah,

Taryn Hipwell:

and I have luggage by a company called Timbuk2 and they do recycle plastic bottle fabric. So when people ask me my thoughts on recycled plastic bottle fabric, I still would prefer it not to be worn on they

Bryan The Botanist:

make shirts out of. Yeah,

Taryn Hipwell:

I prefer not to have it be worn against the skin, but I definitely think that bags and even Clothing items that may not be against the skin. So rain jackets or purses, accessories. Yeah, I, I prefer those types of things, but I love the fact that you guys have the fluff. You can see it. It's tangible. It does look similar to what a fluff or A recycled fiber fabric would look like and I just feel like there's so much story in this I remember the first time I ever saw fluff that was made into a carpet padding and seeing tiny little gold flecks And in my brain, I created this story that there was some older woman with the gold lump like muumuu and Rapunzel or whatever or something. Yeah, and and and

Bryan The Botanist:

she was using gold

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, exactly. Like, yeah, just getting to like make stuff up about it. And I think it would be so amazing. So many ideas. I mean, that's why we need

Bryan The Botanist:

new, fresh perspectives all the time. And we need creative people like yourself to help guide us. Cause it's kind of a couple of dudes around here, you know, like thinking about sandals and, you know, running shoes and stuff, but then we're doing a lot of education just like you. I mean, that's what it's all about. And, uh, you know, I really encourage you to do a podcast because I think you have so much to share.

Taryn Hipwell:

Thank you.

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah.

Taryn Hipwell:

I appreciate that. And you're not shy

Bryan The Botanist:

like me, so. No, I'm not. You can't be shy to have a podcast.

Taryn Hipwell:

No. So,

Bryan The Botanist:

um, creative upcycling ideas. I love it. Why, again, is transparency important? Because we care about that here. We promise all of our partners that all the shoes leave the U. S. so that they don't come back to haunt the running stores. So shoes that can live a second life all leave the U. S. to go to Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala. South America, even Africa and other countries around the globe, even a little bit to Asia. We ship to 20 plus countries. All the shoes leave the U. S. then have a second life. The brand new shoes especially, but all the shoes. Nothing can be sold online. So everything leaves the U. S., nothing can be sold online because we don't want it to haunt our partners, to come back and haunt them.

Taryn Hipwell:

Right.

Bryan The Botanist:

You know, if we're getting some, whatever, overproduced item, you know, that they couldn't sell, we're going to get it to Guatemala. Where people need it and that's not going to be sold online and if it were sold online there It would cost too much for someone to ship it back here You know what? I mean import it back in like we export it and then the cost for a merchant to try to sell it on eBay would it make any sense but our promises are that we will not sell our products online that we The shoes that we receive or clothing and that we also will not throw stuff in the landfill As much as we can control it, like nothing goes in the landfill. If anything, we were using it to create energy, waste to energy, but that was just our first step. And the second step now is creating products, post consumer recycled materials into flooring, yoga mats. You, you saw some of the stuff we're up to, but, um, that's transparency. So, you know, can you give us some more examples of transparency and how do you really sniff out whether a company really is, you know, telling the truth or just telling a story? You just have to ask a lot of questions you got a probe around you got a at email You got to like send some DMS or what do you do? How do you get the attention of the right person? It's a lot of work. Who do you trust?

Taryn Hipwell:

The easy cheat is there's a site called good on you And they do a lot of the research, legwork, go into the sites, and they base their assessment on what you post on your website. So if you are not being fully transparent publicly, then they'll let you know that these are the places where you're weak. Um, and you should. Think about doing things a little bit different.

Bryan The Botanist:

You need to tell people where you produce the, the products. Yeah. Where the manufacturing plant is. Where, how, who, if you

Taryn Hipwell:

have different types of certifications and, and, and. Just like

Bryan The Botanist:

in nutrition, vegan or, um, fair trade for coffee and chocolate.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yep.

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah,

Taryn Hipwell:

and I, I appreciate them because they started in Australia and now are global and they do a lot in the U. S. Good on you. Yeah. That's, that's easy. Yeah, and

Bryan The Botanist:

Is there any apps or is that an app as well? Like kids are all using the apps nowadays. Look at me I sound like a boomer. I

Taryn Hipwell:

mean between the boomers and

Bryan The Botanist:

the Gen Z's or whatever, but like

Taryn Hipwell:

Well, it's interesting because I tend to just go to their website directly and I would have to say I would assume they have an app but I know I just go right to the to the website because I'm Typically when I'm doing research, I'm on my computer.

Bryan The Botanist:

And I know you were talking about fast fashion earlier and with Mo, you guys were talking about greenwashing, you know, so I think that goes back to transparency as well. There's a lot of companies trying to play fast and loose with marketing. What about these big brands? Like. The H& M's, the Zara's, that you would call fast fashion. Are they slowly getting the, the, the drift that consumers are not, some consumers don't really think about it. So that's where the education is so important, raising awareness. Cause if you don't know what the problem is, then your ignorance is bliss. But like, what do you think about like the big brands, like the biggest global brands of fashion, are they starting to take this more seriously? Or are they still just looking at, you know, they stuck in their ways, you know.

Taryn Hipwell:

It's interesting. I have a hard time talking about H& M only because I do give them a thumbs up because they invest money into tech and fiber science companies and I have friends that have been awarded money to develop certain things and I appreciate them for that and the general public may or may not know that they're doing those types of things. However, on the flip side of that, they still have a long way to go with how much they pay their employees and the traceability of the humans that are a part of their supply chain. And when they do have external companies that they're fielding things out to, they're, they're not at a place yet where they're able to trace at a level that is, It's great. It's, it's possibly gonna get there. It's good,

Bryan The Botanist:

better, and best. Yeah. It's just like with

Taryn Hipwell:

everything. Yeah, so there are certain things where

Bryan The Botanist:

not doing the best.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah. Yeah, there are certain places they're doing good in, but then there are other places that they're so off base. But I would say I would still put them and Zara a it's fast, breakable, and crap, and it's single use clothes. And I'm using the term single use clothes because they don't want you to send it back. They want it to be cheap enough for you to Justify not sending it back and keeping it maybe giving it to a friend or just throwing it out and that means Those are the the people that might be buying like 30 to 80 items of clothes per year Because they're just buying crappy stuff stuff and they need it for the Instagram and, you know, they're, they're not a thoughtful customer. Um, but I do feel, even like some of my family members, I didn't realize that they didn't know how toxic T I've never

Bryan The Botanist:

bought anything from them, thank God, but I've seen their ads everywhere and everyone talks about them. Like I have bought Plenty from Amazon, but I'm also trying to shop local as much as possible.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, but

Bryan The Botanist:

let's be honest The convenience is nice sometimes when you're in a hurry You know but I'm always trying to buy like Buy it like I've bought biodegradable cups off Amazon from world centric that are made out of corn that like, you know Break down in the rain, you know for events in San Francisco that we've done. So there's there's things you can buy Yeah,

Taryn Hipwell:

yeah, yeah, it's interesting like I have a love Amazon gets a bad name Yeah, and I have heard that they're I'm meant to start cracking down on brands to be able to find some traceability within the brands that they're I don't know exactly where it's at. Social responsibility. Yeah, like I know that there is conversation of them taking responsibility. It

Bryan The Botanist:

seems like that because I've even been getting wind that you know, they're They're just getting more with the times, you know, they don't want to be known as Someone that's playing dirty.

Taryn Hipwell:

Right, but I honestly I feel like there are still so many people selling on there that are terrible. Yeah,

Bryan The Botanist:

you got to really use discernment when you're shopping on Amazon,

Taryn Hipwell:

but

Bryan The Botanist:

whenever you can shop local.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yep

Bryan The Botanist:

We've got the local specialty running store support them support the mom and pops and the people in your community that are supporting you so What type of future projects and events do you have on the schedule?

Taryn Hipwell:

The one thing I would like to see in the city of Miami is a healthy Fabric library, and I'm doing my best to have the conversations with different Organizations and thought leaders and funders and I I'm Really wanting to see that here because when I was at FITM, we had something called material connection and we got to see fiber and fabric that was made from kombucha and crushed glass and milk and coffee bean and this introduction of fiber and fabric was To me, like, why I stayed working at FITM as the first, like, sustainable fashion teacher that they had at the school for eight years. And I felt like I was consistently learning because the people that Put together that particular part of the school were really great about going out and getting the best resources so the students could learn about it right away. And so I've befriended multiple people in that space, and I've known them for a long time. I've seen iterations of their business models, and I want something like that to a library here. Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

Would there be mycelium apparel in the library? Yes. Because you know, I'm a mushroom scientist. You saw me speak last week at the psychedelics conference about mushroom science, about mycelium, and about how it could be a replacement for styrofoam.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yes, and I was so happy that you brought that up because most people don't talk about the packing part of things that mushrooms could take over. It's durable,

Bryan The Botanist:

it's flame resistant. And it

Taryn Hipwell:

is

Bryan The Botanist:

waterproof and it can break down eventually, but it's it's yeah, they can make a lot of things out of my cell and they're even talking about like building like Buildings with it, you know bricks and stuff But even on Mars or on the moon because it could be a material that the chitin as well So the mycelium is underground. That's how the mushroom Shares nutrients and also, um, that's where it gathers all of its life force is 99. 9 percent of the life form is underground and Then it pops up with the fruiting body, which is the mushroom. So the mycelium is like the root, but it's not it's it's a different It's not a sorry we're breaking down the science here, but it's not a plant or an animal The fungi kingdom is in between plants and animals. It's its own kingdom So a mushroom is not a vegetable or a fruit. It's a, it's a, it's a fungi. Um, and the above ground growth, the mushroom fruiting body, has a material in it called chitin, C H I T I N, chitin. And that can also be used to make things like buildings or like Like Elon Musk was talking about flash printing it for buildings on Mars, or I know Stanford, I think it was, made a reishi house out in San Francisco where they took reishi mushroom mycelium and they made bricks out of it and they demonstrated that they could make a whole home out of it. Now it's not able to scale up yet, but I mean you can, I've also, you know, Paul Stamets famously has a mushroom hat that's made out of mycelium. It looks like a leather hat. So I guess that could be also a faux leather.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yes. Would

Bryan The Botanist:

be made out of mycelium. Stella

Taryn Hipwell:

McCartney has done that.

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah. With, with my, with mushroom fibers. Cool. So there's gotta be some mushroom fibers in the library. What else is going to be in there?

Taryn Hipwell:

tree, fabric, uh, pineapple, flax, cactus, pineapple. Yeah, and it's interesting because there are brands with cactus that still need to use a little bit of poly in it, so I'm gonna focus more on fabric than, like, the materials. But they can make, like, also, like,

Bryan The Botanist:

padding out of the cactus, right? Like, I know, like, they can make, um, instead of using plastic for, like, Your fruit in the grocery store, you know how they have it sliced up? They can use it like a cactus now to like, agave, I think to make like, um, containers. You know, biodegradable containers that they can use in the grocery store because the plastics are ubiquitous. I mean, we were talking yesterday about microplastics and I mean there's gonna be polyester in the library, but I mean, it's just so fascinating to me that no one thinks that, you know, it's it's just 100 percent microplastics you're wearing,

Taryn Hipwell:

you know.

Bryan The Botanist:

I don't even know what my pants are. I don't know what I need anymore. My watch is probably, I read the other day that the uh, the rain gear you can wear, you know, that, that, that you get, I mean, I'm going to pick, I'm not going to pick on them, but you know, you go to like an outdoor store and you get this fancy rain jacket that's water repellent or sun repellent. And these chemicals are PFAS, the P F A S, you know, the forever chemicals, or they're, you know, chemicals that can get absorbed because they said something online, they're doing research and like wearing these water repellent things. you know, that are not natural, they can get absorbed into your body and they can cause, you know, probably hormone disruption, cancer, you know, bad stuff.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah. Versus

Bryan The Botanist:

cotton, which, you know, there's not as much link to cotton, I don't think.

Taryn Hipwell:

This, this might be a bad joke to share, but I was like, I wonder if the, if it, if there ever was a study that came out to prove that toxic chemicals in fabrics could make you fat. And I said this, and I was kind of being like

Bryan The Botanist:

facetious.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, and then it turns out that PFAS are Metabolism

Bryan The Botanist:

disruptors.

Taryn Hipwell:

So there is now studies that that is the case, but I don't know to what extent yet.

Bryan The Botanist:

Well, that makes sense whether it's um, you know, you know people have like immune, immune dysfunction to or um, You know, like Graves disease and all these things that are, um, forget how you call it, thyroid and you know that that affects your weight.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, like autoimmune disease. People that have different autoimmune diseases and like my hypersensitivity, we have a totally different experience of the world than people that have no reactions to anything. Like for me to go into a mall, let's say in Macy's, I tried to work in a Macy's. I lasted one week. I was so sick from the off gassing, from the mattresses, from the perfumes. Then I went on the clothing floor. It was sick there, too. I couldn't be anywhere in the entire store. store any of the floors without having, like, migraines and it fills my stomach up with gas and it just makes me feel like I'm gonna throw

Bryan The Botanist:

one time, my friend who's a perfume expert, he's got a natural perfume line in Maui,

Taryn Hipwell:

it's all like,

Bryan The Botanist:

you know, organic, um, it's called Pure Presence and uh, he had, he knew someone who worked in like a Macy's or one of these department stores in the perfume section for like 20 or 30 years and they had facial paralysis and it was like directly linked to like being exposed to all these perfumes all day long. That are not natural and they do disrupt, you know, and it caused like, you know, I Don't know exactly what the medical term is, but he their their their sense of you know Muscle function was gone, you know, so

Taryn Hipwell:

I like 50

Bryan The Botanist:

or whatever, you know Like that's that's too early to have these issues and you notice like, you know The woman who eats all the raw vegetables and she's 80 and she looks like she's 30.

Taryn Hipwell:

Mm-hmm

Bryan The Botanist:

You know,'cause she's eating all raw, you know, like, and then, and they're not putting all these, you know, fragrances. You know, in the nutrition industry, the, the word fragrance is a hidden dirty term for undisclosed, no transparency and what it actually is. In fact, same body care. Have you heard of EWG? The environmental working group? Yeah. Yep. They're doing the large work.

Taryn Hipwell:

Oh. I use them for everything. And I've been using them the dirty, dirty dozen,

Bryan The Botanist:

I'm a big fan of theirs out of Washington, DC.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yep.

Bryan The Botanist:

Yep, non profit lobbyist group that's fighting for change and they got things like Red 40 banned in California, or it's now banned in the US.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yep. It's

Bryan The Botanist:

gonna take four years to get it out of the food supply I heard the other day.

Taryn Hipwell:

Well, it's more than zero because it wasn't happening and now it is. Yeah, but Europe

Bryan The Botanist:

didn't allow it. Well, there's so

Taryn Hipwell:

many things in Europe that they don't allow that it doesn't make any sense to me that we're not following them as quickly as I wish that we would. You

Bryan The Botanist:

eat food over there, it's a lot easier on your system.

Taryn Hipwell:

Oh my gosh, yes. Yes, a hundred percent.

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah, so it's just startling, you know, what people It's so important that we talk about healthy fashion. Um, we haven't had this conversation before on Sneaker Impact News. So future events and projects coming up that you want to share with us before we talk about other things?

Taryn Hipwell:

Well, interestingly, the month of April is Earth Day Week Month, and it's also Fashion Revolution Week Day Month. And Remake typically does do multiple events in different cities. There will be events coming up in the month of April. I don't know what they are yet, but we're in conversations with a few different groups. So I'll be posting them on my Instagram. Instagram

Bryan The Botanist:

is the best place to stay in touch with you. I know we're gonna share a couple of your your social links. I got um, You're Taryn Hipwell on Instagram? T A R Y N H I P W E L L And TarynHipwell. com, so you have your own website.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yep.

Bryan The Botanist:

Okay. Some videos on there, some links and a link to your book.

Taryn Hipwell:

I think I'm going to be putting another video or two in the next few weeks. I don't have Well, share

Bryan The Botanist:

this one for sure. I'll get you some social clips and I'll get you the full length. Oh,

Taryn Hipwell:

perfect.

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah.

Taryn Hipwell:

That would be awesome. Yeah. Yeah, because I stepping into wanting to take a next step with my consulting, with my business, to open it up to more people. I had been focusing on brands and businesses here in Miami, but now that I'm starting to branch out, I want to have the bigger conversation. And I love that you had Marissa here last week and, and getting to see like Martu came down from New York and the, like the New York LA. Miami conversation just continuing to stir that pot and get all the information together and have like a Positive. It's

Bryan The Botanist:

a community.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah, many different experts are all contributing and also students coming up

Taryn Hipwell:

Yes,

Bryan The Botanist:

so do you see yourself staying in Miami for a while?

Taryn Hipwell:

I do.

Bryan The Botanist:

Okay.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah got some more work to do here Yeah, I had tried to live closer to my family when I first got to Miami So that's why I've been in the city state of Florida for seven years. I tried Fort Charlotte and Tampa and St. Pete and, uh, my brother's up in Ormond Beach and I basically lived where all of them lived, but yeah, Miami just kept calling me and now that I'm down here and setting up shop and getting my roots in and my cilia in, you know, um, I'm finally, yeah, I want to start here and, and build it out. Yeah,

Bryan The Botanist:

do you have a home base down here for your lab or for your where do you work out of?

Taryn Hipwell:

I work out of my home. I'm in North Bay Village, which I love because oh, I'm right

Bryan The Botanist:

by North Bay Village That's where I swim every day at the Normandy pool.

Taryn Hipwell:

Oh nice, but

Bryan The Botanist:

I live about two miles away But I'm I'm within a stone's throw of you

Taryn Hipwell:

All I know is my whole backyard is the ocean and it looks like a lake. North

Bryan The Botanist:

Bay Village is called the What do they call it the the island in the bay or something or? It's like right in the middle of Biscayne Bay, like, and there's all these like causeways connecting it. It's like the gem in the bay or something they call it.

Taryn Hipwell:

I don't even know what the name is, but I just tell everybody I live on an island and whenever I go home It feels like I'm in a different city. I feel like I'm going back to my lake house I sit by the water and get to chill out for you know, it's not South Beach. No, it's not It's about six

Bryan The Botanist:

miles away from South Beach. That's the South

Taryn Hipwell:

and it's got this very Zen atmosphere to it and I Oh, and I know you're gonna ask me about things that I love to do. Well, that's the next question. So what are your other passions

Bryan The Botanist:

outside of fashion?

Taryn Hipwell:

We have free yoga on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Um, I shouldn't be sharing that with everybody because it's my favorite and I don't want it to get too populated But I love my yoga teacher. If we blow this

Bryan The Botanist:

podcast up, that's a good thing.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, Allison, you are a star She is one of the the most down to earth people and it's great to have that time and decompression. Is it

Bryan The Botanist:

outdoor?

Taryn Hipwell:

It is. I love my yoga outside on grass, on cement, on sand, wherever, as much as I can get outside. And then my other passion is fashion. Oh, sorry. My, my other passion. Fashion

Bryan The Botanist:

is always the first

Taryn Hipwell:

thing. My other passion is dance. I love swing dance, salsa, bachata. I can do kizomba and zook a little bit and I kind of let my dance Take me where it's gonna take me. Mm-hmm And I will say whenever I go to a different city, that's the most fun way to start getting connected with people. And I love like my dancer friends, and I even have dancer friends that I had known from New York 25 years ago that are now down here in Miami also.

Bryan The Botanist:

Sure. The dance scene's big down here.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

One of my guy friends is a salsa instructor. I actually have two salsa instructor friends. I've only learned like the 1 0 1 and it was like 10 years ago and I haven't done it since. So you'll have to. Send me the link for the, uh, dance classes and the, uh, cause I'm, I'm, you know, I got that gringo vibe, you know, a little clumsy. I'm stepping on people's toes and stuff, but I can learn. Um, so that's awesome. Um, those are really great. It's so good to have you in the community and to have you as part of Sneaker Impact's family now. Uh, we're going to have you back on again in the future to catch up in a couple of months or a year.

Taryn Hipwell:

Whenever you're ready

Bryan The Botanist:

and hopefully you can help us with our projects here. I know you and Mo have been chatting a bunch. We're about to go on a tour. Uh, we have about 25 minutes left before the, before the facility closes. But what inspiring message would you like to leave the Sneaker Impact audience with today?

Taryn Hipwell:

I'm going to go with when you wear your values, you get to create a different world just by default. And what that looks like to me is my value is I want to reduce chemicals and to get as many brands to suck less as possible and when I do get to invest in a brand that I just absolutely adore, it's almost like there's this extra part of, there are going to be positive benefits from investing in, in the brands that I love. I'm gonna go back to everybody has different values and everybody can find different brands that relate to your values. So if you care about the oceans, you could find ones that have less water, less microfibers, less

Bryan The Botanist:

Recovered ocean plastics.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, exactly. Like 4ocean

Bryan The Botanist:

and a whole bunch of Great companies are using ocean. Adidas even has used, they made a shoe from ocean plastic.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah, or like if you care about cows and you want to have vegan clothes and whatever it is like take ownership of what you care about and see how your

Bryan The Botanist:

values

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah

Bryan The Botanist:

And suck less.

Taryn Hipwell:

And suck less, yes. I

Bryan The Botanist:

remember when I was coming in from getting a coffee earlier, you said something about you want brands to suck less or something. Yeah, I want brands to suck less. I've never heard that before. I want

Taryn Hipwell:

shoppers to suck less. I just want everybody to suck a little less and and you know, it's not like a big thing. That's a good take home

Bryan The Botanist:

message, but it's funny, but it's also true.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah. But it's

Bryan The Botanist:

also like we're also celebrating like small victories.

Taryn Hipwell:

Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

And we don't have to be so pessimistic. Like there's a lot of optimism. Like people are all thinking that, you know, Miami is gonna be underwater and stuff. You know, maybe in a couple of hundred years, maybe even in 50, we don't know, but like in the meantime, let's like make it the best place because it's our home and let's take care of it and let's care about it. Let's care about each other. Let's stop honking the horn at each other all the time. Let's start using our turn signals. You know, these are pretty things your mom taught you along with brushing your teeth, you know, and uh, and let's start thinking about what we're putting on our bodies, what we're spending our money on because your dollar, I say this all the time, is how you vote. You know, when you vote every day, where do you shop for your food? Where do you shop for your clothes? Um, what type of media do you consume? Are you consuming sneaker impact news? Are you consuming a You know, uh, some, uh, junk, uh, tabloid news, you know.

Taryn Hipwell:

Well, I kind of like Mindless TV, too. Yeah, there's a time and place for it, as well. But I also like my TEDx's and things like that, too.

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah, yeah, exactly. There's a time and place. I like my stand up comedy. That's something I like. I love stand up comedy. But that's awesome, Taryn. So thank you so much again for coming today. Um, it's been an enlightening conversation. Um, the time always goes so quick. There's always more questions I have. But we'll continue that for chapter two.

Taryn Hipwell:

That sounds amazing and thank you for having me here Thank you for what you guys are up to and I'm gonna pitch again make the fiber fluff into luggage

Bryan The Botanist:

Okay, we'll do that and guys check out TarynHipwell.com and Taryn on LinkedIn and Instagram. She's, uh, we're going to put all the stuff down in the, uh, in the description. And she's got an article here about, um, that she was on shout out Miami. And they tell you all about, um, her background as well. So we really enjoyed getting to know you today, Taryn, and thank you again for this opportunity.

Taryn Hipwell:

Absolutely.

Bryan The Botanist:

All right, guys. We'll see you on the next episode. Yay. Be well.

People on this episode

Contributor

Bryan “The Botanist” Huberty

Host