Sustainable Fashion: How to Be Sustainable, Role of Media, and the Future of Fashion (Podcast)

In the 11th episode of FP Guru Series, we chatted with Nanette Hogervorst, the Founder and Owner of Our World, a sustainable fashion platform and an online magazine.

Nanette strives to raise awareness about sustainability in fashion and to change the mindset of both - brands and consumers. We chatted with Nanette about her platform, her views on the industry and its future.

Our World Platform - link.

Free Newsletter of Nanette about sustainability in fashion - link.

Listen to the podcast here: 

What this podcast is about:

○ What is the idea behind your platform - Our World?

○ Did your childhood affect your career choice?

○ How can consumers change their approach to fashion?

○ What do you believe is the future of fashion?

○ What habits did you incorporate into your life?

○ What are your favorite sustainable brands?

Nanette's Recommendations

Brands mentioned in the podcast:

https://www.thereformation.com 

https://mudjeans.eu 

https://www.elsiengringhuis.com

Websites / magazines / organisations to check out:

https://hajinsky.com 

https://www.businessoffashion.com

https://sourcingjournal.com  

https://www.ecotextile.com  

https://future.fashion  

Podcast Transcription:

Una [00:00:00] Hello everyone and welcome to the Fashion Potluck podcast session. Fashion Potluck is a social media platform where women can consume and create content. My name is Una and I'm a content manager of Fashion Potluck. I'm here with Julia, the Chief Marketing Officer at Fashion Potluck. 

Julia [00:00:12] Good morning everyone. 

Una [00:00:13] Good morning. And our guest for today Nanette Hogervorst. She's running a startup in sustainable fashion. She's also the founder of a fashion platform Our World and she's the editor in chief of Our World magazine. Welcome, Nanette. 

Nanette [00:00:28] Hi. Thank you. Good morning. 

Una [00:00:30] Good morning. Could you tell us a bit more about yourself? Nanette [00:00:35] Yeah of course. I'm Nanette. I'm 35 years old. I live in Amsterdam. I've always had a passion for dance and fashion and have always been very socially engaged. So when I was young I was a member of the World Foundation for nature and then I supported Amnesty International and when I was 19 I even joined a political party and became active in the local politics. And next to that I was always working in a fashion boutique. So on Saturday next to my studies, I would help customers to get the perfect outfit for a party or a wedding or just because they wanted some that would just have something new. It was always like a present when you opened the box with the new collections and you saw all the new styles, how the materials were made. I always enjoyed it very very much. And, next to that I was socially engaged. I traveled and did some volunteer work for HIV/AIDS Clinics and was an intern at Amnesty International in the Philippines. And yeah at a certain moment I studied communications and worked in the financial sector. I sort of combined sustainability and fashion together into what is now a fashion platform Our World and one of the things we do is the magazine. Yeah. For the rest, I love living in Amsterdam. Just doing drinks, love cycling over the canals. I'm always curious. So I go to museums or concerts and enjoying life. 

Una [00:02:20]  That's really nice. On your website, it says that your family lived in the Philippines for years where they experienced what it's like when water energy and food are not always present in abundance. Right? Did it and in which way this shape you to choose a career in sustainability? 

Nanette [00:02:36] I'm not sure how it directly shaped my career, but they always sort of raised it. They're Dutch. I'm adopted. They're Dutch but they lived and worked there for the government and they lived also in a rural area. So not in the city. And when they moved back to the Netherlands and I was then two years so I don't remember that much from the Philippines. They always raised as you know sort of telling us that "you know running water is not standard everywhere in the world". So when we were showering after five minutes my mom or dad knock on a door like "you're clean you know you don't need to be in the shower for 20 minutes, after 5 minutes you are clean". And so but also with food, you know. My father was always like you know you know you can look at a date of course but you can also just taste and if it tastes fine and if it smells fine you can still eat it. You know it's a waste to just throw it away because there's a date on it. Sometimes I, later on, I had like friends who were like "Oh it's already the date. I just throw it away" and I was like "no way". You know you just have to see it really if it still smells good and tastes good. It's probably still good. So they always raised us with that. You know that it's important to be aware that not everywhere in the world you have these things in abundance and that we should be sort of thankful for that. That does of course influence you but they never pushed us into a certain career or anything so maybe it was a little bit of the background and maybe a little bit of my own personality that got me into a career that was focused on sustainability. 

Una [00:04:21] I believe it's always so important to start teaching your kids from a very young age about sustainability because then it comes naturally in a way. So you started our world magazine two years ago. What was your precise goal? 

Nanette [00:04:36] Well at that moment the goal was and the goal is still that I really would love that people are more conscious about what clothes they buy and how to wear it and how they manage their wardrobe. But I didn't really know how. Because of course I worked in a lot of clothing boutiques like many others do. But I didn't a career in fashion. I worked for around seven years in the financial sector, communications and I combined that with sustainability projects. But the fashion sector was kind of an unknown territory so I had this idea that I wanted to contribute somehow but didn't know yet exactly how. So coming from communications, I've made online magazines before, because our magazine is only online available. I thought this is a good opportunity to grow my network, to learn more about the sector, to talk to people see if I really like this, to see if I can find like a hook that's interesting. To ultimately not just have a magazine but also contribute in a more concrete way in helping people to dress and buy more sustainable clothing. 

Una [00:05:45] Okay. And what is your role precisely in the magazine? Nanette [00:05:49] Well I practically I do it on my own and but sometimes I have an intern. Sometimes I have a volunteer or sometimes I work with columnists. It kind of depends. But at this moment so I'm the founder and the owner. So I'm practically involved in everything. But at this moment I'm working on a sustainable fashion gift card. So after writing for the magazine and thinking okay what could be that concrete way that I could contribute. I wanted to be positive. I wanted to be easy and I also wanted to sort of inspire people to get out of their comfort zone because a lot of people do want to be more sustainable in how they dress but they don't know how, because they're busy and I understand that. 

Julia [00:06:43] But I'm curious. It's an online magazine and does every person have access to it? 

Nanette [00:06:50] Yes, it's complete for free. Also because I hope that you know I can inspire but also inform people with it and share the knowledge through the people I interview. And I really wanted it to be for everyone. If you really want to say look I want to contribute to people dress more consciously you know it should be for everyone. It shouldn't be for a limited number of people who maybe have the money or are interested. 

Una [00:07:14] And, basically you create all the content yourself or with the help of an intern. 

Nanette [00:07:19] Basically most of the content is made by myself but I've worked earlier with columnists so I stopped doing that because we were going to a little bit of the other direction. So when I started with like six columnists and then I also worked with an intern and volunteers and they sort of come and go. So what I do with the magazine is I write about trends and developments in the fashion industry and I interview next fashion talents. So the trends and developments, I usually pick like a topic I think hey this is relevant. We made one series about fashion education so I interviewed academics. I had a series about fashion and transparency and what's new is that if I have a series then I also combine it with an event, so fashion transparency at the end of May we had an event about it we are now working on an... 

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