Sarah Franken explains how accidentally walking into a panel talk resulted in the online magazine 'Lumera'.

In this episode it's all about 'sustainable fashion'

Gill chats to Sarah Franken a young entrepreneur about how she came to set up the online magazine 'Lumera'. The focus of the magazine is to highlight sustainable brands and Gill finds out what is sustainable fashion and how complicated it can get! 

Sarah explains that at university she wasn't particularly passionate about sustainability but how, a few years later, she accidentally walked into a panel talk all about sustainable fashion and it gave her a whole new perspective and passion to pursue. Lumera was born. 

They discuss what constitutes as 'sustainable fashion' and what are the bigger challenges involved? Sarah explains what the 3 main sustainability categories are.

Gill mentions about how when she was younger it was normal for families to have a 'button and zip box'. Sarah uses a great quote as an example as to why we now simply discard clothes: "Clothes have gone from being a valuable item to becoming a disposable item". 

The discussion widens out to look at: how do you get people to change their mindset / perception around their fashionable clothing buying habits when large cheaper brands target them in their marketing? How does the industry overcome the dilemma of what would be seen as sustainable fashion for one group of people is viewed differently by another. What is 'greenwashing' and how does the consumer know if a brand is doing this? 

They both agree that with anything in life it has to be easy for the consumer to navigate.  

Links to the articles mentioned in the podcast:

Resale on the Rise - Brands Selling their Pre-Loved Garments https://lumeramag.com/articles/resale-on-the-rise-brands-selling-their-pre-loved-garments  5 Tips to Spot Greenwashing https://lumeramag.com/articles/five-tips-to-spot-greenwashing 

To subscribe to the magazine: https://lumeramag.com/  or follow them on social media @lumeramag. Or if you are a sustainable brand or know of one please contact Sarah by email info@lumeramag.com so she can add it to her list or Gill to do a podcast!