256 – Julie Mathers, Phoebe Yu, and Anna Julia Forster – Sustainability, Transparency, Conscious Consumption

Australia's retail and manufacturing  -- sustainability, transparency, and conscious consumption... Julie Mathers (Chief Experience Office (CEO) & Founder Flora & Fauna, Australia's largest vegan beauty and lifestyle store), Phoebe Yu (Founder and CEO of ettitude, an Australian bedding startup offering high quality, modern, minimalistic bedding ataccessible prices with a focus on innovative fabric technology), and Anna Julia Forster (Passionate Shoemaker, and Sustainability Advocate), join Pavan Bahl on location in Sydney, Australia at Online Retailer City and Nora Network, for a conversation presented by Fluent Commerce. In this episode A focus on sustainability, educating consumers Julie Mathers of Flora and Fauna, a "B-Corp", across beauty skin care, fashion, and even chocolate Pheobe Yu of ettitude, the world's first organic bamboo lyocell fabric, in manufacturing they recycle water in system, whole process is sustainable See trends, people want that life style Anna Julie Foster Shoes – bespoke shoemaker, launching a sustainable premium footwear brand for women, but vegan products aren’t there yet, focus on transparency, cutting out plastics and chemicals, and won’t add to trash pile The sustainable initiative has moved to "must do this", with fashion as second largest polluter in world In Sydney a lot of attention and being mindful to sustainable Very few compostable facilities in Australia, despite compostable materials, so they end up in landfills, can't provide sufficient services Growing up with recycling in other counties, looking at if Australians are good at recycling? Chasing brands that are sustainabley minded, and using naturally sourced materials, and working with suppliers to advance their journey toward sustainability Simple things brands can do to advance sustainable – go to the factory and tell them you don’t want those thin plastic bags for clothing anymore, switch to natural materials (i.e. corn starch based bags) A merchandising approach can reduce impact, and even increase revenue Tracking and tracing the impact and cooperation of brands Customers buying in good faith, but looking at levels from start to shelf, could be misleading for customer Impact of blockchain for transparency, brands not there yet, happening with food more A focus on internals of business as much as what the customer sees How China got away from a "no waste ethos" as they grew Sustainability, transparency, conscious consumption