People For The Planet Archive

Angelica Bidlack

Founder of Thermis Magazine

Angelica Bidlack

Angelica: As a high school student, I seek to encourage and engage fellow youths. To speak up about their insights, concerns, ideas, and opinions. I spread the message that no one needs to delay speaking up about something. Meaning that anyone can become active and take action for topics that affect youths. Action doesn’t start after an earned degree or professional job, but can start at any age, regardless of your background. And so, I challenge the notion of “youth roles” and “adult roles.” I strive to create spaces where young people can comfortably express themselves and make meaningful impact.

Themis Magazine is a vibrant online publication tailored by and for the youth. That provides a respectful forum for the exchange of ideas. The Global Fashion Exchange Youth Program is a groundbreaking platform that facilitates collaborative efforts among young individuals. Instigating transformative shifts within the fashion industry.

IRK: This can be what inspired you to get started, why you keep going and the spirit that drives you.

Angelica: My action roots back to a Capstone Project at my school. Where I researched and presented on the topic of fast fashion to parents, fellow students, and teachers. in 2020. Back then, the topic was not as well known as it is now. So I began spreading awareness about fast fashion in my school community. Four years later, I continue spreading awareness about the social and environmental injustices within the fashion industry. For the past two years I have been working with people of all ages to fabricate solutions.

For the foreseeable future, my fuel is that the choice of clothes people wear is a choice to respect or to violate basic human values. That the choice of fast fashion undermines nearly every Sustainable Development Goal. People either simply don’t know, or the fact has not sunk in yet. That the cost of their shopping choices is the livelihoods of millions of families and children. I’m confident that the majority of people who wear fast fashion clothes do intend to have a negative impact. That’s why it is my mission to engage people to raise awareness about the consequences of buying into fast fashion.

Therefore, my mission is to positively change the fashion industry to align with today’s social values. For example, that all children deserve proper education or that workers deserve fair pay and a healthy workspace.

IRK: What are you most passionate about with respect to taking care of people and the planet?

Angelica: Most of my work revolves around finding solutions for social and environmental justice within the fashion industry. Namely, by minimizing fast fashion. Considering the many million people working in unsafe working conditions, facing poverty. Risking their health and future. Plus the multitude of environmental crises, such as fashion waste, microplastics, and chemical pollution. I stand firm in my resolve to ensure that purchasing clothing doesn’t come at the cost of harming people or the planet.

Although I highly value both social and environmental issues, I focus specifically on the social aspect of fast fashion. As I see it, the environmental impacts can negatively affect communities, e.g. by polluting people’s water source. So focusing on social rights is my form of considering both the social and environmental aspects.

IRK: What are some conscious actions you implement in your daily life?

Angelica: I generally have been raised in an environmentally conscious household. For example, my family and I are conscious of our waste management. Specifically, by avoiding or reusing plastic if possible (e.g. containers and utensils received in take out for future picnics). Rarely to never using unnecessary wrapping such as plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Always bring our own utensils and containers for lunch, and always bringing reusable bags. We also buy organic food, if possible. Regarding clothing, my family and I also very rarely use a dryer and dry clothes on a drying rack. Another plus for the planet from my habits would be that. As a protest against fast fashion consumption, the vast majority of my clothes are hand-me-downs from family members or purchased secondhand.

IRK: What’s your hope for the future of the planet?

Angelica: I hope people come to find a balance between what they need to buy. And what they can prevent from purchasing for the sake of protecting our planet. In the big picture, I hope that ecosystems and species that are endangered will not go extinct. Because one of the most frightening parts of the environmental and climate crisis is losing a part of life and natural beauty on Earth. Knowing that there is a high risk of losing a marvelous creature or even a whole environment due to a certain group of people manipulating the economy is truly devastating. However, seeing people’s motivation and societies (slow, but nevertheless) improvement to help our planet is a facet of hope that our planet can be in good hands in the future.

IRK: What Sustainable Development Goal do you align with the most?

Angelica: This is a very tricky question, because I believe that so many of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are intertwined with each other and co-align with many of the global issues we face. However, if I would have to choose just one SDG, I would align my work and goals with SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities. A lot of issues from other SDGs such as lack of equal rights or access to education (SDG 4) or inequalities faced through the consequences of climate change (SDG 13) fall into the category of SDG 10. With social hierarchies or systematic privileges and discriminations, society faces a multitude of problems, which will be diminished with reduced inequalities. Another example is the unequal access to education or access to workspaces, resulting in narrowed and limited perspectives and potential available. This results in biased ideas and solutions, which ultimately contribute to future problems.

Therefore, I feel that through SDG 10 many local or global issues can be addressed. My hope is very simple although today it looks a lot more complicated; I want peace on this healthy and healing plant earth and enjoy and cherish all of the gift that our majestic earth has giving us.

What Sustainable Development Goal do you align with the most? (https://sdgs.un.org/goals)

Angelica: Creating sustainable jobs for underserved and less privileged women.

Victoria Bonnamour

Victoria Bonnamour’s brand Bonâme is a timeless wardrobe for singular women. Rooted in the history of Art and inspired by the destiny of women artists who defy conventions. Making the world move forward thanks to their vision, guts, style, and passion. Obsessed by beautiful fabrics, timeless cuts, and elegant volumes. I try to capture the spirit of those women in a collection of unique silhouettes. Bound to give strength, confidence, and this “je ne sais quoi” that transcends ephemeral fashion. I’m deeply committed to sustainability by using only dead stocks fabrics. Producing locally and strictly in France to limit carbon footprint. In respect to that commitment, I’m an active member of Fashion Green Hub France, Une autre Mode est possible, and Mouvement Impact NPOs working for a more sustainable fashion.

IRK: Tell us your “Why”

Victoria Bonnamour: What drives me is my passion for fabrics, well and fairly made clothes. My anger for the lack of visibility of women in history and the need for transmission between generations. I’m convinced that a thin thread unites everywomen from past to present to future. That the clothes we wear can capture and express this link. I’m convinced that a good clothe that fits you well can be worn for decades.

IRK: What are you most passionate about with respect to taking care of people and the planet?

Victoria Bonnamour: I think we should respect more the apparel, the fabric. Clothes are very intimate, one of the most intimate things you put every day on your skin. Enveloping your sensations, and your moods, pampering you, or making you feel more confident at times. Hence the need to cherish them. Make them properly with respect, time and devotion, in good fabrics. With good processes and respect for nature we extracted this material from. Also, the person who made the cloth can be proud and satisfied with the work done.

IRK: What are some conscious actions you implement in your daily life?

Victoria Bonnamour: I’m committed as best as I can in my daily life, even if I’m sure I could do even more. I only drink tap water to avoid plastic bottle consumption. Use renting, and neighborhood exchanges for all types of objects and devices. I volunteer a lot in my district, organizing workshops and activities for children around culture and craftsmanship. Mostly I use public transport and ride a bike every time I can. This is faster, more practical and so much healthier for the planet! I never use express home deliveries. I’d rather wait, take my time, go to the shop next door, walk, and meet people on the way.

IRK: What’s your hope for the future of the planet?

Victoria Bonnamour: My hope is strong for the future of our planet. I hope we’ll come back to a greater consciousness of nature and wilderness. A sense that we have lost. Especially for those of us living in the cities and used to all sorts of conveniences like instant deliveries. I hope we’ll find a healthier pace of living, take our time to appreciate things. I hope we’ll reach a greater balance between southern and northern countries. Work as United Nations to slow down global warming.

What Sustainable Development Goal do you align with the most? (https://sdgs.un.org/goals)

Victoria Bonnamour: In my day-to-day job, I contribute most to goals 4, 5, 8, 11, and 12. Gender equality, as my brand puts women’s achievements forward. In an effort to spread light and singular women throughout the history of Arts. Quality education as my brand also brings content and knowledge so as to develop education about Art and women artists. Also decent work and economic growth, responsible production, and consumption. As I only use fabrics coming from dead stocks and already available materials for my work. My production process is also based on unique pieces or small series so as to avoid creating extra stocks. I produce everything locally, in a maximum of 30km distance. I’m also obsessed with designing clothes that are made to last. Clothes that you keep because they’re timeless and of high quality.

Noémie Devime

Climatic Designer

Noémie Devime

Noémie Devime PARIS is a high-end handmade ready-to-wear brand established in Paris. We provide off-season and one-of-a-kind womenswear collections to support a stable, circular, and holistic production system. Up-cycling is one of the brand’s specialties: offering a better second life to an existing material. The collections are designed, created, and made in Paris. The locality is paramount. The studio is interested in reusing materials not intended for fashion and left out of recycling circuits. Also, the materials of our clothes are natural and vegetable, in order to propose a life cycle of natural clothing. Coming from nature, and returning to the Earth.

The brand is represented by La Cour des Icones in Paris (La Cour Paris), based in «La Résidence du Durable» in Paris.

The brand is an active member of these sustainable fashion organizations:

Vegan Fashion Week in Los Angeles (VEGAN FASHION WEEK®)
Paris Good Fashion (Paris Good Fashion)
Les Canaux (Les Canaux)
Fashion Green Hub (https://www.fashiongreenhub.org/)
UAMEP (EVENTS – Une autre mode est possible)
Impakter Eco
Ankor Store (Noémie Devime Paris)
The Foundation Good Planet (Fondation GoodPlanet)

Noémie Devime is also a climate designer and consultant. She has been an artistic director, consultant and visual artist, specializing in fashion ecology, since 2014. An honored graduate of the École Duperré, she lives and works in Paris with her team. They work for the fashion sector (Peclers Paris, Etam, etc.). Advertising (Publicis Luxe, Havas, Human Seven, etc.). Events (Who’s Next, Palais de Tokyo, etc.), and luxury (L’Oréal Luxe, Sisley, Museum of Decorative Arts, etc.).

IRK: Tell us your “Why”

Making fashion in 2023 is not anymore about the aesthetic and the trends. It’s not anymore choosing the good shape, the good color, and the good materials. Clothing today is about how, where, and why to produce it -whatever the design. What inspired me to begin was the fact that I used to work in couture houses such as Dior Homme and Saint Laurent. In parallel, I offered myself the possibility to invent a different way of producing, more respectful for the planet and humans.

The crush was the meeting with the vegetal dyes atelier from Li Edelkoort studio, where I used to work too. Even though I was working in fashion and was fond of textiles. It was the very first time in Europe that I saw a person working with vegetable materials instead of chemicals. So it was evident for me to offer the possibility to the European market to develop such nice fabrics with a modern style. It took me 2 years to get permission to work with this exclusive atelier and I launched the first collection.

IRK: What are you most passionate about with respect to taking care of people and the planet?

What I love the most about taking care of people and the planet is that I think that the soul of someone is expressed by the way he/she occupies this world. So by the way he chooses to dress when he wakes up in the morning. I think that by wearing good and healthy cloth, you improve your own quality of energy. Because what you wear is produced with care and love.

Facing such a big international challenge to change globally our lifestyle to fight climate change. I believe in creativity in a wider sense, and from everyone. Every human being has a role to play to help and bring « sa part du colibri » (Pierre Rahbi). This is a beautiful mosaic of a combination of many local and different solutions that can change the global situation. So I feel happy to be part of this mosaic of solutions. By dressing beautiful people for a better situation, by using human beauty as a pacifist weapon.

IRK: What are some conscious actions you implement in your daily life?

In everyday life in Paris, my colleagues in the “Sustainable Residence” helps me to improve my lifestyle. I bike, sort my waste and use compost. I practice mindfulness with the people around me to the fullest and give them yoga courses every week. Currently, at the “Sustainable Residence” in the City of Paris, we carry out tailor-made audits in up-cycling for the industry. Among 20 companies specializing in eco-responsible management. We are working in hand in hand, each month with the Mayor and the territory, in order to set up waste reduction solutions. Over the long term on the scale of the territory of the 10th arrondissement of Paris.

In other words, we are rolling out the Climate Plan with concrete solutions at the district level. In order to be duplicated in other territories. Our solution is to use “last materials” as raw materials. Which means we use old clothes or dormant fabrics to make new clothes. I feel lucky to be the only fashion business in this place. This open space office is the best opportunity to grow and work with experts in sustainability.

IRK: What’s your hope for the future of the planet?

My hope for the future of the planet is for consumption to be fully circular and more creative. It would be enough not to consume less, and only local and biodegradable products, or made from last materials. I hope that humans connect much more with their inner self than with external entertainment objects. Practice meditation on a daily basis to raise the level of global consciousness.

What Sustainable Development Goal do you align with the most? (https://sdgs.un.org/goals)

Of the sustainable products and services we offer through the brand and the consulting, the Sustainable Development Goal we are most aligned with is number 12. The SDG12 is: “Establish sustainable consumption and production patterns” “The twelfth objective is a call for producers, consumers, communities, and governments to reflect on their habits and uses in terms of consumption, waste production, the environmental and social impact of the entire value of our products. More generally, this SDG calls for understanding the interconnections between personal and collective decisions, and perceiving the impacts of our respective behaviors between countries and on a global scale.”

Anne Vogt-Bordure

Curator Jenny Sacerdote

Anne Vogt-Bordure

Jenny Sacerdote, originally launched in 1909 by Jeanne Adèle Bernard, is a brand for women, by women. Jenny saw how women were determined to live new, active lives and, inspired by sport and dance, this forward-thinking entrepreneur and art-lover imagined clothes that gave them the freedom of movement they needed to live life to the fullest. Jenny would be the second woman in France to be decorated with the Legion of Honour for services to couture. La Suite Jenny Sacerdote now begins a new episode in three dimensions for the brand, with collections designed so that mind and body can be completely free. Each design, in its free spirit and wearable forms, is instilled with the poetry and intensity of the Roaring Twenties. Softness and strength combine with Jenny Sacerdote’s favorite youthful colors. Simplicity and quality come to life in precious fabrics, and the sensation of silk against the skin. The suggestion is more than just a moment suspended in time. This is our chance to experience a new lightness of being, to find agility in its purest form. More than a revival, La Suite Jenny Sacerdote is a lifestyle philosophy.

IRK: Tell us your “Why”

Ethically and environmentally responsible, La Suite Jenny Sacerdote makes clothes that respect those who wear them and those who make them. First of all, la Suite carries on the legacy of Jenny Sacerdote. The traditional values remain, now instilled with the concerns of tomorrow’s consumers. With creations that are Made in France, La Suite Jenny Sacerdote develops a style that reveals and respects the body, flatters every shape, and gives women the benefit of quality at an affordable price. Secondly, every Jenny Sacerdote garment is imagined in silk, and/or is silk-lined to be worn against the skin. Each one is meticulously assembled by the expert hands of French artisans working in the purest tradition. Silk is precious, strong, elastic and durable. Its natural fibres are soft to the touch, hypoallergenic and adjust to heat and cold, as well as being full of moisturising, nutritive and antioxidant benefits.

IRK: What are you most passionate about with respect to taking care of people and the planet?

As a new generation of creators, la Suite Jenny Sacerdote examines consciences. We are taking into account respect for human beings, animals, world, planet. We bring to light the new societal and environmental requirement. The strange desire to reinvent oneself hurries. So does the urgency of changing the world, acts, times, fashion. An energy of resilience no longer exclusively blows on the artistic sphere but on all facets of our entire society. When frivolities turn into responsibilities, the time has come for a culture of meaning, an experimental, singular, enduring and philosophical legacy.

La Suite Jenny Sacerdote offers a green-driven customer experience that is absolutely unique :

we rationalize and optimize creation by exploring the best creations from the past Jenny’s Art Deco style.
we do not imagine collections but requirements. We do not follow the seasons but our needs.
we offer healthy clothing that we can put on our skin without risk of toxic danger
we work in Paris in short circuits. – we use high-quality, noble, sustainable and upcycled materials.
we offer our customers the opportunity to customize and customize again their wardrobe.

IRK: What are some conscious actions you implement in your daily life?

We do not follow collections nor the seasons. Our products are iconic, timeless, durable customizable and re-customizable season after season. They are made from noble materials, sourced bio, eco-responsible, and upcycled. Our products last a lifetime and never go out of style. We do not use “toile” to create our client’s project garments but we directly use upcycled materials so that the client can have both a wearable “cloth” plus her dress, which saves us from wasting fabrics. We always deliver to our customers in Paris by bike.

IRK: What’s your hope for the future of the planet?

The planet will be ok, I’m not afraid for the planet, the right question is : What’s your hope for the future of The world has begun to realize that we can no longer eat just anything. If we pay attention to our bodies, then we have to pay attention to how we feed them. The awareness of this need for health now extends to clothing. We have to be careful about the materials we put on our skin so that our bodies don’t pick up toxic products. Fashion must play a virtuous role in respecting people’s bodies, and that’s what I want: for the world to fully decide to wear healthy materials that respect our lives and the lives of others.

What Sustainable Development Goal do you align with the most? (https://sdgs.un.org/goals)

No poverty, good health and well-being, decent work for economic growth and climate action

Anne Liauzun

Founder of Cecance

Jordane Somville

Jewelry Designer Jordane Somville Studio

Rylé Tuvierra

Fashion Curator and Digital Talent

Dominique Drakeford

Mother + Cultural Sustainability Vanguard

Dominique Drakeford

Meet Dominique Drakeford @dominiquedrakeford. Mother & Cultural Sustainability Vanguard.

IRK: Tell us your “Why”?

Dominique Drakeford is a mother, a non-traditional environmental justice educator, writer, independent researcher and creative storyteller that has been a leader in reimagining sustainability for the past 15+ years. Her traditional education tenure includes a BA in Business Environmental Management and an MA from NYU in Sustainable Entrepreneurship & Fashion. As an impact influencer, she has spoken at over 30 domestic/international events and conferences and has collaborated with over 50 global brands to inspire others to unapologetically create new dimensions and definitions for sustainable living! From 2016-2022, she was the chief curator of MelaninASS (Melanin And Sustainable Style) –the first internationally recognized online platform to disrupt the white washing of mainstream sustainability by amplifying the voices of Black & brown vanguards across sustainable fashion, beauty and wellness. In continuing to challenge sustainability discourse – Drakeford collaborated with one of the top ethical fashion podcast’s (Conscious Chatter) in 2020 to co-produce The ROOT: DECOLONIZING THE SUSTAINABLE FASHION AGENDA; a special edition 5-part podcast with 100% Black and POC guests across the fashion supply chain. Additionally, Dominique is the co-founder of SUSTAINABLE BROOKLYN working to bridge the gap between the mainstream sustainability space and targeted communities.

IRK: What are you most passionate about with respect to taking care of people and the planet?

As a soon-to-be mother of 2 – motherhood has shaped a new found passion in me as it relates to the ideology of care. Taking care of people and planet has become so much more tribal and circular – heavily defined by understanding how we as humans are tethered to each other and our local and global environments. I’m deeply passionate about the safety of Blackness (as we exist in an anti-Black sphere), joy, well-being, healing and preservation of culture and biosphere.

IRK: What are some conscious actions you implement in your daily life?

Being a Mother. Non-traditional environmental justice education and content creation. Sustainable fashion / Secondhand curation. Gardening/ Growing Food & Composting. Upcycling.

IRK: What’s your hope for the future of the planet?

DeColonization & Eco-Reparations for Descendants of African Enslaves folks. Black and Brown Indigenous / Afro Indigenous leadership across local and global strategic development avenues of power and leadership.

What Sustainable Development Goal do you align with the most? (https://sdgs.un.org/goals)

Goal 16: Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions.

Saad Amer

Climate Justice Activist + Founder Justice Environment

Saad Amer

Saad Amer @saadamer, is a renowned climate activist and the Founder of Justice Environment, a social impact consultancy that helps businesses, governments and nonprofits navigate climate change and sustainability. He has served as a consultant to the UN, discovered a new hybrid species in French Polynesia, and co-created Harvard University’s inaugural Sustainability Plan.

IRK: Tell us your “Why”

I started my environmental activism my first year in high school, where we helped to establish a 100-acre land preserve in New York. I created a local organization around the preserve and brought thousands of students out to learn about climate change and conservation while making films about the importance of the environment. I studied Environmental Science and Public Policy at Harvard. When I was a student, I toured factories in Pakistan and understood how harsh working conditions are, and how people in the West create global supply chains that extract profit from these communities and leave them with pollution, waste and the consequences of climate change. The climate injustice of the situation was tangible, and I knew things had to change.

When I graduated, I moved to India and was researching the impacts of climate change on rural villages in the Himalayas. Many of these villages were without clean water or electricity, and were struggling with subsistence agriculture as their climate was changing.

I am a climate justice activist, and believe it is essential to center a just transition as we deal with the realities of the climate crisis. The work must be intersectional, and we must work in addressing inequities as we address the climate crisis.

IRK: What are you most passionate about with respect to taking care of people and the planet?

My work centers environmental justice. It is essential to ensure that those communities bearing the brunt of the costs from the climate crisis have a say in address it and are able to benefit from a just transition.

I launched Justice Environment, a social impact consultancy focused on climate change, sustainability and the just transition to deal with this exact question. Companies are facing issues with both diversity and sustainability. They intersect at environmental justice, and need to understand that the negative impacts of their environmental and social governance operations.

I believe that when we create community and mobilize people, push companies to shift their practices, and force governments to pass policy, we can fundamentally shift the direction of our society for the better.

IRK: What are some conscious actions you implement in your daily life?

It is essential that we go beyond individual action and fight for systemic changes to address the larger environmental costs of our society. That being said, our society is composed of individuals, and we must all take action to push culture and our planet forward. The most impactful action is to vote, and to mobilize to ensure others are voting, too. When we mobilize in mass, we can elect politicians who can pass policy to fundamentally transform our society for the better.

IRK: What’s your hope for the future of the planet?

We will face the climate crisis no matter what. The question lies in if we have the will to take action before things become more dire, or if we will wait for people to suffer on a larger and larger scale. My hope for the future rests in the people of this planet. I know we can organize and take action. I know we can protect our planet, because it is the only way to save ourselves.

What Sustainable Development Goal do you align with the most? https://sdgs.un.org/goals

SDG 13: Climate Action