S04 Episode 196 | MATE THE LABEL, DRESS CLEAN + FASHION'S IMPACT ON WOMEN'S HEALTH

In episode 196, Kestrel welcomes Kayti O'Connell Carr, the founder and creative director of MATE, to the show. A clean essentials brand, MATE is made sustainably in Los Angeles with nontoxic and certified organic materials. "I realized that the missing piece — a part of the sustainability conversation — is fashion's impact that it has on us as women from a health's perspective." -Kayti O'Connell Carr, Founder of MATE On this week's show, Kayti shares more on her journey of starting MATE, and how much the brand has evolved since its early days as a vintage tee brand. Kestrel asks Kayti to walk us through her process of shifting MATE from using conventional fabrics to organic nontoxic options, and how their Dress Clean initiative now drives the company. For Kayti, realizing the impact that clothing can have on women's health was a big moment for her, and influenced how she wanted to ensure MATE's products were nontoxic and healthy for our bodies. The below thoughts, ideas + organizations were brought up in this chat: Some resources Kayti used while conceptualizing the "Dress Clean" initiative for MATE: Documentaries The True Cost + River Blue, Wear No Evil by Greta Eagan + Conscious Chatter Dr. Zach Bush, his work focuses on how the soil of our health is interconnected with our individual health and the health of our planet "If you think about it, inside of a factory, there's hundreds of thousands of microfibers just flying around at any given time, and what does that look like if the product itself is made from polyester, which is a plastic. We as humans are ingesting plastic at very alarming rates." More on MATE's Dress Clean Initiative >