In this episode Susannah chats with Francisca Pineda, the founder and creative director of vegan footwear label Bhava. A former New Yorker and a Parsons-trained accessory designer, she developed severe chemical sensitivity and sickness while working with leather which set her on a path of completely transforming her lifestyle and outlook on the fashion industry. After finding a lack of options on the market, she decided to design training to launch her own label Bhava using high-quality, cruelty-free vegan leather, experimenting with both microfibres and plant-based fibres.

We speak about her journey in fashion, the effects of the leather industry on developing countries, what actually goes into making vegan leather and why plant-based leathers may not necessarily be the answer for some fashion segments – yet. We also discuss the lack of transparency in brands' leather supply chains, as revealed by the recent Stand.earth research report created in partnership with climate justice non-profit Slow Factory. Finally, we also touched upon a lot of useful advice for fashion entrepreneurs, why being a small business can give you an advantage (and the things she wishes she’d been more consistent with) plus, why a better fashion industry means a greater focus on true transparency.

Key moments: 

— How Francisca became sick from working with leather as a designer (4:44)

— What (actually) is vegan leather and what she looks for when sourcing (12:39)

— The current drawbacks of fully plant-based options and why big brands tend to be able to access the most innovative materials first (16:35)

— Why she believes in making products made to last and focusing on quality (20:57)

— The truth behind the leather industry, river poisoning and discussing the Stand.Earth/Slow Factory report (23:41) 

— The product matters over marketing and the joys of building relationships with customers in the sustainability space (29:53) 

— The advantages of being nimble as a small business (31:23)

— Her advice for aspiring fashion brands on getting your product right (33:07)

— The difference between the fast fashion and sustainable fashion consumer, creating loyalty and the power of word of mouth (33:33)

— Why a better fashion industry means moving toward true transparency, including the world's biggest brands revealing how much they're really making (37:16) 

— Francisca and Susannah discuss fast-fashion brands and conscious collections, and why selling sustainable fashion in huge volumes isn't necessarily the answer due to waste and lack of transparency. (40:53)

 New to this podcast? Listen to our introduction episode here.

Learn more about Bhava here and follow @bhavastudio for more.

Follow @zerrin_com or @susannahjaffer to join the conversation.