Minimalist footwear brand Vivobarefoot has launched its first-ever podcast, exploring how businesses can be more regenerative rather than merely sustainable, as well as the impact on the fashion industry of the COVID-19 crisis.
The six-part series will feature interviews with academics and experts to delve in to a variety of topics including how to be regenerative, trusting climate science, the responsibility of brands post-coronavirus and how to design systems to be more resilient in the face of a crisis. The episodes will be available on Soundcloud and Spotify and will be between 15-20 minutes long. They will be hosted by Emma Foster-Geering, head of sustainability at Vivobarefoot, and will be released over the course of a week-long period starting on Earth Day.
Guests include Kate Nelson, The Plastic Free Mermaid, Ian Ellison, Cambridge University Sustainability Institute and Michael Pawlyn, architect for The Eden Project, TED speaker.
Emma Foster-Geering, head of sustainability at Vivobarefoot, said: "For too long we have allowed companies to re-brand 'sustainability' to suit their needs. We have fallen victim to green-washing, health-washing and crisis-washing on a grand scale and it has led us into the current mess. Regeneration isn't a fancy new term for sustainability. It's a direction of travel. It's about being net positive, not just doing a little less harm. It's about rejecting smoke and mirrors and embracing radical transparency. It's about creating a tipping point of courage around embracing serious system change and culture change, to prevent any more climate change. It's about putting nature and health at the heart of our future. Choosing to thrive, not just survive."In addition to this podcast,
Vivobarefoot will be donating 5% of all sales (between 22 – 29 April) to power regeneration projects through the forthcoming Livebarefoot Foundation, which funds social enterprise projects focused on regeneration, in particular, rewilding humans and nature, and preservation of indigenous cultures.Vivobarefoot rejects the notion of settling on sustainability goals that serve as marketing ploys to facilitate business growth whilst merely minimising the impact that consumerism has on the planet. It is time to cut through the green-washing sludge and do something more.
Visit www.vivobarefoot.com/uk/mission-progress-report