Celebrating 100 Episodes of the Clothing Coulture Podcast

Emily Lane  00:01

To have the honor and ability to be able to continue to share thoughts and ideas with one another, as we've done with many of our guests. I still am like, pinch me please, because to have a conversation with somebody that is a hero of yours, and then keep those conversations going. It's, it's a real treasure. You Hey.

Emily Lane  00:29

Welcome to Clothing Coulture, a fashion industry podcast at the intersection of technology and innovation. I'm Emily Lane and

Bret Schnitker  00:37

I'm Bret Schnitker. We speak with experts and disruptors who are moving the industry forward and discuss solutions to real industry challenges.

Emily Lane  00:45

Clothing Coulture is produced by Stars Design Group, a global design and production house with more than 30 years of experience.

Emily Lane  00:58

Welcome back to another episode of Clothing Coulture, today we get to celebrate. Do you know what we're celebrating?

Bret Schnitker  01:05

Bret, my birthday?

Emily Lane  01:08

Not yet, although that's very soon might coincide with the release of this episode. The truth of it is, is we are celebrating our 100th

Bret Schnitker  01:18

episode. Oh, my God, 100 years

Emily Lane  01:22

ago, it feels like just yesterday when we launched season one. Here we are cusping the end of season five, with a handful of episodes yet to go before we wrap this season. And wow, has it been a journey.

Bret Schnitker  01:39

It has. It's been wonderful. I think, you know, meeting all these fascinating people that I never thought I would ever meet, and then crazy they become great colleagues and friends, and we continue the relationship, we continue the dialog with them. It continues to be fascinating. We really have been so fortunate to have the people on that we've had on and and then, you know, the ability to converse about all the crazy stuff that our industry throws at us and try to help, you know, our listeners navigate,

Emily Lane  02:15

that's right. You know, we've had an astounding reach. We've been able to reach out to listeners worldwide, which is wonderful. The number of countries and people that we get to talk to, 1000 countries, that's right, absolutely. And growing, of course,

Bret Schnitker  02:37

countries that even aren't even countries.

Emily Lane  02:42

Yet we've had the opportunity to speak on a wide variety of topics, from innovations in our industry, you know, the wonderful human stories the experts that shape this space sustainability, of course, a recent episode we just captured debunking myths. I mean, we've really covered a diverse range of topics, yeah, for sure. So over these last five years, as we've been running with our podcast, what are some of your favorite moments?

Bret Schnitker  03:15

There are so many. I know it's and you know, I I really hesitate to call some out, because I don't want those that I don't call out to think that they weren't important. You know, they're things that come to mind about a particular person or event. You know, we've met and, like I said, and interviewed so many amazing people. You know, Nicole fishelli still pops out in my world. You know, this unbelievable powerhouse of talent. We interview her in New York. We listen to this story that should be a book she's discovered and brought to the US so many names that we know today in design. She's got such an incredible eye, such a great sense of humor. And, you know, at the end of the podcast, I just remember her kind of saying, Hey, is that okay? Is everything okay? And I'm like, You are a freaking apparel royalist. It's okay. Of course, it's okay. You know, I think that that's been fascinating. I think, you know, really getting lucky and stumbling across CiCLO, right at the time,

Emily Lane  04:27

somebody that you the founder of which you actually

Bret Schnitker  04:29

knew that we you know, I had, I have, I have known her for over 20 years, and you know the progress that she's been in in her life to coming to a point where, you know, Andrea Ferris at CiCLO and her team have developed what I consider to be the holy grail for sustainability. Like, if you guys don't know about CiCLO, I urge you to immediately get on and start learning it is a amazing process that eliminate that May. Poly and nylon biodegradable at the same rate as wool. It eliminates micro particulates. It is the most amazing, I think, innovation of our time.

Emily Lane  05:12

It's ciclo and we do have a podcast with Andrea talking about this technology, and we also have an article in our magazine. So there's a lot of ways that you can learn more

Bret Schnitker  05:20

about that, yes, and it's funded by Parkdale Mills, that's one of their partners, and we had a great podcast with Davis, and we've had Cheryl and one of our innovative tech nights. She's the Chief Operating Officer and and it's just, I just feel like every time we sit down with individuals at all these different levels, Mondo and Michael, just hearing the stories and what shapes their thought process about design, hearing, you know, I've had a long, long history with Ruth Crowley, and, you know, seeing her journey has been nothing short of remarkable for me. She's an amazing person, a brilliant person, a fierce friend, and see what she's been through on her journey, and then hearing her speak and talk about, you know, customer experience and and recently, you know, having her for one of our United Coulture,

Emily Lane  06:21

well, and she was on our clothing brief, our kind of weekly touch base where, yeah, keep people up to date on the news,

Bret Schnitker  06:27

yeah, hearing Keenan Duffy and his history with David Bowie and, I mean, the list just is yes, goes on and on. Sharon grobard, she's become an amazing friend. Deborah weinswig, holy smoke, she's perfected teleportation all over the world in light speed. I've never seen anyone be in so many places at once, and I think she developed it herself, because she comes from, literally, a rocket scientist family, and that that fruit has not fallen far from the tree. She's brilliant. She's dynamic. I love I get so immersed in those conversations with her. The ability for us to go and be part of that AI conference in Paris, have that dialog. I mean, it's been pretty crazy.

Emily Lane  07:20

Yeah, I would, I would echo that Bret. I think it's amazing the the fact that this has really opened the door for us to participate in a bigger way on a global on these global forums, these these places where people, leaders in the industry are getting together to share challenges and thoughts and goals to help move the industry forward in a positive and and fresh, innovative direction. You know, we've been able to participate in the world retail Congress. We've, as you mentioned, the AI Summit, and, you know, many, many of these platforms now that that we've been able to have a voice at and then share that information with our community. So it's been really exciting. It's something that I didn't really anticipate as we started this journey to share insights. We just we wanted to share information with people who were looking for it. And it really expanded beyond that.

Bret Schnitker  08:18

You know, the two Stewarts are one that you really right, Stuart Trevor and Stuart White's been totally different energy between the two of them, but two people that have had an amazing career, that have that are icons in our industry, Stuart Trevor really had an amazing design history before All Saints, and then blew up with all saints. Stuart Weitzman, well, if you don't know Stuart Weitzman, you're probably not in our industry, but most amazing, better shoe company out there, really comfortable changing dynamics, you know, listening to his story and the transition what he's doing today. Genuinely awesome people, you know, they provide perspective. They provide the truth in the business that this is something that you've got to be persistent with. You've got to have perseverance. You You know, it's not just like, hey, you build it, and they will come like what we talked about. When you hear these stories, they're stories that are that are full of fight and and challenge and figuring them out. And in the end, these two have had, you know, wild successes. And boy, they're two people that deserve that. They're just really, really great people.

Emily Lane  09:38

So I agree with you. It's really tough to narrow it down to just a couple of people as favorite moment, because everybody that we've had on has has their own fascinating story and contribution to our industry. That's that's of impact. You know, I like you, really appreciate the amount of um. Um, meaningful conversations we've had, and then how that has turned into real, true friendships. So we we have some really wonderful friends that have spun out of just having them on the com, on the podcast, and now they're people that we talk to on a regular basis and and consider to be not just colleagues, but but true, true friends,

Bret Schnitker  10:21

so solutions and and decisions and trajectory and all this kind of stuff that we call the fashion journey. It is community like no one person has the answer, and it's great that that through the, you know, the channel of this podcast, we've managed to bring people together that are all signed up for helping others.

Emily Lane  10:45

Yeah, that's true. A recent highlight I will call out just because it was the first time I found myself without words or a little shy, which is you were kind of unlike me. Was, yes, our conversation with Bob Berg. You know, he is not somebody that's in the apparel industry, but he is an expert in business and somebody that I've long admired, and so that one is a conversation I will never forget, and as I was just talking about, to have the honor and ability to be able to continue to share thoughts and ideas with one another, as we've done with many of our guests. I still am like, pinch me please, because to have a conversation with somebody that is a hero of yours, and then keep those conversations going, it's, it's a real treasure. It is, yeah, I also love the evolution of what we've created. You know, we started out with a podcast with to share information and and that has evolved in a to a couple of different formats. You know, we've got this longer format that's more more it's a deeper conversation. And then we have our bar talks, which are centered around hot topic that that hits the industry that has to be addressed quickly. So we need a quick turn on that conversation, and it's real facts forward. And then we have our

Bret Schnitker  12:08

three drinks into it we wouldn't get Yes.

Emily Lane  12:13

And then we have our clothing brief, the weekly touch point of, you know, these are the five trending topics that are, are really happening in our space, kind of the relevant news and things that that people should be aware of. So I like that we've expanded our format and even launched a magazine, and have a few issues out on that that lead into very specific topics, and all of which these resources have been wonderfully adopted. I agree, even schools use them now. Which is, which is really, thank you for welcoming us into your cars, your homes, your classrooms. It's really, really a wonderful honor.

Bret Schnitker  12:52

And thanks to all the listeners. I mean, the part that kind of always kind of blows me away and gives me chills is we're we're in Paris, we're in New York, we're traveling around, we're at some of these shows, and we get stopped in the hallway and it's like, Great job keep going on. Or we meet people that you know we would normally think are inaccessible, and they're like, we watch your podcast, we know. It's like, wow, that is that's pretty cool.

Emily Lane  13:19

In preparation of this episode, we we launched a an ask of our community to share some favorite moments or favorite guests, and we've received some wonderful comments. Some of our listeners are saying things like, you know we have it's a wonderful, excellent and relevant real time insight and value. Another comment came in love how clothing Coulture talks about and addresses real issues affecting our fashion industry. We learned so much from the podcast. Another guest said that they loved the episode with Michael Lodi to hear the real honesty and love for the country of China that came, I think, in a really important time, because there was this kind of mass exodus out of China, and, you know, there's wonderful relationships there. So that was really addressing some of those, those thoughts. And then another listener talked about appreciating that conversation with Stuart Weitzman, learning about his journey and creating this iconic brand. I would like to welcome our associate producer really quickly over because I know there's got to be a favorite moment that Hadley would like to share since she's been behind the camera for five up five seasons

Bret Schnitker  14:31

now, the millions and billions I'm gonna be able to see Hadley,

Emily Lane  14:36

come on over, Hadley, let's hear what. Here's some of your thoughts, everybody, this is one of those spaces that you don't get to see all the time.

Hadley Robinson  14:46

So when reflecting on the journey and what made it so special was the people and working with an incredible team that you can't see all the time, and hearing all the incredible stories from our guests. Guests. I loved meeting so many new faces, people I probably wouldn't have never met before. And yeah, I think the Stuart weids Episode was definitely one of my favorites, because I really loved the shoe brand, so it was like a little like celebrity moment. But yeah, every conversation reminded me why I love what I do and what we do here. So, yeah, yeah.

Bret Schnitker  15:24

Hadley, I really want to thank you for everything you've done over these, these number of years, 100 years, I guess. Oh, is it five or 100 episodes, five years, but to see your growth has been incredible. You have had passion for this. You have you've done some amazing problem solving stuff, and it's great to have you on the team, and for all of you guys behind the scenes too, thanks for making this happen. So appreciate it.

Hadley Robinson  15:53

Thank you. Thank you. Yay had.

Emily Lane  15:59

Thank you for being brave and and coming up to the hot seat here. Well, as we kind of wrap this conversation today, I want to also spend send a special thank you to a friend of ours, a client of ours, who is launching a very beautiful brand called Timeless grace. She has provided us these gorgeous flowers on our set today. They happened to be bret's very favorite flower.

Bret Schnitker  16:26

It was my grandmother's favorite flower, sunflower. And when she passed away, one popped up the day after, and she just let me know she was okay. And every time I see sunflowers to this day, it gives me peace. And so, Cassidy, you were channeling the universe there or something. But I really appreciate the great bouquet, because it it made it made our day.

Emily Lane  16:49

It certainly did. Yeah, it was wonderful. Yeah. Well, Bret, let's do a little Cheers to our journey five years in the making. Cheers, cheers, cheers to everyone out there. Thank you for joining us on this clothing Coulture podcast adventure. We look forward to celebrating 100 more with you soon. Don't forget to subscribe to stay apprised of those 100 next episodes. Cheers.

‍