How to Live an ECOLifestyle | Business with Purpose Podcast EP 284: Marci Zaroff
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My guests this week is Marci Zaroff, who coined and trademarked the term “ECOfashion” in 1995. She is an ECOlifestyle entrepreneur and educator who believes that millennials are driving the rapidly growing movement for sustainable and ethical fashion.ย
Marci has been instrumental in driving authenticity, environmental leadership and social justice worldwide for nearly three decades. With a degree from the Haas Business School at UC Berkeley, Marci co-founded a thriving health and environmental educational center in 1990 with an organic cafรฉ, AVEDA concept salon, and national magazine.ย
Now known as The Institute for Integrative Nutrition, it is the largest professional health coach certification program in the world.
4:53 โ Marci 101
- She began a path to conscious products when it was still new.ย
- When you start to understand how food is energy and how agriculture affects people and products.ย
- She started thinking, โWhat about fashion?โ
7:53 โ Appealing to people aesthetically
- First and foremost, appeal to people aesthetically. In food, it has to taste good. In beauty, it has to smell good and work. In fashion, it has to look good and be quality. ย
- Once you get that what you put in your body matters, you start to realize that oh, I have a relationship with the actual ingredients that go into me?
18:16 โ Ecofashion
- When people hear โecofashionโ they have a very specific image in their heads.ย
- Marci calls it the crunchy, frumpy, boxy, beige and boring viewpoint.ย
- People often ask her, โCan you smoke it after you wear it?โ
27:11 โ Marciโs book
- Marciโs book is ECOrenaissance: A Lifestyle Guide for Cocreating a Stylish, Sexy, and Sustainable World
- Donโt go home and throw everything away. Itโs about slowly integrating this mindset of oh, I can be part of the solution versus part of the problem just by making different choices?
34:14 โ This is too expensive. This is too hard.
- What is her response to people who say, โThis is too expensive. This is too hardโ? It was the same argument when organic and natural food came out. People called it โwhole paycheck.โ Itโs a supply and demand thing, not because itโs organic.
42:26 โ Prince Charles
- She worked with Prince Charles in the early 2000s to help connect the consumer with organic agriculture. People donโt realize how passionate he is about organic agriculture.ย
45:43 โ Get to know you
- Her guilty pleasure? Steam, massages and chocolate
- Favorite ethical fashion brand? Stella McCartney and many others
FEATURED QUOTES
First and foremost, appeal to people aesthetically. In food, it has to taste good. In beauty, it has to smell good and work. In fashion, it has to look good and be quality. ย
Once you get that what you put in your body matters, you start to realize that oh, I have a relationship with the actual ingredients that go into me?
Donโt go home and throw everything away. Itโs about slowly integrating this mindset of oh, I can be part of the solution versus part of the problem just by making different choices?
I donโt think people realize how passionate Prince Charles is about organic agriculture.
ABOUT MARCI ZAROFF:
Since coining the term โECOfashion” in 1995,ย Marciย Zaroffย has spent several decades driving positive change through business. She has been planting seeds of consciousness globally; as a serial ecopreneur, (Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Under the Canopy, Good Catch Foods, and Beyond Brands) keynote speaker, mentor, innovator and advisor. The seeds have now taken root, withย ECOfashionย Corp, herย GreenHouseย of brands that includesย YES ANDโcontemporary, GOTS-certified sustainable apparel;ย Farm to HomeโGOTS-certified bed and bath available on QVC;ย Seed to StyleโGOTS-certified, size inclusive apparel, available on QVC; andย MetaWearโa B2B turnkey sustainable fashion manufacturing solution that is the engine behind all her brands.ย Marciโs leadership in transforming the industry from withinโ building innovative and transparent supply chains, spearheading sustainable fashion retail launches, and serving on an array of non-profit boards, has solidified her position as an organic authority and expert trailblazer. In fact,ย Marciย was a key driver in defining the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) as well as the worldโs first Fair Trade textile certification with Fair Trade, USA. She shares her expertise in a regular column in Womenโs Wear Daily, โThe Outside View.โย Marciย is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and is the author of โECOrenaissance: a Lifestyle Guide for Cocreating a Stylish, Sexy & Sustainable World.”
CONNECT:
- https://marcizaroff.com/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/marci-zaroff-b5990a3
- https://www.amazon.com/ECOrenaissance-Lifestyle-Cocreating-Stylish-Sustainable/dp/1501123564ย
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