Meet Vintage Lover and Activist Emily Stochl
Ihre Vintage Looks stechen selbst auf Instagram hervor, wo es ja nicht mehr ganz einfach ist, Uninteressantes von Interessantem herauszufiltern. Ihre Videos sind sympathisch und machen Lust darauf, sich mehr mit dem Thema und seinem eigenen Stil zu beschäftigen. Emily informiert und inspiriert ihre Follower*innen aber nicht nur auf den Socials, sie hat auch einen spannenden Podcast ins Leben gerufen, wo sie Interviews über Vintage und Secondhand Mode führt. Sie selbst bezeichnet sich als „writer, storyteller, educator, vintage seller, and activist, working to make fashion a force for good!“. Emily arbeitet auch für die Advocacy Platform Remake, sie lebt in Iowa, USA und ist viel unterwegs. Ich habe sie in Kopenhagen auf dem Global Fashion Summit getroffen, wo sie an der Gesprächsrunde „Celebrating Circular Business Models“ teilnahm.
Emily you are, among other things, the host of the Preloved podcast, what inspired you to get involved with slow fashion, vintage and secondhand?
I started thrifting when I was a teenager, mostly as a way to save money and stretch my budget, but when I was graduating college around 2013, I started to connect my thrift shopping to a broader value system. My grandma, who was very involved in bringing me up, was a labor organizer at the plastic factory where she worked. Growing up, she told me lots of stories about participating in strikes and organizing for better wages or safety practices for their union. She instilled in me an understanding of how important collective action and campaigning are when it comes to changing a whole system. And I ended up studying women’s rights and labor history in university. Around the time I graduated in 2013, the Rana Plaza collapse happened, which really connected all these issues in my mind, and I’ve never looked back on that path.
Who is the podcast addressed to and how is the feedback?
I want to speak to anyone who loves, or is interested in choosing secondhand fashion first – whether they’re a beginner or an expert! More than anything, I want to show that choosing secondhand can be a fun, positive and creative choice.
A big challenge for me in my slow fashion work is to inform, but also to inspire. A raised forefinger usually doesn’t help much. But it’s a delicate balancing act and often very difficult. How do you go about it?
Yes, I understand this challenge. Personally I believe in the deep canvassing approach, which is something that some community organizers use in political changemaking. It is basically a theory of change, where you have a two-way empathetic, non-judgmental conversation with someone by telling stories and asking questions, with the goal being to provoke a mindset shift in them. This approach requires you to share relevant emotional experiences and reflections – the concerns you have, the places you’ve grown – and that encourages the person you’re conversing with to do the same. I think we can use this kind of approach in storytelling too, not just in political canvassing.
You also work for Remake. What is your role there?
I’m the Vice President of Advocacy & Community Engagement. I lead our people-power-building efforts across Remake’s international network of citizens, educators, legislators, students, and Remake’s 2,000+ global ambassadors. My coalition-building work helped pass the Garment Worker Protection Act in California, and the introduction of the federal FABRIC Act in 2022. And I’ve proudly taken part in Remake’s #NoNewClothes Challenge every year, believing that celebrating the joy of used clothing is an important part of making fashion a force for good.
The fashion industry is very unwilling to change. After the EU elections, it will be even more difficult to make more progress with the Green Deal. But it probably won’t work without laws. Do you see any progress in the US?
It can be very difficult to change the political landscape, but we are seeing progress here in the US. In 2022, the Garment Worker Protection Act in California was passed, which led to the introduction of the proposed federal FABRIC Act. Most recently, in June, the US Congress launched the first-ever Slow Fashion Caucus, which is a forum for policymakers to work on fashion’s key intersectional issues across human rights and climate justice.
You spoke at the Global Fashion Summit about circular business models. How did you experience the Summit?
I really enjoyed the Summit and the opportunity to connect with leaders who are working on all aspects of sustainable fashion. I enjoyed the opportunity to speak on circular business models, and the need to develop them in a way that strategically displaces the linear production of new product, and I appreciated the chance to speak about how we can design new business models with workers at the center.
All in all, is there too much talk and too little action?
Yes, in circular fashion at this point, there are little more than marketable pilots for brands — but given the state of the waste crisis we are in, we have to do so much more than “nibble around the edges” of circularity. Your readers might enjoy the Remake Fashion Accountability Report, which Paul Polman cited in his Global Fashion Agenda keynote. This report measures fashion’s biggest companies on progress, not promises, and Remake also provides a roadmap for all industry stakeholders to take action and advocate for a more equitable and resilient global apparel production system.
What would you like to see happen?
In this discussion, I left the industry with two bare minimum “next level unlocks” (the theme of our conversation during the summit):
1) Disclose production volumes and strategic benchmarks for replacing linear production revenue with circular models. We must be bold when it comes to transparency and collaboration, with innovative leaders building a roadmap for others to follow.
2) Center the perspectives of garment and textile waste management workers who are at the frontline of these issues. We cannot replicate the power dynamics of the linear fashion model as we rebuild our circular fashion model of the future.
There is so much more to be done, and I encourage everyone to weigh in with your creative, ambitious, and innovative ideas for the industry!
How do you dress yourself? How would you describe your style?
Mostly in vintage and secondhand! : ) I particularly love pieces that I’ve collected on my many travels, because I love a piece with a story behind it.
Hier geht’s zum Podcast, hier zu Emilys Instagram und hier findet ihr noch mehr über Emily. Hört und schaut hinein!
Fotos: (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9) © Emily Stochl; (2) © Global Fashion Agenda/Global Fashion Summit 2024; (7) © Susanne Barta
>> Supported by Kauri Store (M), Oscalito (L) und meiner Freundin Kristin <<
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