The Department: a podcast about trends.

Ty McBride Founder and Creative Director of the shoe, apparel and lifestyle brand Intentionally Blank joins us to talk about his rise in the fashion industry as a sprightly young thing through his days as a shoe dog to a fashion footwear leader at Jeffrey Campbell and Sole Struck to peacing out and starting his own thing that we couldn’t be more grateful for.
Ty chats with Amanda and Kim about trends, industry gossip, challenges and the future on this very special episode of The Department.

Amanda and Kim are back with more dig downs into the super trending world of conscious consumerism and sustainable products.

But first they talk about trends happening in their own homes.
Amanda has caught the homesteading bug as she moves to a farmhouse into the Pennsylvania farmland. She has a great podcast recommendation here:
The Daily - New York Times Podcast

The Sunday Read: 'How Climate Migration Will Reshape America'

Listen on Apple HERE.

Kim is jumping deep into the Mushroom trend that has permeated fashion, Interiors, consumer goods + food and beverage trying out Four Sigmatic Mushroom instant coffees and lattes to add focus but lessen the caffeine load.

They also discuss the trend of upgrading your home interiors and difficulty of finding home goods in stock. Kim’s white whale is a lamp. She is sniffing around some Noguchi sculpture lamps to bring some light and serenity into her home space as she moves into fall.

Getting into the meat and potatoes....

As a quick reminder that of the 50% of plastics that even make it in the right bin - only 9% of any plastic recycled actually gets recycled. So we have this insane amount of plastic just ending up at landfills and in oceans even if you do your part and recycle.

Amanda gives some great facts on glass and aluminum (not to mention paper) as an alternative that has their recycling game figured out.

Kim gets down and dirty with a few newish green cleaning kit brands that tackle the issue of reducing single use plastics as well as moving away from toxic chemicals exploring Cleancult this (most universally appealing and a good Mrs. Meyers replacement), Blueland (great for value but not a sensory experience) and Supernatural>> (Goop customer and more of a premium priced aromatherapy model) for all your home care needs - weighing the pros and cons of each.

She also advises to check out Grove Collective a multi brand webshop offering a selection of non-toxic, effective, sustainable, and cruelty-free with an angle for monthly shipments and carbon neutral approaches.

Kim takes a bite out of the conscious consumer trends in the Grocery and Food Supply industries. She starts with a look at the food wasted epidemic estimated at 30-40% of our food supply - and new business models formed to approach this like Imperfect Foods and Misfits Market - both offering online shopping experiences and that killer subscription model we talked about earlier. Amanda SWEARS by Imperfect Foods - so you know it’s gotta be good!

She also shares the app Olio which connects neighbors with each other and volunteers with local businesses, so surplus food can be shared, not thrown away. If you love food, hate waste, care about the environment or want to connect with your community, OLIO is for you.

Spinning away into actual food production - Patagonia Provisions is working to disrupt the current problematic agriculture & fishing industries.

Barn2Door>> is connecting Farms straight to customers - it is based on locality and offers pickup, delivery and shipping of farm made goods, produces, meats, grains and CSA’s.

The se...

Amanda and Kim are ecstatic to get into the trend of Conscious Consumerism that is growing more and more popular everyday particularly in 2020. Conscious Consumerism is a movement whereby consumers vote with their dollar by buying ethical products or boycotting unethical companies.

So essentially: Where do you put your dollar and how can we keep putting it in the right place and adjusting your lifestyle to consume in a way that is more positive to the environment as well as society.

Kim explores the trending concept of reducing single use plastic. Kim details out some of the worst offenders and highlights some easy replacements. Bee’s Wrap - can stand in for her guilty pleasure Saran Wrap while Stasher takes the place of those plastic zip bags. Plastic Bottles are such another big culprit. A report by the Guardian found that 1 million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute. Additionally, less than half of the bottles purchased in 2016 were recycled — with just 7-9% of those collected are actually recycled, and the rest ending up in landfill sites or the ocean. Thankfully reusable bottles like Hydroflasks are trending - which is not just a functional replacement but a statement for environmentalism for all to see.
She also reports that Evian has partnered with Virgil Abloh to repair some damage they have done for essentially starting the disposible water bottle trend including their “Activate Movement” competition. The project encouragers young designers to enter their sustainability-focused design and innovation projects, with a €50,000 EUR (approximately $54,000 USD) grant available to the winners.AN OPEN CALL FOR INITIATIVES THAT CREATE A MORE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE - under the umbrellas of either Waste Reduction, energy reduction and recycling/upselling. More details HERE.

Straws we also find are a scourge upon the earth. Americans use 1.6 Straws Per Person Per Day: enough straws to wrap around the Earth 2.5 times everyday. They are not recyclable and don’t decompose - so just BRING YOUR OWN. She recommends FinalStraw.

Single Use Plastic Bags also suck total balls and are a complete plague upon the earth. The average plastic market bag is used for 12 mins and takes 1,000 years to decompose. GROSS! Kim plugs a product she worked on with Graf Lantz - the Ami Market Tote.

Lastly - Kim touches on refill shops that are popping up in cities nearest you. With the pandemic it has been hard to us...

Amanda and Kim start on a lighter note about some new consumables they have tried recently. Amanda with Omsom>> a new sauce starter kit brand here to spice up your dinner game. Kim tried Liquid Death>> the premier aggressively heavy metal branded Tallboy cans of mountain water instructing you to “murder your thirst”.

Diving headfirst into the theme Kim acquaints

y’all with the concept of Normalization>> as a subjective and objective construct formed by cultural, societal, situational and moral perceptions that used to take decades to accomplish a majority shift in social acceptances even with large agencies behind the moments (like normalizing people with learning disabilities and developing socio-acceptance) . With the rise of social media the people have more power than ever to effect change by uniting to work toward normalizing outdated, stigmatized or biased norms amongst undervalued, oppressed, repressed, counterculture and minority populations. Not even that - it has in fact become mainstream. Everything from social justice campaigns, to environmentalism and political upheavals, mental health, wellness, body and sexuality.

Reading List from our discussion:

“The powerful way that 'normalization' shapes our world” -

BBC (Link to article HERE>>)

>>>

“Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture” -

Ariel Levy (Link to Book HERE>>>)

Part of the allure of normalization is how easy it can be reposted and build support. With direct actions for “normalization” we are seeing not just memes but PSA graphic designed social statements trending and garnering quick momentum and collective bonding and agreements.

Getting into the guts here amanda and I broke out just a few of MANY of the areas that are getting rewritten. Often times with the status of being a disruptor in an industry - that comes with also being a new normalizer as well. But just remember - Along with great power comes great responsibility...

The first area Kim covers is De-stigmatizing and Normalizing Puberty for Teens. Refinery29 reports 85% of 12-24-year-olds experience Acne and more than 50% of women in their 20s experiencing breakouts >>.

You would think society would be a little gentler as this effects the majorit...

Welcome back for part 2 of our mini series on Normalization! Please make sure to check out the last episode for a more robust explanation, history and discussion.

Amanda really dives in here to a rather contentious subject matter - Normalizing Women’s bodies. She starts with a thought piece on some of the most obvious culprits toward a negative movement and also extreme positivity - Influencers!

With the growth of accessible apps, photoshop and other tech - Influencers are deluding their followers and retouching themselves to laughably unreachable sizes (i.e. a 6/8 to a 0/2) in every single photo they post. Some apps that stretch the body give the appearance of heroine chic but the consequence are misshapen coneheads and massive feet.

BUT there is a growing trend in body positive influencers as well as brands that are actually fashionable.

Case in point the Kardashians support of a body positive fashion accessibility like Good American>> that is sexy and trendy if not a slight lean into fast fashion. But a better offering that most plus size brands. Also check up on Skims>>- a Kim Kardashian vehicle for intimates, basics and loungewear. Skims>> is known for not only size inclusivity (up to size 4X) but also nudes in a wide variety of skin tones.

Universal Standard>> is a real groundbreaker because the make everything in their line from a size 00-40.

GIrlfriend Collective>> is an activewear brand doing their part to normalize women’s size inclusivity. It’s hard to find cute activewear for larger sizes...basically the activewear industry has been ignoring anyone over a size XL. Girlfriend offers everything up to size 6XL and they use recycled plastic for a lot of the garments (so extra brownie points).

CUUP>> is a great intimate brand (Kim wears them and highly recommends! ︎︎︎︎︎ ) - offering a generous size range and includes models of all shapes and sizes in their campaigns.

Kim tackles the trending normalization of various men’s taboo issues that can be considered negatively “emasculating” like certain health issues as well as elements of “grooming”.

Teen boy perms are HOT HOT HOT>> - check out your local Tick Tock looks for more Timothee Chalamet impersonators (or this Cut Article>>).

As the notions of gender fluidity and disregard of gender norms is starting to take root and spread the tastemakers and early adopters have found nailpoish and other traditionally female grooming tricks normalized as a new wave of men’s masculinity --->incoming brand The Faculty>> is sliding in to elevate the experience and build a lifestyle around it featuring Drop culture in men’s products like a pine colored nail polish.

There has been a growing interest in the long tabooed conversion around men’s makeup. And both luxury brands (i.e. Chanel, Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford) as well as indie brands have been seeing success with their men’s makeup collections as the trend to normalize this market has been increasing. Tho subtlety is key - especially among many hetrosexual men where maintaining masculinity is of societal importance. Mmuk>> (a british men’s makeup brand) has beard products for men who experience beard thinning - like mascara and fillers, even a shadow palette - for that fuller look, “guyliners” and “manscaras”and man lipstick. Fluide, Mac & Milk also stand out as gender blurers.

Finally - With the shifting telehealth laws and an increasing number of brand-name medications going off-patent a few DTC brands have been able to offer self care and prescription product at a fraction of the cost from previous methods and right from the privacy of your home. Hims>> in particular is working to normalize masculine self care and offer comfortable, affordable support and solutions for typically “emasculating” medical and cosmetic issues that are hard to talk about can create self esteem issues - hair loss, erectile dysfunction, mental health and adult acne.