Re-Engineering The Fashion Industry For Good With Zoltan Csaki | Co-Founder Of Citizen Wolf

11/02/21 • 50 min

In this episode, I chat with Zoltan Csaki about a business he co-founded called Citizen Wolf, a sustainable fashion brand that produces made-to-order garments that use 48% less C02 than fast fashion.

The fashion industry is faced with huge environmental challenges if it is to become sustainable, Citizen Wolf is an example of how businesses can create revolutionary change by changing the way they do business from the ground up.

Their incredible business model and technology allow Citizen Wolf to make each garment from scratch based on their Magic Fit technology. Their approach to building a sustainable business truly sets them apart and hopefully inspires others to think outside the box in their industries.

Here are a few things we discussed in this great chat;

Challenges and problems faced by the fashion industry
Why does material choice matter
The waste generated by the fashion industry
Product life extension
Closing the loop at end of life
What the future looks like for Citizen Wolf

Zoltan was also recently named one of Vogue’s ‘Future Sixty’ agitators “set to define the coming years” (2019) as well as placing #7 on RagTrader’s Tech 20 top digital influencers in Australian fashion (2020). Citizen Wolf also won a Good Design Award Gold in the Fashion Impact category (2019) as well as ‘Innovation Champion of the Year 2019’ at the National Retail Association Awards.

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This episode was made in partnership with Heaps Good Packaging a sustainable packaging company for eCommerce businesses.

This podcast was made using SquadCast.

In this episode, I chat with Zoltan Csaki about a business he co-founded called Citizen Wolf, a sustainable fashion brand that produces made-to-order garments that use 48% less C02 than fast fashion.

Here are a few things we discussed in this great chat;

Challenges and problems faced by the fashion industry
Why does material choice matter
The waste generated by the fashion industry
Product life extension
Closing the loop at end of life
What the future looks like for Citizen Wolf

Join our community

This episode was made in partnership with Heaps Good Packaging a sustainable packaging company for eCommerce businesses.

This podcast was made using SquadCast.

Previous Episode

Becoming The Spotify Of Sustainability - How To Scale Impact With Elliot Coad | CEO & Founder of Ecologi

Elliot Coad is the Founder and CEO of Ecologi a subscription-based service that helps businesses and individuals take action on the climate crisis via funding climate projects and planting trees. To date, they have planted over 18 million trees and removed over 430,000 tonnes of CO2. Elliot has built an amazing movement and growing movement with over 20,000 community members and 5,000 businesses in just two years. Recently they also raised 4 million pounds from investors to amplify their impact to become, the "Spotify of Sustainability”.
In this episode with Elliot, we discuss a whole range of topics. Elliot shares the knowledge he has gained since starting Ecologi in 2020, and how he and his team have managed to sign up thousands of individuals and businesses, united to help fight the climate emergency and ultimately plant over 18 million trees. Motivated to grow their impact further, Elliot recently closed a round of £4 million, however, he isn’t stopping there, he sees a time in the future when they may need to raise £100 million, to make a climate subscription a must have just like a Spotify or Netflix account.

Topics we discussed:

Why Elliot started Ecologi
Their biggest challenge
What’s next after raising funds
How they give consumers value
Tactics they have used to grow their platform
Why they aren’t a not-for-profit and how this helps them scale their impact further in a shorter amount of time
Why radical transparency is the way forward
Their journey raising from a non-traditional impact investor
What it means to be carbon neutral, carbon positive, and net-zero plus more.
Elliot also reveals a new project he is working on which will help companies to calculate their carbon footprint in real-time

Relevant links

Sign up and start growing your own forest - you can see my family’s forest here. If you sign up using this link Ecologi will plant an extra 30 trees in both our forests.
Find out how your company can work with Ecologi to reduce its carbon footprint here.
Carbon footprint calculator - coming soon.

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This episode was made in partnership with Onya an Australian-based B Corporation, that has been waging a war on plastic since 2004. Their products include items such as reusable produce, bulk food and bread bags to coffee cups, compostable bin liners, and more.

Ecologi
Ecologi helps you take action on the climate crisis via funding climate projects & planting trees.
Onya
Onya has been waging a war on plastic since 2004 by creating products that promote reuse and more.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Next Episode

Business Models For The Enterprise Of Tomorrow With Gunter Pauli | Author of The Blue Economy

Gunter Pauli has published over 40 books, including his most famous, The Blue Economy. He is an economist, serial entrepreneur, Ted talker and founder of ZERI (Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives). Gunter was the first person to register ‘Zero Emissions’ as a trademark and recently won the 2021 Goi Peace Award for his contribution to society. He continues to contribute by sharing different business models that aim to leave the world in a better place. His vision for the future of business is inspiring and challenges us to go one step further than current ‘sustainable’ models and practices.

Here are a few things we discussed in this great chat;

The difference between the “Green Economy” and the “Blue Economy”
Listen to Gunter's story of how he started his own “green” business, which leads him to question what a sustainable business should really look like, and the economy that needs to be created to ensure that something that is good for us, and the planet, isn’t the most expensive in the market.
The need to change from competition on price, which leads to cutting corners, to competition on value, which is a defining part of the Blue Economy.
Concepts and business models within his two new books - Coffee Solutions and Plastic Solutions.
Why we need to focus more on physics rather than chemistry.
Industry Symbiosis rebrand to the Circular Economy, the principles of which have been around for a while.
Creating something out of nothing.
The need to relearn that we are being taught at school and university, especially, for those studying business, sciences and engineering.
Where short-term thinking gets us - you might be surprised to learn that our hand sanitizers have plastic in them, causing billions of microplastics to pollute our waters.
The importance of multiple revenue streams, burn rate and return on investment when developing your business. Gunter suggests forgetting the use of spreadsheets, Google, or Wikipedia. If we’re using sources that everyone else is using, then we aren’t able to think outside the box to create opportunities that no one else sees. He also recommends not building a business plan until you have your first sale.
Listen to Gunter chat through multiple business models and their simple ingenuity to create value both to people and the planet.

Relevant Links

Join our community

This podcast was made in partnership with Ecologi, a subscription service that helps you take action on the climate crisis via funding climate projects & planting trees.

This podcast was made using SquadCast.