Transcript - Mrudula Joshi
Joshua Williams: Welcome to our special Retail Revolution podcast summer series, "Independent Thinkers: The Rise of Generation Z." Each short episode is produced and hosted by Parsons School of Design, Fashion Management, graduate students, Miloni Kothari and Caitlin Forbes. Each interview features six key questions that will help fashion and retail brands understand the needs, wants and desires of the rising Gen-Z customer.
Listen to full episodes of Retail Revolution with host Christopher Lacy every Tuesday. Follow us on Instagram @retailrevolutionpodcast and visit retailrevolutionpodcast.com for more information. Retail Revolution is produced by Joshua Williams.
Miloni: Hello, and welcome to Retail Revolution podcast and our special summer series, "Independent Thinkers: Rise of Generation Z." I'm your host today, Miloni Kothari and today's guest is Mrudula Joshi.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Mrudula: Hi Miloni. Thank you for inviting me to this podcast. I run a small Instagram page that talks about sustainable lifestyle. I advocate for small Habitude changes like minimalism, watching how you buy, watching our consumer habits so that we can make better choices for the planet. And, that's basically what has taken me on this journey of trying to see how many people I can help as much as possible to my own progress trying to live more zero waste.
Miloni: That's so interesting. We have graduated together and it's changed so much over the years, which makes me really curious to ask you, that you have been a part of the target audience for fashion brands, for any brand, over the last three to five years. And what do you look for in brands to meet or even exceed your expectations.
Mrudula: So, as a consumer right now, it's really funny because I've studied fashion designing and the one thing we were actually taught is to make designs that could sell really well, that could attract people that could make them want to buy more.
I think something that would impress me at this point, in 2020, would be a brand that is not focused on selling brand new items as much, and would actually bring the concept of reuse and repurpose and recycling into their supply chain more. Seeing brands like there's this one woman named Soumya in Mumbai, she runs a brand called Twitch and her entire product line is made from raw materials that is sourced from like waste denim fabric. So her raw material comes from donations from people, you know, she's not growing new resources and things like that. So, ideals like this, values that come from top down from the CEO themselves, that really impresses me a lot about the brand. Even if they make a few small flaws here and there, you know, I know that heart is i the right place, so that's why their solutions also come from the right place. That is something I look for.
Miloni Kothari: That is a very interesting example you gave based in Mumbai and especially India being a developing country. Do you feel that the brand is getting it right? Or is there another brand that holds that kind of a spot?
Mrudula: I think brands are really trying their best to understand sustainability after they have already started a certain business model. Right? If you were someone who understood sustainability before, I really like when the brand owners are themselves living a sustainable lifestyle, because, you know, they, have that information, you know, they know exactly what they need to do in their businesses as well.
For businesses who have already started out years ago, they're usually struggling with the idea of being more sustainable with that business, because they have set up a system where the raw materials are brand new and, you know, they are making, prints and embroideries from scratch and everything. So, they are already conditioned in a mindset of how certain business needs to run. So, for them to suddenly pivot is difficult. And I understand that. But, brands I think the ones that hold a really important spot for me are recent ones like This for That Closet. They are an app that just facilitate consumers to exchange the products they already have in use, you know, and their only job is to do the marketing end of it. That is something that really impresses me. So, that would hold the top spot for me.
When I see fashion designers, making products out of even the waste cut out fabrics, doing something, that really impresses me and that makes me a bit more happy. So , this is something that holds the top spot for me. I don't think a fashion designer who just wants to churn out garments for the sake of beauty is going to impress me anymore. I think we are way beyond that now.
Miloni: And you also know that sustainability is the buzz word in the world right now. So do you think this is the time where the topic of systematic changes are of the forefront of every conversation? Be it sustainability, supply chain transparency, or even racial equality?
Why does a brand's stance on these topics influence your decision making?
Mrudula: I think knowledge is power. Ignorance is bliss. You know, these things come from a certain place because when you're making a purchase, until now, whenever we made a purchase, we made it for our own sake. We never thought about the fact that a brand could cause some kind of problem on the planet. And I think as you just read more and more, you just watch these documentaries, you see the horrifying images, no one wants to be associated with that, you know? And if the only way for you to step away from that chaos is by not buying their product. And that's a very small thing. You can do that, even at a bigger things you can do. You could, you know, throw a fit,start you could start a protest. You could give a bad feedback. The simplest thing I can do is not buy the product, then I think I would do that. So, it does influence the way I buy. If I hear something, if I see any kind of ethical issues in the way they're treating their workers, and if a story like that gets out, it's hard for me to ignore it. I'm not going to go back to that store for sure. Yeah.
Miloni: Yeah, I think that that was a really, really interesting answer. And then we have been associated with so many brands, even as students over the past few years whether it is labor practices, or fast fashion, or cultural insensitivity. It's really difficult for us to go back there. And do you think can these brands get you back as a customer?
Mrudula: The bad news is they're probably not going to get me back. You know, it's, it's one of those things where we constantly look for the new next option. And when you're already in a market with such tight competition, you're going to lose out, you know, this, this is like one of those "me too" movements for the fashion industry.
And it's a public image, it's a PR problem. They're going to go down. They're probably not going to get me back as a consumer, even if they start getting a bit more sustainable. I think one thing that could get me back as a consumer, is if I see faces of authority in the company changing. Like if I see that the owner has changed, because I truly believe that the work culture comes down from the top. The way a CEO treats their managers, and the same treatment is again forwarded to the factory workers and, you know, the way you made the deals with them. The way a leader has their priorities together, that really matters to me. And if a company wants to make a radical change and they show that through the projects that they're rolling out and they show that through change in leadership. Then I might, they might get me back as a customer.
Miloni: Yeah. I know for a fact that you have been a really, really conscious shopper. You rarely shop unless and until it completely agrees to your own ethics and your own principles. So, in what ways will this pandemic change your shopping behavior as a result of what is happening?
Mrudula: Personally for me, I've been in a situation right now, because I've quit fast fashion as you know, since two years now. And it wasn't very difficult for me, because I wasn't addicted to the habit of shopping. But I did still shop, outerwear garments, if I had to go to office, or if I had to meet my friends, I still had a purpose to shop something new. Right? I think the pandemic is really going to change the way we prioritize the categories of clothing in our wardrobe. You know, we had a few nightwear, a few loungewear and like a lot of outerwear clothes. So, the ratio of that might change for me. I'm never going to go back to any fast fashion store for sure. And I'm still gonna continue thrifting. I'm still gonna continue on those ideals, like keeping second hand, investing in really durable items, so I can mend it and keep using it for as long as possible.
It doesn't change dramatically for me, but I’m thinking, Investment in more aprons and night wear might be a thing going forward. We are going to be working from home and this tiny box is the only way we can show our personality during work. So yeah, that's something it might change.
Miloni: And as you mentioned, thrifting and secondhand shopping, what do you think about the hygiene factors, since we are all so anxious to shop? It's all been going wrong, like we have to touch it, we have to try it. And secondhand shopping is to an extent about that. So, how do you think that's going to go about?
Mrudula: So it has been very interesting. I would have answered differently if we had done this podcast maybe in March, you know, when the panic of Covid- 19 was at an all time high, but now it's been three months and you can actually see the, you can see the panic reducing, even though the numbers are still high.
So, people are realizing where to draw the line between caution and panic and they are trying to get as many facts as possible about the wider seeing how long it lasts on the surface, just making sure they know what to do. I mean, if soap can remove the germs on our hands, then I'm pretty sure like a good laundry wash will take care of the germs that way.
But again, yes, I can understand. it is the same thing. Why people would start using more of things like plastics, you know, because they're scared of the virus, etc. It might bring down the sales for some time, maybe the activity on secondhand shops might go down for some time.
But right now, currently I don't see that happening. I am still seeing shops thriving, after the unlock happened, like the lock down restrictions have been eased recently. The shops that I support, the brands that I advocate for, they have been doing pretty well. So, I think cOVID-19 might not be as much as a problem as we were thinking about secondhand fashion.
Miloni: That's an interesting point. So, which brings me to my last question, which is when you look at the fashion retail landscape, which is that one brand you would contribute your talents and your skills to?
Mrudula: I wouldn't say one brand I would contribute my talents and skills to, I mean, I think H&M needs desperate help in terms of marketing. Don't get me wrong, but nobody trusts them right now. And I feel like the marketing doesn't understand what sustainable consumers are looking for.
You know, they're throwing in these words, they're saying 56% or, you know, like a bit of their fibers are recycled and, you know, things like that. They think it will make people feel better, but there are people like me who will educate everyone and ruin it for them. So I think marketing teams need a lot of help. By that is somewhere I would contribute my skills to help advertise with honesty . You have to be honest about the fact that you're flawed for people to be like, all right, we get you, you know, you had a certain business model since many years, and you're trying to do your best to change, but I think some brands take it too far and try to pretend like they already have everything sorted when they don't.
So, you're non transparency in the way they advertise the kind of words they use, the kind of language they use, the imagery, those things definitely need a lot of consultancy and help right now at this point. And that is somewhere I would want to contribute my skills to.
Miloni: Wow. That was an interesting conversation Mrudula. Thank you so much for being with us today, and I'm looking forward to seeing you in person.
Mrudula: Thank you so much for inviting me. I can't wait to see you again.
Joshua Williams: Thank you for listening to this episode of Retail Revolution. A very special thank you to everyone who has helped make this podcast possible, our guests, our students and fellow faculty at Parsons School of Design, especially in such an extraordinary and unprecedented time. Our theme music was composed by Spencer Powell.
Be well and stay tuned for our next episode.
