Latest / Project Emerald Collective / What if the clothes we wear are a reflection of how we live? | Anastasia Gazis

Transcript

What if the clothes we wear are a reflection of how we live? | Anastasia Gazis · Project Emerald Collective

• Eve: Hello and welcome to the Project Emerald Collective series. I've got the pleasure of having a chat today with Anastasia Gazas, who is joining us from Perth. I would just love to have you tell us a little bit about yourself, Anastasia, and the different hats that you wear today. anastasia: Hey Eve. Thanks for everything that you do for this movement as well. thanks for having me. Love to share. So yeah, like all of us women we're usually wear multiple hats. There's the basic, most immediate ones that I'm a mum and that I'm a daughter of aging parents. And a sister to four other siblings and all those other relational hats. thank God I'm not a grandmother just yet. I I don't think I could cope with that one. But yeah, I'm a business owner. I have a couple of new companies, new startups. and I love working in the philanthropic community as well. I work In with Impact 100, and I really enjoy learning more and more about what's going on in my local community with regards to social initiatives and things like that. So yeah, got the slow fashion hub moving along at its infancy still, and iforio is my other company that I'm working with. Eve: Yeah, such a busy lady and I can't wait to dive in and share with the audience a bit more about your journey. So looking back, what are the three pivotal moments in your life that shaped who you are and lead the work that you're doing now? anastasia: Wow. Goodness. so I think that there was a a huge growth that came from deciding to go back to university. and I thought that I was never capable of going to uni. I went to TAFE and became a fashion designer as a young as a young student. But so going back to uni in my 40s, that and and I studied behavioural science and majored in social justice and that was a massive pivot in my life and a real growth moment. And the other one I could probably draw on is people don't normally want to talk about it, but deciding to leave my marriage, which was was very unhappy, And making the decision there to to move on, another massive growth moment. and not just a growth moment, but growth years. and then the third one I would probably draw on would be when I went away after I graduated and I was divorced, and you know, my life was sort of coming You know, it was mine and my kids were old enough and they were all at uni. I went away to Greece and I became really unwell one while I was away. And I lost the use of my legs and then I had a number of minor strokes and I ended up in hospital in Greece. I just remember my attitude there going, No, I'm not done. Like this is not gonna stop me. I've got things that I wanna do. And I think that, you know, having that moment where you always thought that that my health was going to be there and that I was going to be able to walk around and and and do all the things I wanted to do and I wouldn't be, you know, impaired, if I had strokes or whatever. So I guess I was taking my health as a given for my future. And I think that was a real pivotal moment as well that really sort of gave me that urgency. about moving on. I recovered very well from from those incidences and it's taken a few years for all sensation and stuff to come completely back and coordination but I'm a hundred percent. that was really motivating for me to just do as much as I can while I'm as able as I can. and make me feel like I'm aligned and joyous and do what I can. I don't see my work as work. I see my work as real pleasure and I feel like I'm sort of coming into my being or every day. there are probably three major, major shifts in my life since my 40s. Eve: Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Thanks for sharing and yeah, I love that attitude that you have. so tell us a little about the journey that led you to create the slow fashion hub. anastasia: So I guess the Slow Fashion Hub is a progression of where I was in my early 20s when I first graduated as a as a fashion designer. I pretty much went straight into self-employment at around the age of 21, 22. I had done some work for some fashion labels before that. I was working while I was studying. And for about a Eight months or something after I graduated. But it was around the time when I that Australia was dropping the tariffs, and all of the companies in Perth were the manufacturing industry was sort of shutting down and going offshore. And I think that that's what had me push into eco clothing. And I what else was going on? There was a lot of stuff about the environment at the time, locking up our old growth. forests and but people were still cutting down the Amazon. we were still using just as much timber in Australia but not our own timber. And there was a lot of ethical stuff in everything, just the fashion industry, the timber industry, and lots of other industries that were really upsetting for me and I didn't want to be a business person playing with those rules. Now a little bit of logic with regards to why my headspace was there. My mother was a a bit more than a social worker. She started Northern Sharing Care in the Wheat Belt where I grew up. And always considering and dealing with social local issues, whether that would be women's refuges or respite for disabled children or you know, foster care. Home and community care for elderly. So there was just n non-stop projects my mum was taking on. So I was very socially minded. And my dad was a was an entrepreneur and a and a businessman who came out to Australia when he was only 17 from Greece and made a living and did exceptionally well to, you know, raise five children and you know, five well educated, you know, successful people. So yeah, I'm a combination of those that brought me into my early twenties that decided that I was not going to participate in the fashion industry in the way that things were done. So that so now the slow fashion hub, I I did have eco clothing was a around for about ten years and then when I had my second son, I I closed the business. It was I had fifteen sales reps around Australia and I had a retail outlet in Fremantle. It was all just too much with my second child on its way, on his way. so I took a bit of a I had I I raised my children. And I raised my children and and took care of home duties and I but at the same time I was lecturing at TAFE and in the fashion indust fashion department off and on. So then when I decided in that second part after those three pivotal things happened to me in my 40s and early fifties, I then looked at the industry at where it was at. And I was still not content with where it's at, and I still feel that there's there's an alternative industry there. And I just feel that the intentions, if the intent is not there within the fashion industry to be different, Eve: Mm-hmm. anastasia: then I feel that there is a lot of people with a lot of good intention. that if we were to stop considering ourselves as the fashion industry and understand that we we have different motivations, different intentions, different different purposes of why Eve: Mm-hmm. anastasia: we do what we do. That if we were to, come together, aggregate, that I think that we would feel less alone and feel like we had we had some vehicle to move forward together with. So that's my concept with the slow fashion hub. I don't ever want something to be reliant on just me. So Eve: Mm-hmm. anastasia: I'm an aggregator. and wanting to provide those physical and digital infrastructures for lots of microproducers to work through and for consumers to find us more easily and to have more faith and trust in us that we're working together and that we're value aligned that's our plan. So that's why I started building the slow fashion hub and and it is still at its infancy. I Eve: Yeah. anastasia: know that I can't carry this on my own and I think everybody else knows that they're only just one cog in the wheel of a Eve: Mm-hmm. anastasia: a circular economy. So that's what I'm trying to do is bring bring people together to collaborate and network and yeah. And to be safe. Eve: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And there's definitely more power in coming together to move forward and make change. so what continues to inspire your work today? anastasia: the individual people in inside it. I love hanging out with, all of the Eve: Mm-hmm. anastasia: you know facilitators that are coming to the hub in Fremantle, I just love that real interaction with people who have been working in the fashion industry for years, whether in the manufacturing side of things or the design side of things. academic side of things. I've got lots of really talented facilitators coming to turn their hand at teaching the public something different and a new way of looking at their clothes and what they would consider textile waste and changing their mindset about textile it exists and it's a resource and it's not waste. so I just love everyone's ideas and inspiration and I everyone's knowledge, everyone's different, got a different background. we're coming together because we're value aligned. Eve: I know how you feel. what does living with intention mean to you? anastasia: it's more of a a feeling for me. a feeling of knowing that all my actions are in line with my values and that sounds heady, but I wanna take that back to the feeling of getting rid of dissonance and being very aware of dissonance in my life. when that disturbs me or I feel like something's not quite right, like my actions are not aligned with my values. But that also needs to have forgiveness in that as well, because we're, we've all got different circumstances at different times. And sometimes I'm more aligned than others. So I guess living with intention is the check-in is how I feel. And Eve: Mm-hmm. anastasia: look, I'm very social orientated, I'm very environmental orientated. So my values sit with doing no harm to the environment, living living you know with nature, not it not against nature. doing the best I can as a human being. Yes I have a footprint, but how can I minimize that in today's society? And so yeah the intentions are to do no harm and to live in more harmony. With the people around me and my environment, I guess, so Eve: Yeah, I love that. And it sounds like that you're living with intention with the work that you're doing, which is awesome. so has your definition of intentional living changed over time? anastasia: I think it it looks different. I think it looks different but as as different phases of my life play out. for instance when I was a mum, cooking with organic ingredients and teaching my children how to be self-sufficient and to bake cakes and they're always cooking and that sort of thing with me. And when we're walking down the river banks or along the ocean, we're collecting garbage as we go. And living within tension is has looked different at different times of my life. I remember the time slot when you've got toddlers you get them fed early and you've their bath and they're ready ready for bed, but it might be book time or you've got a bit time to spend. And I remember walking around the block with the kids and we would do treasure hunts. Now treasure hunts was picking up looking for tiny detail of plastic scraps, bottle tops and and lolly wrappers and and we would always take a little rubbish bag with us. and or find a bag and start filling it up with bits and pieces that shouldn't be in the environment. it's changed and now it is different. It's now me trying to create these spaces in my business for others to join but it's also filling up my organic a packetless pantry with scoops of almonds and things and trying to cook with raw ingredients. So it looks different phases of your life. Eve: Yeah, absolutely. I get that too. are there any practices or habits or mindset shifts that you that have had a significant impact on your life? anastasia: there was probably when I started my eco clothing, I was young and naive and I was idealistic. people Would say, you're too idealistic. And as time went on, mixing with more business people and feeling like I was the only one doing things differently, I probably started to doubt myself in that I, I'm not a real business person, because my business had other purposes other than just profit. And I think that As I got older I start I took too much of that on. Eve: Mm-hmm. anastasia: and sort put me on the back bench for a little while while I was being a mum, thinking, I can't that's not a business for a little while. now it's sort of a mindset shift. It's like reclaiming that innocence and that naivety to some extent. I understand that the world around me now doesn't function that way, but that's the way I function. And claiming the way I think, in my older age and just owning it and saying, Well that's that's what works for me. I don't wanna be in business if it's not multi-pronged. I can't find the motivation for just the money. Eve: Yeah. anastasia: believing in myself and trusting my instincts is reclaiming that mind shift, if that makes sense. Eve: Yeah. anastasia: not doubting myself and and just reclaiming it. Eve: I think that's the key. anastasia: Yeah. Yeah. Eve: reflection there. it's always a s shift and a juggle, how do you personally navigate the tension between doing more and being more? anastasia: there's a lot of anxiety sometimes around that. You go to bed thinking about, my God, I should have responded to that email and I have to do that quote and I really should have applied for that grant. And you know, there's just a hundred million things in your mind when you're when you're doing a startup, with you know, trying to keep it reasonably under control financially so that you don't become vulnerable financially as well. So how do I navigate that? I shift the gold post when I'm when I'm not coping so well, or I go, these are these are my expectations of myself. I need to be kinder to myself and it's sort of like, okay, well, rewrite your job list. I think it's knowing that I'm in control of what I achieve and when I achieve it and that there are other aspects of my life that I need to keep afloat as well. Like I need to be there for my kids and what's going on in their lives and my parents and yeah, rewriting a job list every now and again and moving those goalposts. And taking it slowly and also asking for help. let's just do what I can do. That's all I can do. Eve: Yeah. The kindness to yourself is a big one. so touching on slow fashion and conscious consumption, what does slow fashion actually mean to you? anastasia: slow fashion. so slow fashion is not participating in the colours of the season, not not getting hooked on the styles or the cuts of of the moment. not waiting for the next collection to come out so that you look like you have got the latest stuff on. It's sort of liberating yourself from from that machine and slow fashion has many aspects to it but it's It's buying what you need, it's manufacturing only what is needed, it's making clothes with more natural materials that have got circular potential or biodegradable potential that is not harmful to the earth. it is repairing, it's upcycling. It's using scraps for other things like There's textiles in pencil cases, which is not fashion. There's textiles in laptop bags, duffel bags, dog toys, there's so much textiles can be reused and repurposed for and in our lives. I'm talking about, taking an old t shirt and utilising it for longer. extending the life of the textile, not keeping it as a garment for fashion. Eve: Mm-hmm. anastasia: so there's many aspects to slow fashion. And the word fashion is actually an oxymoron in in all of that. Eve: why do you think so many people feel disconnected from their wardrobes despite having more clothing than ever? anastasia: I think that we're time poor. and I think that we generally live with feelings of stress and rush. we make I've got lots of bad choices in my wardrobe too. we're all guilty of it. it's just getting better at making less in the future. I think that we we are the marketing machine of of the fashion industry is very persuasive. And we don't have a lot of time, to think about who we are and what you know what makes us feel happy and alive or to actually act in that way. So I think that it's not just our connection with our clothing, it's our connection with ourselves. we make quick decisions and we don't understand that we are unique. and that my colouring is different to your colouring and and that my shape, my body shape's different to yours or my metabolism's different to yours. we don't own our ourselves very much. some of us fluctuate. you know we get larger and smaller throughout the month or whatever and and we don't buy clothes that are necessarily appropriate for that, like wraparound skirts or that give us a bit of movement I think it's the disconnection with ourselves rather than only the disconnection with our clothing. Eve: Mm. Yeah, I I can feel that too. Was there a particular moment that changed the way that you viewed fashion and consumption that you can remember? anastasia: I don't think it it changed. I think that as a child and you and I have had this conversation before, Eve, that mums made things or your grandma made stuff for you or your grandma brought things home from the op shops and and you loved the finds that she found and my mum always made our clothes when we were little and it was a little bit sometimes like you know sound of music all the kids dressed the same you know like even my one brother out of the five of us he had to have a shirt that was made out of the same material. So there was value there was like intention in what the occasion was that was coming up and my mum would plan that she needed to have us all in new clothes for someone getting married or whatever and she would start making all of our dresses or whatever. So that carried through when I started sewing as a teenager and then into my first label, EcoClothing. So I don't think it really changed, but it is very much about what we need, like Eco Clothing never made stock. Eve: Mm-hmm. anastasia: it made to order and it was a party plan model that only cut to order. So if you were to look back at the principles there, people would say they're slow fashion principles now. so the mass consumption has always been the way that the industry functioned, making stock that no one needed and then dumping stock or That it that waste has always been not the way I thought about fashion. Eve: Mm-hmm. anastasia: so I don't think it's changed. I just didn't like it, if that makes sense. I just didn't like the way that that worked. and I didn't wanna get a job in that in the machine of the fashion industry. Eve: Yeah. Fair enough. And it's good to have that awareness earlier on. how can women begin making more intentional choices when it comes to what they buy and what they wear? anastasia: it's something that I still would like to do for myself and I haven't done it properly. yes, I'm a fashion designer, but to have someone else's opinion, like someone else's expertise, like come and style me, to give me that narrower shopping guide and that shopping guide doesn't have to be new shopping guide. It could be, you know, a slower it could be op shopping, but make sure that you grab a t-shirt that's your colour. You can always use that, you know? or a neckline that works for you, or a silhouette that works for you. And I think I still don't have that formula down pat. And I still make the wrong decisions every now and again. something that I'd like to have at the Slow Fashion Hub for community is to for them to be profiled and for them to have their little scrapbook of the necklines and stuff like that. I think that that number one, make sure that you love your clothes a lot more because when you put it on it looks great. and shopping with intention is also, you know, you take that with you because you know what you're looking for and you know the gaps in your wardrobe. I think those steps are really useful. And then I don't mind if people buy a new item for I'm not against that. But you know what you buy you're gonna love for a long time. And I think there's a little bit of education with regards to what quality feels like and what natural fibres feel like. it'd be great if people had more control over their purchases with that knowledge about their their body shape, their colours, the fabrics. intentional shopping would for me would look more along those lines. Eve: Hmm. Yeah, we are interviewing some stylists actually as part of the series. So yeah, stay tuned for those. but yeah, I can s definitely see how they would fit into the slow fashion hub directory as well. anastasia: Yeah, and also there's one more thing is that we all get confused with all these new fabric types, like there's all these brand names and registered brand names, but and that they claim sustainability. So I would like to do I would like to have a handbook one day on the environmental impact of all those different types of materials so that people can h have more knowledge about, is rayon better than cotton or is linen better than than hemp, you know. so Eve: Yeah. It's hard to know. anastasia: it's hard to know. So it'd be great to do a bit more research and have that knowledge on board also when we go shopping. So Eve: Yeah, absolutely. what have you experienced as some of the biggest misconceptions about sustainable fashion? anastasia: I think that God, where do I start here? and then it's all gonna be okay. So like it's the fashion industry's fault or it's the consumer's fault. I feel that they they blame, the sustainable the reason why we're not sustainable is blamed it's consumer choice and that the fashion industry is just responding to what consumers want. I think both of those are a misconception. If we want sustainable, clothing and textile industries, I think it starts with being able to identify intention in that particular business and their values and not also for consumers not to wait for the industry to change, for just to start doing little things that are in our control and that are in our power, that Eve: If not. anastasia: might be, you know, buying better quality, buying less, buying stuff you love, as we just spoke about, shopping with intention. So these are the things that we can we individually can slowly get better at doing and correcting our wardrobe and slowing down the flow through in our wardrobe. Eve: Mm-hmm. anastasia: And that will be that will make a huge shift in the sustainable textile and clothing industry. Like that Eve: Mm. anastasia: will that will support the brands that are making with organic fabrics or, you know, natural fibers or innovative fibers or natural dyes. It will support the designers that are designing correct like for longevity and for circularity and for recyclability. But it will also, you know Yeah, so y there are so many aspects to what what we're talking about, but I think the biggest misconception is that the fashion industry is going to change. Eve: Mm-hmm. anastasia: And that is what's gonna save us. Eve: Mm. anastasia: and I don't think that I don't want to say that it's the consumer's responsibility. I don't want to say that. Because we need to have access to ethical brands and sustainable brands. But we also need to know where to find those, and that's Eve: Mm. anastasia: hard. I think waiting for the industry to change is not going to get us there. And wasting your money on very, very expensive. Brands that are still producing exactly the same way as the industry does, who makes environmental claims is not necessarily the way to do it, but it's it's buying secondhand, it's using apps like yours. it's slowly changing the way that we we value our clothing. that is going to create sustainable sustainable clothing and textile industry. Yeah. Eve: Mm-hmm. part of the movement that we're trying to create at the Project Emerald Collective is that as women, taking our power back, and not living on autopilot or with societal conditioning. So everything that you're saying is aligning to that. But I really think that it starts with us. anastasia: You know, we s you know, we can control so much in our lives, but when it's too hard to push Eve: Mm. anastasia: against the grain, just you know, and sometimes we have to go with the flow, 'cause we're exhausted. and we might buy a T shirt from, you know, from Kmart or, you know something along those lines. But I think we just need to just be aware of it when we do do it, understand that, you know, these are my circumstances today. And just slowly just try to do better. And Don't try and make this massive commitment to shift everything in your life all at once. It's not gonna happen. just yeah, nibble away at the things that are accessible to you today. and that might just be mending a hole on a t-shirt or putting an applique across it, or yeah, putting you know, re putting that button back on the pants instead of buying a new pair of pants. Just little things, it doesn't have to be massive. Eve: Yeah, one of my mentors this week described it as where can I be one percent better today? anastasia: Yeah. Yeah. Just Eve: Mm-hmm, which I thought was achievable than becoming overwhelming. Like where do you start? anastasia: Yeah. Eve: so touching on fashion, identity, and authenticity, do you think the clothes that we wear can help us reconnect with who we are? anastasia: Yes, I think they support who who we who we are and and like I said before, we need to connect with ourselves to have that outward manifestation of who who we are, to know which garments feel lovely on us or that fit with our like I walk the dogs every day. It's not gonna work if I wear stilettos. And look, they're horrible to wear anyway Eve: Mm-hmm. anastasia: and they're uncomfortable. so my my outfits need to go through all of the activities in my day, just like you as a young mum, getting the kids from school. You need to have clothes where I can sit here talking to you on this interview, and then I'm going into the hub for some other work this afternoon. and we've got a function on a swap on and a flip and sip on tonight at the hub. but at the same time, I I probably need to jump into the grocery store and all the rest of it. So for me, practicality is really important, but I feel confident when my silhouette is the right silhouette, you know, when I don't feel like I'm, frumpier than I should be, or, the colours are right and that you know, the fabrics are natural. we get there in the end, you've got to be got to connect with yourself and be realistic about what your life looks like today and the things that you want to do. And then your fashion style has to be joyful. I think it has to make you feel really happy and positive And those clothes fit with your daily activities, and it's sort of a little bit of both. both ends need to be worked on at the same time. Eve: how does personal style evolve as we move through the different seasons of our life? In your opinion? anastasia: I think for me I've probably become more more confident as as life's gone on. And so I think that I'm willing to take sort of some, you know, more bolder expressions every now and again. that's not every day. so I think yeah, I think it does evolve different times of your life. and different activities that you're doing. You know, you you show up in different activities in different garments that, you know, n make you feel different, right? So you might turn up to a to a gala event in you know for me it might be my mum's my mum's stuff from the seventies that I might go, yes, I'd love to wear that to this gala event. And it's It's got heritage in it. I I've got memories attached to my mum being so gorgeous going out in these outfits. And then yeah, it's sort of like yeah, everyone's got a different different way of it its sort of style manifesting itself over life. Eve: Mm. anastasia: yeah. Eve: Yeah, looking at it like that and honouring that heritage I think keeps it more interesting and authentic. anastasia: Yeah. And it's got I don't know, it's just got a nice feel to it. It doesn't have to be only about me. It could be, you know, me reliving my mum's memory or feeling like I'm walking in her shoes a little bit maybe it looked better on my mum than it did on me, but it doesn't matter. Eve: what advice would you give someone that feels like they've lost their sense of style or identity? anastasia: I think the same theme's coming through here. take time for yourself just generally. you know, start doing things that make you happy again. I think that then, you know, even When you bake a cake, it's done with more joy, you know, and it's got more expression of you. And when you when you look at your wardrobe, you're more positive about what you see in there. And, you know, you're looking for you you your confidence starts to build again and and you know, you grab things that you haven't worn for a long time and and you go, gee, I think I can do this today, you know? so I think a lot of our expression is our mood as well and our headspace. so yeah, I would say, yeah, take time for yourself and be kind and reconnect with you before you can reconnect with your wardrobe. Eve: so looking ahead, what gives you hope for the future of fashion? anastasia: the people I meet. and once again, the word fashion, the future of the textile and clothing industry. I think that in some regards technology gives me hope and in some regards technology terrifies me. So, you know, there's good and bad in everything and once again, like this conversation is talking about, intention. technology needs good intention behind it. but the people I'm I'm meeting and collaborating with, their intentions are just beautiful and they give me hope. and yeah, it doesn't really matter where we end up, if we get too hooked on hope and the industry has to look like this, I I think it can exhaust us with our little incremental shifts that we're making along the way. I don't want to project too far in the future. I just know that my little world is looking bigger and brighter and that the people in it are bigger and brighter because they're connecting with other people who Have similar intentions and are trying to achieve the same outcomes. It doesn't mean that it is a worldwide phenomena, but I would love to think it is. So yeah, it's the people that are in it and the connections I have on a day-to-day that give me hope for a better way of doing things in the future. Eve: Mm. Yeah, absolutely. why do you think community's such an important part of creating lasting change? anastasia: 'Cause we need each other. That's pretty Eve: Не знаю. anastasia: simple. I couldn't sustain my day-to-day activity if I didn't have positive affirmations coming from every from people that I'm working with or that's my community. I also sit in on the classes that my facilitators take and I love the fact that people are sharing and that they're sitting there weaving a basket they are talking about their life and they're talking about you know what's challenging for them at the moment and they're sharing and they're supporting each other. So textiles is the medium. in our slow fashion hub to bring people together for those conversations and to feel like we're less alone and gets people out of the house to come and join in. And I think we need each other is the basic answer. it doesn't matter which way we get out there and we interact and we support each other and we meet new people and expand our little worlds and We feel more secure. Eve: what role do you think communities like the Slow Fashion Hub help in play in helping people move from awareness into action? anastasia: One of the last assignments I did at uni was around the concept of dissonance and its link to well-being. And the group that I was working with, went down into the clothing, the fashion and fashion industry, and in that we interviewed a lot of people and we said, you know, how did they feel about you know, the clothes they they bought last week or whatever, and they they feel really negative about themselves, they feel really upset with themselves, they're sort of beating themselves up because they know they know what the industry is like, and they feel like they can't avoid supporting it. but they didn't have alternatives. And some of the things that they that came out of that, the the surveys were a lack of time. a lack of knowledge about how to do things because it's been a generational gap now. Eve: Mm-hmm. anastasia: with women going back to work and our partners not filling the roles in different ways that we did when we when we were traditionally in the home caring for that that that space l it left a void, you know? Eve: Mm-hmm. anastasia: so a lot of knowledge has been lost. So yeah they said the lack of time, the lack of knowledge, the lack of facilities like equipment and places they can go to to learn and do these things. Eve: Mm-hmm. anastasia: They were they were really important. A lack of alternative, yeah. So there was they didn't feel that they it was trust as well. Like they they felt like there was a lot of greenwashing and they that there was a lot of despair in that. Eve: Okay. anastasia: So that then caused them to be sort of stuck in no man's land in still making decisions that they knew were bad for them s for the world and they wanted to do better. But that created a lot of upset with themselves and a lot of dissonance when you're not acting in accordance with your values. so the slow fashion hub is trying to deal with those discrepancies by making it very accessible in the community. Like there's a space in community right there in a shopping mall. right where you would go to go buy a pair of jeans or, you know, a new new item, that alternative Eve: Mm. anastasia: is sitting right there in front of them. instead of going shopping for a new pair of jeans, they book into a class and they learn how to fix their pair of jeans or to Eve: Mm. anastasia: make them more exciting so that they love them again. time, you know, things that people would be doing with their time for entertainment. you have to substitute another activity with an act with this activity, yes, but you're still getting all the socializing out of it. You're still getting, you know, that joyous connection with other people. It's fun. And you're repairing your clothes at the same time or learning some new skills. The equipment's always there and it's always accessible. So people can even come and use the space just for their own projects. it doesn't have to be that they pay for a for a workshop, it can be for their own projects. so and then yeah, overall I hope that that improves well being and brings hope. back to the to the community of that and and makes them feel like they have agency again. t yeah, and that they can take action. Just small steps. Eve: Hmm. I love that. I can't wait to visit. what have you I d learned from bringing people together around a shared purpose? anastasia: that it that it grows, it's like an atomic bomb, right? So I think there's a it takes on a life of its own and that's not for me necessarily to control. I just put it together and then I just let it become what it wants to become. there are so many aspects that need to be developed in a circular textile. industry and whatever these inspiring people when they get together and they they become you know even the community coming in there going, my God, I can crochet. I've always crocheted and you go, well, don't be a student. Could you come and do a crochet circle? You know, it's like and then all of a sudden they're they go, my God. It is of value and we're pulling apart, you know, old damaged bro jumpers or using leftover scraps of wool but that have been, you know, donated to a to goods we have Good Sammy's Enterprises here that that keeps me stocked. what they bring to the table and just where that meanders and where that goes. I just love watching it become something else. yeah. I'm not I'm not a control freak. I just like to see other people do their do their things. Yes, I have Eve: Yeah. anastasia: to I have to control the vision of what the space is to be used for Eve: Mm-hmm. anastasia: and to hold true to my values that I that I am trying to you know, capture through my business activities. But other than that, once you get that alignment, you just let the creatives just go for it. And I think Eve: Mm. anastasia: that the potential from that is amazing. Eve: Love that. So if you could wave a magic wand, what would you love to see over the next decade? anastasia: hopefully it's not a decade. But I would like look the the Fremantle Slow Fashion Hub physical space that has just opened is our first pilot. And it's only been there for five months nearly. and we're learning rapidly. But I would love to seed these all around Australia so that clusters of people in different parts of Australia can get together and collaborate in these spaces and and teach the community the skills that they need for self-sufficiency and to do this stuff themselves. I don't think that it's going to peter out like people say, well if you teach them to do it themselves, it's like, well, where's the money in that? It's like, no, they've got more and more skills to learn from more and more facilitators and they need the space to come and use it to continue fixing their next pair of jeans or taking up the hem more. I'm not concerned about that because then the next thing you know they'll they'll learn another technique and another technique from someone. Or they become teachers themselves. You Eve: Mm-hmm. anastasia: know, they've they've spun off into another creative option. someone was talking about hanging hanging a loom on the wall and using the fabric scraps to start weaving, rag rugs and things like that within our space. We don't have a huge space, but we can do that on the wall. And I went, yeah, why not? let's knock up a you know, a frame and see if, you want to start sharing how to do that. it's it's endless what what people are capable of. I would like to see over the next decade, the tiny little micro producers who are struggling to make a living actually be able to make a living out of doing the right thing. Eve: Mm-hmm. anastasia: And yeah. So that's what I I hope Eve: what advice would you give to your younger self? anastasia: Trust my instincts. Eve: Mm-hmm. anastasia: sometimes your gut is right and make sure that, you know, it's not because of prejudices and stuff like that. have a look at look at the reason why you you feel a certain way, of course, but trust your gut generally. be reflective, but don't doubt yourself and just because you're you're thinking about things differently or you know you're not mainstream, it's okay. Eve: if there's one message you'd love every woman listening to take away from this conversation, what would it be? anastasia: I don't want to give advice to every woman. I think we all have so many different circumstances in our lives at different stages of our lives, and there have been many different phases of my life where I've had different capacities, I have had less energy, less time, less capacity to to share my voice or to act in accordance with that. definitely don't look at me as though I'm some guru that you need to be like. We all have to just act that will make a huge difference to the sustainable world, Eve: I think from the message of today it's just about being intentional. anastasia: Yeah. Yeah. Eve: doing what lights you up and following your intuition. anastasia: there they could be tiny little things that Eve: Yeah. anastasia: that we just shift every day, that bring us more happiness, more joy and more alignment with our actions and values. And yeah, just start, I guess. Maybe just start. Eve: Hmm. Yeah. Awesome. Thanks so much Anastasia. I love the I've loved the conversation and I will include the links of where to connect with you in the show notes and on our school community. anastasia: Great. Thanks very much, Eve. Lovely chatting with you.